Ohio History Journal

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338 Ohio Arch

338        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.   [VOL. 4

 

 

 

RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES.*

 

BY REV. WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D.D., LL. D.

 

We have studied here, more than once, the lesson of some

great life. In no other form does Truth present herself with so

much quickening for the intellect, with so much invigoration of

the will. For this reason chiefly was the Word made flesh. All

highest revelation to men must come through the form of a man.

The story of a life worthily lived is more convincing than logic,

more instructive than philosophy; it carries an element which

transcends all the formularies of science; it contains within it-

self all that gives the moving thrill to music, and immortality to

verse.

Thrice, already, since the summer rest, have we been in-

vited to such a sympathetic study of great lives that had sud-

denly ceased from among us: The editor and essayist, Curtis;

our Quaker poet, Whittier; the laureate of England, Tennyson.

To-night we are called together to reflect for an hour upon the

meaning of a life whose sudden termination has brought to this

commonwealth and this nation a great bereavement. To the

people of Ohio, and especially to the people of Columbus, the

death of President Hayes comes a great deal closer than that of

either of the notable men whom I have named. To them our

debt was large, but it was mainly intellectual. For the enrich-

ing of our minds, for the quickening of our better purposes we

owed them much. But President Hayes has been our neighbor

and our friend; he has walked with us by the way; he has

* Rutherford B. Hayes became an interested and active member of

the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society soon after its organization

in 1885. In 1890 he was made a life member and at the meeting of the

Society held in Chicago, Ill., October 19, 1892, he was elected a trustee and

president. He served in that office till his death, January 17, 1893. Mr.

Hayes regarded the Society as the agent of a most deserving and valuable

work. He had many plans for the greater development and accomplish-

ment of the purposes of the Society. His untimely death was a loss to

the Society as it was to the many public organizations to which he was

so unselfishly devoting his wise and noble energies.- E. O. R.