Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

carries with it all that man has contributed to it and flows on and on forever, just as Father Ryan said:

The river flows on and on,

Day and night, and night and day,
Going and going and never gone,
Staying and staying, and never still.
Going and staying, as if one will said,

"Beautiful river, go to the sea,"

And another will whispered, "Stay with me";
And the river made answer, soft and low,

“I go and I stay, I stay and I go.”

Colonel LITTLE's life was marked with genius, faithful

ness, and goodness of heart. About the time he finished college some of his friends collected poems written by students and teachers and published them in a little volume; among the names of the authors were those of Arthur Graves Canfield, William Herbert Carruth, and other members of the faculty and student body, but the one poem that stands above all the others in genius and beauty was written by Colonel LITTLE. It is entitled "Domus et Porta," and was inspired by a Latin inscription which he found over the doorway of a cathedral in Mexico, interpreted, "This is the house of God; this is the gate His martyrs trod." After a number of stanzas full of beauty and imagery he finished with this:

Then bow low your Saxon head,
Softly speak and lightly tread,
'Neath words so grand.

To carve the line that stands above,
He gave up life and fame and love.
He believed it-let it stand.

Haec est Domus Dei:

This is the House of God;

Et Porta Coeli:

This the gate His martyrs trod.

In this same publication another of his poems in the first stanza reflects something of the love of his university and of the friendships he had made there:

O college days that speed on wings so strong;
O college joys that last not long, not long;
O college friends from whom we soon shall sever;
O college friendships made for aye and ever;

O dreams of youth so sweet, so frail, so fleeting,
'Neath touch of time and care so swift retreating-

He was always faithful to his university and throughout his life maintained an acquaintance with a host of its graduates and students, all of whom testify to his goodness of heart and his willingness to help them and each of them at any time that help was needed.

He wrote a number of books, articles, and poems, all in fine style and distinguished by thought, philosophy, and beauty. It is no wonder that a great author with whom he became acquainted when he was United States consul to Egypt regarded him with affection and dedicated one of his books to him.

He was a great reader and had a retentive memory. He not only searched the Scriptures and read the classics, but he could tell you everything that had been written about Wild Bill and other frontier people, and he did not despise the literature of David Crockett, California Joe, and others in their class. At times when he was making a public address it seemed that he was inspired and that everything that he had read was present in his mind for immediate use. Once, upon the organization of a new political movement, he was called upon for a speech in a convention, and, as he pledged his faith to his associates, he aptly quoted the following from the Book of Ruth—

"And Ruth said, 'Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.'

999

On another occasion in Congress he finished a philippic against an Army inspector with a quotation from Shakespeare's King Henry the Fourth where Hotspur is made to say

But I remember, when the fight was done,

When I was dry with rage and extreme toil,
Breathless and faint, leaning upon my sword,

Came there a certain lord, neat, and trimly dress'd,
Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin new reap'd
Show'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home;

He was perfumed like a milliner;

And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held
A pouncet-box, which ever and anon

He gave his nose and took't away again;
Who therewith angry, when it next came there,
Took it in snuff; and still he smiled and talk'd,
And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by,
He call'd them untaught knaves, unmannerly,
To bring a slovenly unhandsome corse
Betwixt the wind and his nobility.

And telling me the sovereign'st thing on earth
Was parmaceti for an inward bruise;
And that it was great pity, so it was,

This villanous salt-petre should be digg'd
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd
So cowardly; and but for these vile guns,
He would himself have been a soldier.

Those who knew him well always read speeches he made in Congress, with the idea of picking up the touches of genius with which every one was marked.

Early in his political career he took cognizance of the everlasting conflict which holds forth in every civilized community between the financial power and the man power of the country. He was not one who would confiscate or destroy property, but he held close to the

[blocks in formation]

American doctrine that where there was a conflict between man and money, man should have the first consideration. In many of his political addresses he presented this subject with all the force of a Jefferson or a Lincoln, and over and over said that property rights were more secure in that country where humanity was protected and men, women, and children given the first consideration. He was fond of saying: "I stand for those who labor and for humanity."

As consul to Egypt he helped break up practices that had for their purpose the robbing of the poor. As a soldier his first consideration was for the welfare of enlisted men. As a Member of Congress his greatest concern was always to be on the people's side. One of his last speeches in Congress was made in behalf of a bill intended to better the opportunities and conditions of those engaged in agriculture, and during late years much of his time was given to the compiling of the statutes of the United States. His last vote in Congress was for the bonus for soldiers of the World War. These soldiers had learned to love him and to count upon him as a friend who never failed them.

He was brilliant as a lawyer, and during his practice delighted in espousing the cause of a client who had little or no money but a righteous claim. Their trust was all in him, and he never failed them.

He was a fierce debater and a hard fighter, and anyone who contended with him soon learned that they must have a sharpened blade and be ready to use it, because he was sure to go the limit in contending for what he thought was right. At the same time he could cheerfully lay off his armor when the battle was done.

Colonel LITTLE's career as a soldier was characteristic of him. He was a student of history and of conditions, and well knew that the time was at hand for the remnant of the once proud Empire of Spain to give up its pretensions to government in the western world. Frederick A. Funston, who had been serving as a soldier of fortune with the insurgents of Cuba, came through our State on a lecturing tour. Colonel LITTLE entertained him, as he

always did any of his old university friends. Afterwards he told some of his acquaintances that he believed that we were sure to have a war with Spain on account of conditions in Cuba. He thought of it by day and dreamed of it by night, and the first of all his plans was to use his utmost influence, if war should come, in securing the appointment of his friend Funston to be the colonel of one of the Kansas regiments. In the Senate a speech was made by Senator Proctor setting forth the horrors and inhumanities of the situation in Cuba. In a few days that matchless orator, John M. Thurston, stood in his place in the Senate and made his unanswerable argument in favor of intervention. Among other things, he denounced the whole history of Spanish colonization in America, and charged that its principal record had been to set up crosses and commit atrocities.

These speeches fired the colonel, and when our battleship in Habana Harbor was blown up under circumstances that indicated it had been torpedoed, he was ready for war, and, with the consent of the governor, wired Funston to come to the State capitol, scarcely waiting for a declaration of war. It was just the kind of a struggle to inspire Colonel LITTLE, because there was no prospect in it for gain, but only a fight for humanity. He secured the appointment of his friend as colonel and took a position under him. It soon developed that the Philippines were involved and that 400 years of misrule in those islands were to be considered upon the same basis as that in Cuba. His regiment was sent to the Philippines and it was there that he had his soldier experience. The records testify as to his capacity, courage, and valor as a soldier; but in all that tour of duty, in a tropical climate, under hard conditions and against a treacherous and almost barbarous foe, the finest tribute that comes to Colonel LITTLE is from the enlisted men of his command, who testify to his personal consideration of them. No day was too long or night too dark, nor situation too hazardous, for Colonel LITTLE to fail to give personal aid and help to individual soldiers who might need it.

« AnteriorContinuar »