Agnew.l ^db [Feb. 6, 



patch. No man more than he realized the truth of Bonar's expressive 

 lines : 



Our age is but the falling of a leaf, 

 A dropping tear, 



We have not time to sport away the hours, 



All must be earnest in a world like ours. 



Rising early in the morning he breakfasted, in summer, at six, and in 

 winter, at seven o'clock. Half an hour later he was in his study, and as 

 Hayden, when composing his "Creation," always addressed the Creator 

 before touching the cords of his instrument, so Dr. Beadle before beginning 

 the work of the day, reverently sought the aid and guidance of Him, who 

 is the source of all knowledge and wisdom. He never wrote after mid- 

 day, but held himself, after that time, ready for any interruption, profes- 

 sional or otherwise. He wrote with amazing rapidity, and always with the 

 old historic quill. No pauses were made in search of fitting words or for 

 the rearrangement of sentences. Unlike the sculptor, who, with ponder- 

 ous strokes first fashions from.the shapeless mass of marble a rude outline of 

 the figure in contemplation, reserving for the finer lines of force and ex- 

 pression a thousand repeated delicate touches of his chisel, Beadle never 

 stopped to redress or reconstruct. Whatever the subject, it had been thought 

 out and arranged, mentally, while on the wing here and there, and when 

 he came to the work of the study, the mental picture required for its visi- 

 bility only the mechanical movements of the hand. There is among his 

 many letters, written to me at various times, and from different places, 

 scarcely a single one in which either an erasure, or an interlinear word 

 can be found. His style was vigorous, compact, incisive, and remarkble 

 for perspicuity. Every thought was expressed in fitting language, and 

 with a purit}'- and elegance peculiarly his own. 



On the platform he was inimitable. It mattered not in what order he 

 was placed among speakers, first or last, he knew just how to gather up 

 and condense with marvelous tact the salient points of the occasion, and 

 without noisy declamation or a single unnecessary word, in a few polished, 

 fiery, and logically connected sentences, to strike the nail exactly on the 

 head. 



It is not common to find order associated with great energy and dis- 

 patch, yet this was notably the case in the character of Dr. Beadle. While 

 moving like a comet, there was nothing like hurry in his work. 



A facility for mere details tends greatly to contract or dwarf mental 

 power, but when joined with an executive push, the union cannot fail to 

 prove a potent force in the battle of life. At no time did this twin force 

 exhibit itself to greater advantage than when an invoice of minerals or 

 shells had been received, and when the contents of the boxes were spread 

 over the floor of his study in chaotic confusion. It was almost phenomenal 

 to find that in a few hours the hand of a master had, with magical celerity, 

 classified and relegated each specimen to its properplace, and that even the 

 dust had been cleared away with scrupulous care. His rooms were always 



