The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-04-13

Underlying Conservatism the Secret of His
The follow ing sketch of Speaker Reed
appeared in the Boston Journal of yester.
day. 1t was written by Judge j. W. Sy-
monds of this city. though in the Journ.
al it is signed J. A. Symonds. mistake
in the middle initial:
There is somewhere a saying of Elmer.
son think it is in the volume upon Rep.
resentative Men, that for the companions
| OF our childhood to turn out to be great
| men does not surprise US. II is easy and
| natural to believe in greatness whenever
and wherever it appears.
| 10 few men of our history or of ou1
| times does the deep meaning OF this say
ing OF the great New England author
have clearer or truer applicationthan to
the distinguished man who now, in the
| very glow OF personal triumph such as
few public men at any period have the
Speaker of our House of Representatives.
Ii you so among those who were with
| him and who knew him as bow. Won
Will find that the future has broue ht
forth has in it no element of surprise fol-
them. A boyhood that won the hearts
of all who knew 1t by it's simple fidelity
and fervor, by the loftipess of its aims.
| ~ - oOA Va oAuln OCIl1lk llIlIu6uSlLy OIL lJS
native resources, has opened into the
| beauty of his private life and character,
into the strength and statelinsss Of his
Epublic career, by process as steady and
continuous as that by which the oak
shapes itself in its growth. Whatever
may have been the accidents of external
fortune In his mental history there have
been no sharp contrasts, no sudden viois-
situdes.
No hoyhood ever more glowed with the
dream of greatness, IN &C.
ton, of high conduct and service and
usefulness In the world of men. None
ever more patiently bided its time, ac-
oumulating from all intellectual regions
the vast resources which tho future was
to charge with power. None ever kept it's
eye liked more steadily upon the goal OF
trod the pathway to the goal with frmer
or surer step.
No boyhood az it passed by ever left
behind it moro shining example of
truthfulness to itself and to others. of
uprightness, virtue, honor, of the sway
of high motives and noble sentiments
over it's whole course. There was no
waste of time and no hurry. To stranq-
there was always the aspiring min and
the consciousness of power, and If the step
were sometimes slow it was still the stem
of the giant.
He was not wealthy-he was poor. But
his severe methods seemed to bring
within his reach all the advantages
wealth can afford young man. He
never INDUCED in an extravaganza that
could cripple his independence or mort
gage the labor of tomorrow TO make 1t
good. All he wanted of money was to
give him pportunity-opportun
"mightiar than conquerors and proph-
ets;" and self-denial self-restraint, self
control and self-reliance, q high minded
economy and exactness in expenditure,
diligence and industry that never tagged,
were the instruments by which he wrung
from the narrowness of his situation the
golden opportunities of his youth, which
we're the prelude and the preparation for
the work of the future.
In the Portland High school he had an
excellent preparation for college, and en-
tered Bowdoin in the fall of 1856 Not
withdrawing range of almost universal
reading, Notwithstanding he liked to pur-
sue his own aims in his own way, and so
made wide and frequent excursions from
the prescribed course, he WAS still at
graduation among the very first of his
class in the scholarship required. Ii is