d
that he saw, days of prosperity for himself, for his party, for the
commonwealth and for the country. His interest in the fortunes of the
laboring classes was a permanent interest, and they are largely
indebted to him for the passage of the eight-hour law by the Congress
of the United States. Not infrequently his thoughts and schemes were
too vast for realization. While the contest in Kansas was going on,
he suggested an organization of capitalists for the purchase of the
low-priced lands in Delaware, then a sale to Northern farmers and the
conversion of Delaware into a free State.

His studies in law had been fragmentary and superficial, and nature had
not endowed him with all the qualities that are essential to the
successful lawyer. His reading on the literary side was considerable,
especially in the Spanish language. Early in life he accepted the idea
that our relations with the Spanish race were to be intimate in a not
far off future. He was a careful observer of character, and of
conditions in affairs, and in a free debate he was never in peril of
being overmatched. Of a mutual friend and an associate in politics
he said: "He has no serious side to his character--a defect that has
been the bane of many otherwise able men."

When the coalition came into power Banks was made speaker of the
Massachusetts House of Representatives. Wilson was president of the
Senate and I was in the office of Governor. In an evening stroll with
Banks around Boston Common, engaged in a survey of public affairs,
he changed the conversation suddenly with the remark: "It's almighty
queer that the people of this commonwealth have put their government
into the hands of men who have no last and usual place of abode." The
pertinency of this remark is to be found in the facts to which it was
applicable. There were some men of wealth in the Coalition Party but
the three places that I have named were held by men who were destitute
of even the means of well-to-do mechanics and tradespeople.

Mr. Banks had power in repartee which made him a formidable adversary
in parliamentary debate. When he was a mechanic at Waltham he took
an active part in temperance meetings. At one of the meetings a
Unitarian clergyman of conservative leanings, made a speech in which he
criticized the speeches and said finally: "I do not attend the
meetings because I cannot approve of what I hear said." He then
referred to Mr. Banks as a young man who w