A tragedy in truth it was; and yet as his body was lowered into its grave there rose above it, invisible, unnoted, a flower of matchless beauty—the flower of peace and love between the sections of the Union to which his life had been a sacrifice.
Watterson poetically expresses the duality of Greeley's death, marking both tragedy and a hopeful reconciliation between divided regions.
Share
More from Henry Watterson
From fakers who have cards up their sleeves, not to mention snakes in their boots, we hear a great deal about “the people,” pronounced by them as if it were spelled “pee-pul.” It is the unfailing recourse of the professional politician in…
Yet it is after all a figure of speech not a personality that appeals to our sense of duty without necessarily engaging our affection.
It is love—love through grace of God—truth where we can find it—which shall irradiate the life that is.
But my face in the glass I’ll serenely survey, And with smiles count each wrinkle and furrow— That this worn-out old stuff which is thread-bare to-day Shall become everlasting to-morrow.
Other voices in this conversation
