et his impressions. In his mature manhood he was short
and slender without being meagre, erect and firm in his shoes. His
hair was abundant, if somewhat frosty, his forehead fair but not full;
his eyes bluish gray; and his mouth as changeable as Scotch weather.
If in front his head seemed small, in profile its capacity was
evident, for the horizontal measure from the eyes backward was long.
If the base of the brain is the seat of its motive power, his should
not be wanting in force. An axe that is to fell an oak must have
weight back of the socket.

In repose his clear-cut and shaven lips indicated firmness and prompt
decision, a self-contained nature, well-reasoned and settled opinions;
but when he spoke, or was deeply interested, or when his eyes began to
kindle, his mouth became wonderfully expressive. There was a swift
play upon his features, a mobility which told of a sensitive and
delicate nature. And those features were so sharply designed, free
from the adipose layers and cushions that round so many faces into
harmonious vacuity. His smile was fascinating and communicative; you
were forced to share his feelings. His welcome was hearty, and
sometimes breezy; you felt it in his sympathetic hand-grasp as well as
in his frank speech. When conversation was launched he was more than
fluent; there was a fulness of apt words in new and predestined
combinations; they flowed like a hill-side brook, now bubbling with
merriment, now deep and reflective, like the same current led into a
quiet pool. Poetic similes were the spontaneous flowering of his
thought; his wit detonated in epigrams, and his fancy revelled in the
play of words. His courtesy, meanwhile, was unfailing; a retort never
became a club in his hands to brain an opponent, nor did he let fly
the arrows which sting and rankle. His enunciation was clear, but
rapid and resistless. Whoever heard him at his best came to wonder if
there had ever been another man so thoroughly alive, in whom every
fibre was so fine and tense.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT MEN AND FAMOUS WOMEN, VOL. 7
OF 8***

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