Our poor work may perish, but thine shall endure! This monument may moulder away: the solid ground it rests upon may sink down to a level with the sea; but his memory shall not fail. Wherever among men a heart shall be found that beats to the transports of Patriotism and Liberty, its aspirations shall be to claim kindred with thy spirit.Charles Sumner was born in Boston, January 6, 1811. He was fortunate in his ancestry, for they were the best stock of the two Englands—the Old and the New—and that meant the best stock of men on the earth. Physically, they were tall, broad-shouldered, strong, fine-looking men. From the early settlement of Massachusetts Bay, the Sumners had been distinguished for their
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Washington in the hearts of our people, and who is enshrined among the few beloved names which all mankind cherish:—
The second was of Horace Greeley, whose death revealed so wide-spread and strangely tender an affection amongst all classes and conditions of men:—
And now comes the last name in this wonderful triumvirate of great, gifted, and good men, who, taken together, will in ages to come be mentioned on the same historic page, whenever the leaf is turned which records memorials of the astounding events which have transpired so near the close of our First Hundred Years.
We by no means intimate that they alone will reflect all the glory of their period; for every scene of activity and every field of achievement has been illustrated by loyalty, patriotism, and valor, and they will long be remembered with honor and gratitude; but these three names cannot perish.
To one and all we may safely apply the words which Webster from Bunker Hill addressed to the soul of its departed hero:
United States Publishing Company, 1874.
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