ally, a disciple
and a co-worker.

If Wilson had lived, in my opinion, it is quite likely that
he would have been the Republican candidate for the Presidency
in 1876, and would have been triumphantly elected. There
was a very powerful movement going on all over the country
to bring that about. Wilson's hold upon the affection of
the people everywhere was very strong indeed.

Wilson became Vice-President of the United States, March 4,
1873. He died two years afterward. I was asked to write
the inscription for a tablet placed in the Vice-President's
Room in the Capitol by order of the Senate in 1902. It follows
here.

IN THIS ROOM
HENRY WILSON
VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
DIED NOVEMBER 22 1875.
THE SON OF A FARM LABORER, NEVER AT
SCHOOL MORE THAN TWELVE MONTHS, IN
YOUTH A JOURNEYMAN SHOEMAKER, HE
RAISED HIMSELF TO THE HIGH PLACES OF
FAME, HONOR AND POWER, AND BY UNWEARIED
STUDY MADE HIMSELF AN AUTHORITY IN THE
HISTORY OF HIS COUNTRY AND OF LIBERTY,
AND AN ELOQUENT PUBLIC SPEAKER TO
WHOM SENATE AND PEOPLE EAGERLY
LISTENED. HE DEALT WITH AND CONTROLLED
VAST PUBLIC EXPENDITURE DURING A GREAT
CIVIL WAR, YET LIVED AND DIED POOR, AND
LEFT TO HIS GRATEFUL COUNTRYMEN THE
MEMORY OF AN HONORABLE PUBLIC SERVICE,
AND A GOOD NAME FAR BETTER THAN RICHES.

CHAPTER XIV
PERSONALITIES IN DEBATE

I have been, in general, enabled to avoid angry conflicts
in debate or the exchange of rough personalities. My few
experiences of that kind came from attacks on Massachusetts,
which I could not well avoid resenting. The only two I now
think of happened in my first term. In one case, Mr. S.
S. Cox of New York, who was one of the principal champions
on the Democratic side of the House, a man noted for his wit,
undertook to make an attack on the Massachusetts Puritans,
and to revive the old slander that they had burned witches.
I made some slight correction of what Mr. Cox had said but
he renewed the attack. I was then comparatively unknown in
the House. Mr. Cox treated me with considerable contempt,
and pointing to Mr. Dawes, who had charge of the bill then
under discussion, but who had not given any reply to Cox's
attack, said, with a contemptuous look at me: "Massachusetts
does not send her Hector to the field," to which I answered
that it was not necessary to send Hector to the field when
the attack was led by Thersites. The retort seemed to strike
the House favorably, and was printed in the papers througho