Show OAKES AMES ro Affectionate Tribute to His Memory Captain Codmans Alfection for the Oraliti < Old SPade Maker A r Railroad Builder WS Correspondance of the HERALD t BOSTON JfcToYembeM7th 18S1 A V f 9 ± But wheeling homeward when his course is run Curbs the red yoke arid mingles with the sun Not that pour correspondent would liken himself to the Fiery giant i careering fast and far On bickeriogwheeb and adamantine car Only that he has beena traveler of earth with wings unfasted to come back again from his wanderings wander-ings to the grand centre Boston Nor is the first occasion for sending a letter from Boston inappropriate to this somewhat exaggerated simile i have just returned in company com-pany with a special train load of solid men and a few solid women from North Easton a pretty town of about 3000 people most of whom are employed in the works of the Messrs Ameswhere we were invited by the sons of its chief founder to assist at the dedication of the town I hall a superb building termed Memorial Me-morial in token of their filial love No more fitting tribute could have been paid to the character of a man whoso first efforts were directed to the advancement of the people of his native town and whose last great work was undertaken with competent selfreliance amidst scoffs and doubts carried on under clouds and storms and atlast perfected and gilded by the sunshine of success That was an enterprise the value of which the whole country acknowledges ac-knowledges and the people of North Easton acknowledge his early and continued benefactions Day after day I had been viewing the monument monu-ment which he did not erect toward to-ward the skies for his own profit but which he spread out over more than a thousand miles of ground forth for-th benefit of the nation as he came towards the city from which our best and most honored railroad enterprises have eminated and was therefore prepared to enter into the spirit of this meeting It may have been somewhat overdone not in so far as the memory of Mr Ames was touched but in the propensity of the speakers to maghify themselves them-selves on account of their connection connec-tion with him Nor was it necessary neces-sary that extraneous topics should be introduced as they were when Mr E E Hale galvanized into lifetime life-time dead issues of antislavery and butted his head against newspapers Besides the letters from eminent men that were read we had addresses ad-dresses from the governor another an-other gentlemen of high official station sta-tion whose sincerity cannot be questioned so laudatory of Mr Ames that it must have been a source of the greatest satisfaction to his sons who were visibly affected af-fected by this complete vindication of his memory For my own part I would if time and space permitted tell the story of days when we were boys of neighboring towns of my knowledge of him as years advanced advan-ced of the time when we were together to-gether in Washington when he had to bear the brunt of the offenses of those whom he was accused of corrupting cor-rupting but who were offenders not in being corrupted but in mendaciously menda-ciously endeavoring to throw the blame upon him through all of Which he was true to his honest convictions persevering in enforcing enforc-ing them and all the time he was a child in his simplicity but a man in his determination to carry out his purposes The last time I saw him was in Boston about a month before his death when he said I have done with the railroad If I had never touched it I would have been a richer man than I am Never mind I have accomplished what I started in to do and the country will have the good of it Ii have clone with Washington too I have come home to my own people to stay They know me He did not understand Washington He had not studied political tactics He was no timeserver in logrolling no indirect giver of bribes He was a maker of spades and he had the simplicity and the courage to call a spade a spade and when he wanted a shovel he fitted it with a handle so that he could use it Time has already softened the harsh verdict of his Pharasaical contemporaries and the future will confirm the justification jus-tification now accorded to his memory mem-ory There may be among your readers those who not having known Mr Ames personally will differ from me in their estimate of his character charac-ter but if they read the speeches delivered at North Easton today they may be led to a different conclusion con-clusion If as one of them said Abraham Lincoln could put his arm around his neck and tell the man whom he himself rivalled in modesty mod-esty that his name would be remembered re-membered when his own was forgotten for-gotten surely his countrymen may credit Oakes Ames at least with good intentions when he put the money where it would do the most goodinto everybodys pockets but his own J C |