John Harrison Wilson, The life of Charles Henry Dana

[514] after death as already related. He was calm, collected, and, if not cheerful, at least not overwhelmed by the shadow which was slowly darkening towards the end. He talked freely of passing events, and showed no diminution of interest in what was going on about him. He read the Sun, and occasionally a favorite book, but seemed to recognize the fact that the battle was over, and that nothing remained for him except a short period of rest by the side of the sea, under the trees he loved so well.

Of course he was missed from his accustomed place, and it was not long till a country newspaper, which loved him not, spread the report that he had resigned from the Sun. The absurdity of the report was manifest to such as knew the real facts, but fearing that the public might credit it, he formally denied it in an editorial, which was headed “A Falsehood,” and appeared on August 6, 1897, as follows:

A friend in Geneva informs us that certain papers in that neighborhood say that Mr. Dana has resigned as editor of the Sun.

This is a falsehood. Mr. Dana has never been of a resigning habit, and hereby declares that he has not commenced the practice in the present case.

He can still be found doing business at the same old stand, and the man does not live who can say that he has seen him there, or elsewhere, turn his back upon either a friend or a foe.

These were the last words he ever wrote for the Sun. The end was at hand. But a few weeks of declining strength, with but little pain, and no obscuration of the intellect, remained for the untiring scholar, the unselfish patriot, the fearless official, the great independent and indomitable editor. He died at his home, in the midst of his family, surrounded by the scenes he loved so much, on October 17, 1897, in the seventy-ninth year of his age.