Something of Men I Have Known: With Some Papers of a General Nature, Political, Historical, and RetrospectiveStevenson, Adlai E. (Adlai Ewing)
History
Something of Men I Have Known: With Some Papers of a General Nature, Political, Historical, and Retrospective
Stevenson, Adlai E. (Adlai Ewing)
United States -- Biography; United States -- Politics and government -- 1865-1933
"I have somewhere read that when God in His eternal councils
conceived the thought of man's creation, he called to him the three
ministers who wait constantly upon the throne, Justice, Truth, and
Mercy, and thus addressed them:
"'Shall we make man?'
"Then said Justice, 'O God, make him not, for he will trample upon
Thy laws.'
"Truth made answer also, 'O God, make him not, for he will pollute
Thy sanctuaries.'
"Then Mercy, dropping upon her knees and looking up through her
tears, exclaimed, 'O God, make him. I will watch over him through
all the dark paths he may have to tread.'
"Then God made man and said to him: 'Thou art the child of Mercy;
_go and deal in mercy with thy brother.'"_
In speaking of Mr. Webster's marvellous power over a jury, Mr.
Hubbard told me that he was present during the trial of a once
celebrated divorce case in one of the courts of Boston. The husband
was the complainant, and the alleged ground the one of recognized
sufficiency in all countries. Mr. Webster was the counsel for the
husband; Rufus Choate for the wife. As an advocate, the latter has had
few equals, no superiors, at the American bar. In the case mentioned,
with a distressed woman for a client, what was dearer than life, her
reputation, in the balance, it may well be believed that the wondrous
powers of the advocate were in requisition to the utmost.
At the conclusion of Choate's speech, as Mr. Hubbard assured me,
the case of the injured husband appeared hopeless. It seemed
impossible that such a speech could be successfully answered.
The opening sentence, in deep and measured tones, of Webster in
reply, the prelude to an unrivalled argument and to victory, was:
"Saint Paul in the twenty-fourth verse of the seventh chapter of
his wondrous Epistle to the Romans says: 'O wretched man that I
am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' You alone,
gentlemen, can deliver this wretched man _from the body of this
dead woman!"_
What in word-painting can exceed the following from an address
by Robert G. Ingersoll?
"A little while ago, I stood by the grave of the old Napoleon--a
magnificent tomb of gilt and gold, almost fit for a dead deity--
and gazed upon the sarcophagus of black Egyptian marble where rest
the ashes of that restless man. I leaned over the balustrade
and thought about the career of the greatest soldier of the modern
world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account