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_From the “Hawkinsville Dispatch.”_
HENRY W. GRADY died at his home in Atlanta, at 3:40 o’clock, on the
morning of the 23d ult.
This announcement has already been flashed all over the United States,
and has carried genuine sorrow throughout Georgia and many places
beyond. The fame and the popularity of this brilliant young orator and
writer were not confined to this State, but were almost co-extensive
with the limits of the Union.
Mr. Grady was in Boston a week or two before his death to make an
address, by invitation of the Merchants’ Club of that city. The address
was on “The Negro Problem,” and it attracted attention throughout the
United States. He was not well when he left Atlanta, and his departure
was contrary to the advice of his physician. Immediately after the
address, he went to New York, and while there he had to take his bed. He
was compelled to decline all the honors tendered him, and hastened home.
The citizens of Atlanta had arranged a complimentary reception for his
return, but he was taken from the car into a carriage and carried to his
home. He never left that home until he was carried out in his coffin.
His funeral took place on Wednesday of last week. It was probably the
largest that has ever been seen in Atlanta, for Mr. Grady was nearer and
dearer to the popular heart than any other man. The body was carried to
the First Methodist church, where it lay in state several hours.
Thousands of people passed through the church and took a last look at
the face which was so familiar to all Atlanta. The church was profusely
and beautifully decorated.
At two in the afternoon the funeral took place. There was no sermon, but
the services consisted of prayers, reading selections from the Bible by
several ministers, and songs. “Shall we gather at the river?” was sung
as the favorite hymn of the deceased. At the close of the services, the
remains were placed in a vault in Oakland Cemetery.
Henry Grady was a remarkable man. He was not quite thirty-nine years of
age, had never held an official position, and yet his wonderful talent
had won for him a national reputation. It is scarcely an exaggeration to
say that, as an attractive writer and speaker, he had not an equal in
the United States. Certainly he had no superior. He spoke as well as he
wrote, and every utterance of his tongue or production of his pen was
received with eagerness. There was an indescribable charm about what he
said and wrote, that is possessed by no other person within our
knowledge.
He began writing for the press when about eighteen, and at once made a
reputation throughout the State. That reputation steadily grew until he
could command an audience that would crowd any hall in the United
States.
It is impossible to estimate the good he has done. At one time he would
use his wonderful eloquence to urge the farmers of Georgia to seek
prosperity by raising their own supplies. At another time, he would
rally the people of Atlanta to help the poor of the city who were
suffering from the severity of the winter weather. Then he would
plead—and never in vain—for harmony among the distracted factions of his
loved city, who were fighting each other in some municipal contest.
Still again, he would incite his people to grand achievements in
material prosperity; and who can measure the value which his influence
has been to Atlanta in this particular alone? He often said to his
people “Pin your eternal faith to these old red hills”; and he set the
example.
But his work was not confined to the narrow limits of his city and
State. He was in demand in other places, and wherever he went he
captured the hearts of the people. His speeches and his writings were
all philanthropic. All his efforts were for the betterment of his
fellows. In the South he urged the moral and material advancement. In
the North he plead, as no other man has plead, for justice to the South
and for a proper recognition of the rights of our people. The South has
had advocates as earnest, but never one as eloquent and effective.
In the prohibition contest in Atlanta two years ago, Mr. Grady threw his
whole soul into the canvass for the exclusion of bar-rooms. With his
matchless eloquence he depicted the evils of the liquor traffic and the
blessedness of exemption from it. If reason had prevailed, his efforts
would not have been in vain; but unfortunately the balance of power was
held by the ignorant and the vicious—by those on whom eloquence and
argument could have no effect; and he lost.
But his life-work is ended, except so far as the influence of good works
lives after the worker dies. He has done much good for his State and for
the entire country; and there is no man whose death would be more
lamented by the people of Georgia.
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