Daily Los Angeles herald., 1878-11-28
Tribute to Gen. Howard.

California for whom we have a
hearty and spontaneous admira-
ton, it is for old Gen. Howard.
He Is characterized by the clearest
ideas and the crispest speech of any
public man of our acquaintance.
We take, from the San Francisco
Post Of Tuesday, the following etch-
lug of our esteemed fellow citizen,
who is undoubtedly one of the
leading spirits of the Constitution
al Conventions:
Having gotten rid of the prelm-
mary matters, l shall proceed to
exasperate the reader to the highest
pitch endurable by telling him
what grand time we had in the
way Of ofatory Mr.. Howard ,on
saturday, continued the discussion
of the 18Th, 19lh aud 20h seclioLs
of the report of The Committee on
Corporations-including, of course,
the amendment to the 18Th. Tie
speech occupied the time Of the
morning session, appropriated to
debate, and 'lsp an hour and tweuty
minutes of the session this after
noon. But must tell my readers
something in patticulaf about this
extraordinary man.
voLNEY E HOWARD
Was born in the State Of Maine in
the year l8O9, and he is therefore
now nearly seventy years of age.
graduated, and was admitted to
the bar in that State. He then
went to Mississippi, and in 1886 was
elected to tile Legislature La 1888
he was appointed Surveyor Gen
eral He was reporter ot the Su-
preme Court from 1887 10 1912, dur
ing which time he wrote seven vol.
umes of reports. He moved to
Texas in l845 and was soon there
after elected Delegate to the Con-
stitutional Convention of that
State. He was also member of
Congress from that State for two
sessions. He came to California in
1853, aud has continued to practice
law ever since.
Now, my dear reader, | consider
it piece of good fortune to have
seen and heard man with all that
history behind him. And now |
will tell you how he looked as he
stood at the head of the aisle, near
the Clerks desk. Howard is about
five. feet eight inches In height.
He is portly, with slight stoop,
but very agile. He has cleanly
shaved face, with a good head Of
hair, not yet wholly gray. His
nose is straight, his lips thin, his
ears medium sized, aud he has the
eye of an eagle. He has as amiable
aud wiusome face as | wish to
see, but thuuders and ltghtniGgs
lie behind that sunny face. He is
not precise in his dress ana evil
IDENTIFY spends but little time on his
toilet, though he is far from being
slovenly. He stands quietly aud
gracefully, with both hands in his
pockets. bows sharply to his audi
enee and begins in "a deliberate and
stlf-containe,i manner. He re-
tanned his calmuess aud supreme
self-command to the end, even
WbCb EICW at III altu itINlU.
His gestures were simple but al
ways Impressive. Occasionally he
struck the palm Of his left hand
with the lingers of his right hand,
then with his clenched fist. Then
lie would bring both. open haud- to
gether, as If about to clap, aud
then he would push out his right
arm, as II tntent On striking some-
body from the shou der with IL
clenched fist, but his hands are too
delicate to do much mischief. Now
and then he would walk nbou in
a meditative manner. His pauses
were numerous and effective. |
| must confess that | was fascinated
with the supreme dignity, the NJ
pressiveness aud elegance of his
| bearing.
HIS SOFT MUSICAL VOICE
Was sustained to the end without
hoarseuess or single break. The
compass of his voice would be ex-
traordinary even in u young man;
it il certainly astonishing in man
of 70 years.
1NbW tu5 iGadGI iusG Oedl III
mind til 1t this youthful old man
was as natural in everything as al
Innocent, unsophisticated lamb
| know thus sinlile is all wrong,
mira dig, in fact, and that I viii be
laughed at, but wnen u lion emu
lates, without knowing it. the sim
plicity of q harmless lamb, be be
comes magui fieeut. / therefore
stand by my simile-Howard has
the manners of Il lamh, but the
claws of u lion. He has the rich
est and most copious vocabulary of
any man in the Convention, and
he never uses rough or an un-
eouth word, unless for the express
purpose of making au impression.
He was rich in those words that
have not wholly lost their figura
tive character, and this popularity
made his speech exceedingly de-
lightful to the fancy, BIT his tull
metaphors aud quickly drawn pic
lures made his speech beautifui as
the Sierras.
Let me explain. I have travelled
along the crest of the Sierras from
Tahoe nearly to Mount Shasta, and
there is Que characteristic rarely
ever seen else ewhere. To the righl
and left, through the open lines ol
columnar pines, open wonderful
. vistas, enchanting meadows, blue
cations, small lakes and distant val
leys. These vistas come to The
traveller suddenly and unexpected
ly, aud they fill the soul with ex
ceeding Joy-a joy unspeakabe
So it was with Huward's speech. A
sentence, @ phrase, would open III
vistas, pictures, man in mist
q victim bound, u wrong righted
a ETC., etc. [ do not know whethe
> Howard attempted to accomplish
these results or not, but they came
nevertheless. Tom Corwin, o
+ Ohio, would often produce these Re
j suits, and Howard equaled him il
D Ia