Show I JOHN BROWN I The article in the June number of the Century on John Brown at Harpers I Ferry calls attention anew to the man who did so much for the emancipation of the negroes but whose efforts seemed to end in ignonimy and death Slowly but surely justice is being done to the chief I actors in the drama which ended in establishing es-tablishing freedom and unity throughout the Union but to John Brown of l j f tA ao F r > 1 n n + w a Ossanattomie justice has not been I done On the contrary injustice is active ac-tive against his memory Even by those I whose hearts were always enlisted in the i cause for which he died JohnBrown has and I been termed an enthusiast a wild idle dreamer a man without judgment or i discretion He may have been all these I but he was far more than these Within him there burned so fierce a flame for liberty that naught but death could put it out To him the negro was a man and a brother whose sufferings stirred his I soul to its very depths and to alleviate those sufferings was the sole aim of his life His plan to rouse the negroes and make them strike the blow which should loose the chains that held them in bondage bond-age failed and at Harpers Ferry he made his last struggle for freedom and humanity Is he to be termed an impractical imprac-tical enthusiast because his plan failed Have the unaided efforts of men to advance ad-vance some great and needed reform been more failures because the first efforts did not succeed Is not their example worth something John Browns stand in Kansas made Kansas free and his failure at Harpers Ferry 1 precipitated the war which gave liberty to the negro No Brown was not a i mere dreamer but he was one of those rare souls which appear on earth at times I to light and lead the way America has produced some great and good men and among these John Brown should be ranked To his memory there should be raised the grandest monument that man can make for itis a memory that will some day be held in the same reverence as the memory of Washington and the heroes of the Revolution Revo-lution it is a memory that belongs to mankind for the mans work was for humanity hu-manity A fitting biography of John Brown should be written for the one by Ridpath is in no way worthy of him although al-though it is sympathetic and appreciative apprecia-tive In his biography when written will be found the history of the abolition I movement full and complete |