rk from him was ever a cinder in the eye of his
friend.

"He had a learning rare among public men, and, for its variety,
rare, I think, among scholars. He would bring out bits of
history, full of interest and instruction, from the most obscure
sources, in common conversation. He was an excellent Latin
scholar. He had read and mastered Tacitus, and a man who
has mastered Tacitus has had the best gymnastic training of
the intellect, both in vigor and style, which the resources
of all literature can supply.

"One secret of his great popularity with his companions here--
a popularity I think unexcelled, indeed, I incline to think
unequalled by that of any other man with whom I have served--
is that to which the late Justin Morrill owed so much. He
never debated. He rarely answered other men's arguments,
never with warmth or heat. But he was exceedingly tenacious
of his own opinion. He was, in the things he stood for, as
unyielding as flint and true as steel. But his flint or steel
never struck out a spark by collision with any other. He
spoke very rarely in debate in general; only when his official
place on his committee, or something which concerned his own
constituents especially, made speaking absolutely imperative.
Then he gave his opinion as a judge gives it, or as a delegate
to some great international council might be supposed to give
it; responsible for it himself, but undertaking no responsibility
for other men's opinion or conduct; never assuming that it
was his duty or within his power to convert, or change, or
instruct them, still less to chastise them. Whether that
way be the best way for usefulness in a deliberative body,
especially in a legislative body of a great popular government,
I will not undertake now to say. Certainly it is not the
common way here or elsewhere. It is very rare indeed, that
any man possessing the great literary and oratorical power
of Mr. Davis, especially a man to whom nobody ever thought
of imputing timidity or undue desire to enjoy public favor,
or want of absolute confidence in his own opinions, will be
found to refrain from employing these qualities to persuade
or convince other men.

"He had a rare and exquisite gift which, if he had been a
man of letters and not a man engaged in a strenuous public
life, would have brought him great fame. Once in a while
he said something in private, and more rarely, though once
or twice, in a public speech, which reminded yo