Show jagt out of great bien tho country is always just out 0 great men the death of the poet lowell the invalidism of whitman and the great age of whittier have led many papers of late to lament the decay cf american poetry these great masters of their art we are told will leave no successors behind them but great man from the standpoint of their contemporaries never leave any successors behind this is adne to the fact that a yeat man is not visible antil he has receded to a great distance he is usually measured pretty accurately after he is dead after washington hamilton jay and jefferson died the lament was raised that the age of statesmen had passed the great heroic figures of conr history had passed off the biage of action and left no successors this lament was raised too when webster clay calhoun and inthe full aluah of their remarkable powers after these great men had left the stage of action the lament was again raised that the ago of great men had passed to be sure the presidential chair was occupied by an awkward backwoodsman from delinois Dlin ois but lincoln was called a vulgar story teller an irresolute vacillating good natured man well meaning enough but with no executive ability charles sumner was in the united states senate but he wad called a visionary bookworm full of fanatical theories but possessing no practical statesmanship now we look back to the time of lincoln and sumner and eay there were giants on the earth in those days so the world is always just out of great men simply because it does not appreciate a good thing when it bees it or it must eeb a good thing n long while before it can properly estimate its qualities yankee blade |