Morning journal and courier., 1881-12-28

found him, when questions of the past were before us, ready to bring forth from the storehouse of his recolIections those minute details and that freshness of living fact which contain within them the reality of his tory. He seems, from his earliest years, to have seized upon all that he heard from per-. sons who were older than himself, and to have laid it aside in his mind for use at any
 moment. His remembrance was in this way prolonged, if we may so express 1t, over period of half century or more before the time of his birth It was thus enabled to realize for himself and for us the earlier life of New England, and in high degree that
 of the city where he and we have found our I home His reading, also, carried him back l into the more distant past Here, again, the accuracy of memory brought everything into | his lasting possession He was an authority with regard to historical facts and dates l He had most lively interest in all that was l interesting in every period and in every land. 1 He eomprehended and entered sympatheti- l cally into the struggles of other ages, and, while he lived with an enthusiasm for the l present beyond that of most men who know 1 little of what is behind it, he fired the ener- l gies of his spirit by the example of the he- l roes and martyrs of liberty and of faith. | am sure that the men who fought for their
 rights against tyranny and oppression in 1 England two centuries ago and more would have recognized him as kindred spirit, and would have seen in him, as he carried on the conflict in this later day, the influence of l their own lives. Truly, we have lost in his | dying much of the past; much which had been within his own experience; much more l which was so made a reality through his ! memory of what he had heard and read, that 1 it seemed as if he must have experienced it.
 I feel that the world has, in a certain sense, I grown younger to us all than 1t was a few Il days ago, from the passing away of what 1 was in his recollection.
 ! How quickly, also, his mind moved. He ! had more new and fresh thoughts in day, ' we may almost say, than most men, even 1 men of culture, have in a week. l never ! knew mind more rich in ideas, more con- l stantly active, more awake in every direc- | tion, more ready to effervesce and scintillate ! with bright thoughts, when aroused by the excitement of intelligent conversation. As \ St. Paul's ideas seem to have pressed for ut- terance, oftentimes, more rapidly than the pen of his amanuensis could record them, so in the case of our friend. I have sometimes \ felt that the mind was unable to contain all I that was in it, and that, as he poured forth his thought in abundance, he was, as it were, only thinking aloud He was not, however, like some men, constant talker. He could be silent in the contentment of his own med ! itation as easily as he could speak But he 1 needed only to be stimulated by the presence and discussion of cultivated friends, and his mind opened at once in every beautiful way. The rich resources of memory, the precision
 of his mind, the play of keen wit, the love of
 truth, the purity of sentiment, the facility of I language, which were characteristic of him, l all combined to make the expression of his thoughts delightful to the nearer.
 There are few persons within the circle of our knowledge, am confident, who exhibit in their style so much of rhetorical finish and
 of the purest English expression. Every
 sentence, whether written or spoken, appeared to fall, as by natural law, into the pro per order and to assume rich musical character, kindred even to that which has given to the ! English version of the Scriptures such power over multitudes of minds. It was this, in large measure, together with his apprecia- tive sense of what was fitting, which made us all trust him in any emergency to say the
 right words in the right way. What sweet and solemn strain, as if coming down the I ages from the times even of the old proph- cts, there was in his prayers. What meas
 ured eIoquence in his best discourses from
 the pulpit and in his orations on the memorial
 and festive days of the commonwealth. What 1 8 charming picturesqueness when he told of the simple life of our grandfathers or of the
 trying times of our revolutionary history.
 We turned to him, as by a unanimous ina pulse, whenever the spirit of patriotism was
 to be fired. or the gratitude of the people to
 God for our national blessings was to find its best expression, because we knew that his
 words would be ftly spoken,-would be, in
 the language of the Old Testament writer, like apples of gold in pictures of silver. The grand march of the ages appears, also, in some of his hymns, as in that which opens 1 with the words,
 | Our exiled fathers crossed the sea
 | And when they trod the wintry strand,
 ! With prayer and psalm they worshiped Thee :"
 and the true poetic and tender emotion,
 which was so marked in his nature, mani
 fests itself in others, such as that whose be- ginning is
 | Weep not for the saint that ascends
 | To partake of the joys of the sky"
 or the hymn for the evening twilight,
 ! ''Hail, tranquil hour of closing day"
 | This last mentioned characteristic of his
 mind was most beautifully exhibited-as SC many here present know better than anyone
 can tell them-in those seasons of sorrow
 when he was called, in the households of his
 people, to do for the dead what we
 are now doing for him. shall
 never forget the pathos and Christian tender
 ness and sweet utterance of hope and conf \ dence with which he guided our thoughts
 along the uncertain future of life, and to the
 Kingdom of God in Heaven, as we were cele
 brating the Lords Supper in the Divinity
 school at the close of the last college year
 It was at about that time that the first warn ings were given to his mind that he might CT, long be called away to another life, and h,
 may have been thinking then of what ha
 now been realized.
 With what brilliancy of intelligence, wha strength of clear reasoning, what effective
 ness of wit, what manliness of free debate, h. contended for righteousness and truth, whel the battle was raging around him. Ther . have been few statesmen in the countr. who have sounded the clarion notel
 so often as he has done. Ther , are many in this house wht recall the old days of the contes between the slave power and the free in ou 1 nation-especially in the latter stages of it l and where, in all the land, is there a nor, conspicuous figure rising before our memo " of that warfare then this honored mal , whom we bury to-day? He would have ac | complshed the end by peaceful measures i
 he could. But when he saw there was nt , peace, that there was to be and must be war of ideas, he threw himself with energ, } and with eloquence into the strife. And when the conflict of argument was followed by the war of arms, his voice and his hear , were wholly and constantly for the countr, } until the hour when victory was secured fo ! the right. He was a true patriot. It ha , been said that his writings established Abra ham Lincoln in his opposition to the slav system and thus we may gain some estimat 1 of what he accomplished for the good cause
 We speak in his praise at this hour, fo , 1 what he did in those days now happily gon } into the past. But, when we are thinking O him as a man, we rejoice that among tn
 
 ship are the powers of heart and mind whicl ) made him, then and always, what he was il l the warfare for the truth.
 7 In his stormiest conflict with the enemie of right and the common veal, however, l do not believe that our venerated friend haa 5 any personal bitterness. He had a dee] sense of righteousness, strong conviction o the truth. But his opposition was t. what was false and wrong. It wa 3 not @ private hostility. He was genuine lover of freedom. He had the courag 8 of soldier when he had once committe' t | himself to the battle. He even gloried il : being present in the thiekest of the fight 3 with all it's excitement and it's danger. Ye : it was the cause that he fought for, not hi : own reputation. He was as little inspire' f by selishness or ignoble feeling as any ma 8 whom have ever met.
 3 In the conflicts on less vital subjects thal g the one just mentioned it has often been tn l play and force of his intellect alone whic ? have been engaged. He was always, n f doubt, 6 formidable controversialist. He re t ioiced in debate and discussion and wa
 ok1 Tl.-L l.,