The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-06-08
N HOLLAND

New York, June 7.-(Sp Special.e--At the head of the great stairway which leads from the main floor of the Union League club to the library, a portrait of Gen. Horace Porter was hung few days before his death The painter has caught and placed upon the can vas the familiar and characteristic expression which even in moments of excitement dominated General Por- ter's features. IL seemed almost as though the pictured lips would part to speak. Chauncey M- Depew stood for many minutes on the day of Cen eral Porter,s death before this por- trait. He was mach affected by it. He said that it was true likeness of a great American and one with whom he had been in intimate friendship for many years. He turned his face for moment to conceal his emotion and then, mastering himself, said sadly. My friend has gone, and I, three years his elder, have been left"
 Depew, Joseph H. Chozte and Gen eral Porter were distinguished group of three of the generation that has passed who had gained national reptus ton and who represented not only much that was best in New York city, but also in the United States, Of these three, Depew alone remains and there is no promise of succession to these three in the generation which is now taking the place of the older gen eration of which a few venerable men remain.
 General Porter possessed perhaps the most. acute. intellect of any of
 tho three. He differed greatly in many respects from the other two with whom his name had been so fre- ouently associated. All were masters of one form or another of public speech. Each reached his highest power as an orator by methods which distinguished each from the others. No
 man 1abored with more intense con centration of mind while preparing the sentences which he was to deliver in public than General Porter. He carved each sentence as the sculptor carves tho marble. He aimed at per-
 feet concentration into the simplest
 form of a thought which he believed
 to be worthy of utterance, and as he always thought conciscly so his sem
 tences were many times of iepisra-
 matic form. He avoided the long sen
 tcnce and he was almost needlessly. critical in his choice of words.
 A Character of His Intellect
 This. however, was characteristic of
 the intellect which distinguished Gen.
 eral Porter. In all his varied activi- ties as a soldier, as a director and promoter of railroads and as a diplo-
 mat, his mind operated exactly as It did when he prepared his. addresses. His only book, Campaigning With Grant" which will remain probably the classic story of the war, as Gen. eral Grant was identified with 1t and which admirably supplements General GrNnt's personal memoirs, was pre- pared with infinite toll. Yet go conn plete was the mastery of General Por- ter of the art of composition that the
 report which he made in this book or the campaign with Grant reveals not
 the slightest hint of the labor which
 was bestowed upon it. General Porter understood both ths
 art and the science of politics. out never cared to play the game. Ills in- tensity of purpose and persistency were revealed when others having failed to obtain the money needed 10
 secure on the banks of the Hudson the resting place of General Grant, Gen [
 eral Porter set out upon this mission and in a few days was in possession of the needed funds.
 An interesting and instructive re port could be made af General Pog- rer.s ma asterly handling ofcerta.n rail- road problems. His triumph was so great as 70 bring him substantial for tune. Ii was a common possession Of these three distinguished Am ericans that all were gifted with a sense of humor and the capacity for wit. Choxte chuckled and even sloried in
 his wit. With Depew the expression was more In the form of ,humor than l wit, but. 1t came sponianeousiy. Gen. | erary Porter. solemn face, 2 peculiar, l grim expressfon, which always accom- 1 nanied his flashes of brilliant wit and the charm of his humorous sallusions 1 undoubtedly added 10 the effeet which | he sought to produce.
 | UnIike Chcate or Depew. General Porter saw severe service in the war l And 1t was. a stlcnt testimony to that l SC rvice which was given when his sword and army hat were placed on \ his coffin on the day of the funeral N Many have been told that General Por- Her was the survivor of the historic ! me eting hstwesn General Grant and I General Lce at Appomattox, That 1 however. was not correct. Encoln's
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