could be great if he did not know how to say
'No,' but I see he can; for certainly here is a great man, and he is too
kind-hearted to say 'No' in some cases where it should be said."

In person, Admiral Farragut was not above the medium size--about five
feet six and a half inches high, upright in carriage, well-proportioned,
alert and graceful in his movements. In early and middle life he was
rather slight than heavy in frame; and it was not until the war, with
the prolonged physical inactivity entailed by the river and blockade
service, that he took on flesh. Up to that time his weight was not over
one hundred and fifty pounds. He was very expert in all physical
exercises, and retained his activity to the verge of old age. Even after
his fiftieth year it was no unusual thing for him to call up some of the
crew of the ship under his command and have a bout with the
single-sticks. He felt great confidence in his mastery of his sword,
which he invariably wore ashore; and when returning to the wharves at
night, through low parts of a town where there was danger of
molestation, he relied upon it to defend himself. "Any one wearing a
sword," he used to say, "ought to be ashamed not to be proficient in its
use."

For many years it was his habit on his birthday to go through certain
physical exercises, or, as he worded it to a young officer of the fleet
shortly before passing the river forts, to take a handspring; until he
failed in doing this he should not, he said, feel that he was growing
old. This practice he did not discontinue till after he was sixty. A
junior officer of the Hartford writes: "When some of us youngsters were
going through some gymnastic exercises (which he encouraged), he
smilingly took hold of his left foot, by the toe of the shoe, with his
right hand, and hopped his right foot through the bight without letting
go." The lightness with which he clambered up the rigging of the
flag-ship when entering Mobile Bay, and again over the side to see the
extent of injury inflicted by the collision with the Lackawanna,
sufficiently prove that up to the age of sixty-three he was capable of
showing upon occasion the agility of a young man. This bodily vigor
powerfully supported the energy of his mind, and carried him from
daylight to dark, and from vessel to vessel of his fleet, in seasons of
emergency, to see for himself that necessary work was being done without
slackness; illustrating the saying attributed to We