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136 MARK TWAIN SPEAKING fellow teachers of the great public, and likewise to say that I am right glad to see that Dr. Holmes is still in his prime and full of generous life; and as age is not determined by years, but by trouble and infirmities of mind and body, I hope it may be a very long time yet before anyone can truthfully say, "He is growing old." Text / Composite, based upon: "Unconscious Plagiarism" in the following : Eloquence(R), 1:221-23; Eloquence (T), 1:301-3; MTS(10): 56-58; MTS(23):77-79. Both MTS texts are misdated. -39To give impetus to a Hartford Republican rally, ex-President Grant appeared in person. Mark Twain was one of a committee on arrangements that met the general in Boston, then escorted him to Hartford. After a great parade offive thousand marchers-lJands, military companies, and dignitaries-a luncheon followed and a formal reception, at which Mark Twain delivered a speech of welcome. Welcome to General Grant Hartford, October 16,1880 General Grant: I also am deputized to welcome you to the sincere and cordial hospitalities of Hartford, the city of the historic and revered Charter Oak, of which the most of this town is built. At first it was proposed to have only one speaker to welcome you, but this was changed, because it was feared that, considering the shortness of the crop of speeches this year, if anything occurred to prevent that speaker from delivering his speech you would feel disappointed. By your example you have killed the hoary fashion oflong speeches; and for this you deserve imperishable gratitude. We shall best honor you in honoring the lesson you have taught. As a soldier you proved yourself without a peer-and so we welcome you as the first soldier of MARK TWAIN SPEAKING 137 the Republic; as President you inaugurated international arbitration -and so we welcome you as the first to lay the axe to the root ofthe trade ofwar, and as the pioneer in the march ofthe nations toward the last perfection of enlightened government, the substitution of reason for force in the settlement of controversies; and finally, as one who, being almost called-and yet not quite-to carry the standard of a great party for the third time, in a presidential campaign, has sunk the hero in the patriot, has cast aside all considerations of self, all pique, all narrow feeling, and has devoted his whole heart and the might of his great name to the cause ofthat party, and through it to the highest and best interest of the country, its progress and its civilization, we welcome you by the noblest of all the titles you have earned, that of First Citizen of the Republic. I desire, at this point, to refer to your past history. By years of colossal labor and colossal achievement, you at last beat down a gigantic rebellion and saved your country from destruction. Then the country commanded you to take the helm ofstate. You preferred your great office of General of the Armies, and the rest and comfort which it afforded; but you loyally obeyed, and relinquished permanently the ample and well-earned salary of the generalship, and resigned your accumulating years to the chance mercies of a precarious existence. By this present fatiguing progress through the land; by the sight of your honored face; by the wisdom of your words; and by the magic of your name, you are contributing a share whose magnitude cannot be overestimated, toward saving your country once more-this time from dishonor and shame, and from industrial disaster. You are now a private citizen, but private employments are closed against you because your name would be used for speculative purposes , and you have refused to permit that. But your country will reward you, never fear. When Wellington won Waterloo, a battle about on a level with some dozen of your victories, sordid England tried to pay him for that service with wealth and grandeur; she made him a Duke, loaded him with minor and yet great and shining dignities, and gave him a sum of money equivalent, at present values, to $4,000,000. If you had done and suffered for any other country what you have done and suffered for your own, you would have been affronted in the same sordid way; but thank God this vast and rich and mighty Republic is imbued to the core with a delicacy which...

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