For years I have followed General Gordon's course with constantly increasing interest, wonder, and admiration, and I have felt his death as a great personal bereavement. A Providential man, his mission in an unbelieving and selfish age revealed the mighty power of faith in God, self-abnegation, and the enthusiasm of humanity. For centuries no grander figure has crossed the disk of our planet. Unique, unapproachable in his marvelous individuality, he belongs to no sect or party, and defies classification or comparison. I should be sorry to see his name used for party purposes, for neither Conservative nor Radical has any special claim upon him... We Americans, in common with all English-speaking people, the world over, lament his death, and share his glorious memory.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "For years I have followed General Gordon's course with constantly increasing interest, wonder, and admiration, and I have felt his death as a great personal bereavement. A Providential man, his mission in an unbelieving and selfish age revealed the mighty power of faith in God, self-abnegation, and the enthusiasm of humanity. For centuries no grander figure has crossed the disk of our planet. Unique, unapproachable in his marvelous individuality, he belongs to no sect or party, and defies classification or comparison. I should be sorry to see his name used for party purposes, for neither Conservative nor Radical has any special claim upon him... We Americans, in common with all English-speaking people, the world over, lament his death, and share his glorious memory." in the context of "John Greenleaf Whittier to Charles C. Reed (4 March 1885), quoted in Samuel T. Pickard, Life and Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume II (1894), p. 706" to mean that wisdom is timeless.