Year: 1869

nal, who had conversation with the
late Edward Everett, OF Massachusetts,
while on journey from Cleveland to
Buffalo, says:


"I1e gave me an interesting page from
his history, connected with his addresses.
lie said that from the earliest start he
had been accustomed to commit to mem-
ory his speeches. In writing an address
he wrote page and then committed it.
If lie was about to visit II place where
there was the least probability of his
making an address, or speaking, he would
search for some historic event or matter
of local interest, write and commit. If
he was called to speak unawares, re pnt
his thoughts down Immediately after his
return home, and wrote out such speech
as he would have delivered. When he
was settled i'll Brattlcstreet Church, l}os-
ton, he was mere STRIPPING.


lie resolved to read nothing, but to
prepare his sermons with great Gaze and
commit them. Some of the elder mem-
bers of the flock were made nervous by
his temerity. Seeing a mere lad stand
up in the pulpit without scrap OF pa
per before him filled them with alarm
lest he should break down, and thus de-
stroy all their enjoyment. MIR. Everett
was requested to take notes with him III
the pulpit. Wishing to accommodate
his friends, and resolute in his purpose
not to read his sermons, he compromised
the matter He took into the pulpit a
sermon he was not preaching, and occa-
sionally turning over the leaves, quieted
the nerves of his anxious friends. Under
this constant and severe discipline his
memory became as tenacious, as supple,
and obedient as the fingers of well.
trained organist. The reading Of lee
ture or sermon twice enabled him to COM
nit it perfectly. He regarded the time
when he gave his celebrated Phi Beta ora
ton i'll the presence of Lafayette, as that
when he stood on the summit of success
as an orator.


The strength of Mr.. Choate's memory
was one of the most remarkable things
about that remarkable man. He not only
read everything, but lie remembered eve
rythng he read. He knew where the
book was in which the desired intorma
ton could he found, the very page, and
the precise location of the book in the
library where it happened to be. While
trying the celebrated sewing-machinC
case before Judge Woodbury., / heard
him request friend to go to the Athen
@um and get him volume of set pub
lished by Chambers. The article he
wanted was on the manufacture OF silk
lie described :he set, the room in which
it was kept, and the very spot i'll the Ii
brary where it could be found. He wrote
down nearly everything in case that he
could. The act of writing fastened TIL,
thing in his memory, and it was ready
for instant use.


In the trial of cause he kept two
sets of notes-one the testimony, tn,
othera digest and the argument. H'
was ready to argue case the moment
the testimony closed. His memory en-
abled him to talk on any subject intro
duced. lie was at home on the Blael
Letter Law, knew familiarly the intricate
English law of entail, and could discuss
the laws of any nation as intelligibly al
he could a common act of assault anC
battery. / walked with him from tn,
Court House, on Saturday previous t
the delivery of his celebrated eulogy oil
Webster, before Dartmouth College,
He had been all the week before the Uni
ted States Court conducting an intricat'
trial, the heat like that of tropical eli
mate. We went into the barbcr-shol
under the Bromfeld House, for he said


81 must be shampooned daily, or shoulC
die" The eulogy on Webster, think
was to be delivered on Tuesday.


This was Saturday, and the interven


ing Monday was TO be consumed in tn


journey TO Hanover ] said to him


"Of course, your eulogy on Webster j
completed" He drew himself up to hi
full height, and laying his hand gentl
on my shoulder, he said "Alr. --
as live, not a word of that eulogy
written" Yet it was delivered as an
ncunced-delivered without notes, full
written out and committed in the wr
, ting. knew one Instance in which h
{ completed his lecture at the office shor
time before the train started that was t


carry him to his appointment. He lei
5 the manuscript OH his desk, and gave th
> lecture he said as near veybqtuns as h
A desired to, and that without scrap bC
|, fore him. He was very careful of tn
. wording of his motions before the higl
|. er courts. His phraseelogy was alway
peculiar. Having written his motion o
scrap of paper, he usually crumpled
in his hand and threw it ON the floor q


he arose to address the Bench. l hay
{ frequently picked up these jottings, an


eo,ae of thom have 10 this day.