Lesley.] *±£A. [March 5, 



concisely expressed, after a close and systematic statement of all the facts 

 of the case after personal examination. He impressed every one with the 

 feeling thai they were dealing with a man who professed to know only 

 certain tilings, and to know these because he had used or made opportuni- 

 ties for learning them well, before he spoke of them. His uprightness was 

 so evidently ingrained that it seemed to hold no relations with either an 

 educated sense of duty, public opinion, or business interests; and the per- 

 fect straightforwardness with which he treated everything and everybody 

 gave to his carriage and demeanor the air of nobility. 



These traits of character with which I could not help being greatly im- 

 pressed during our voyage, and which merely made me at that time look 

 upon my companion of a week as one of the finest specimens of man I 

 would be likely to encounter, became in after years the basis of a warm 

 friendship between us. 



In the following year I was called upon to designate the Superintendent 

 of an extensive colliery near Wilkesbarre, to equip which it was neces- 

 sary to make both sinkings and buildings, lay railways and throw a large 

 bridge across the Susquehanna river. I was fortunate enough to induce 

 Mr. Harden to accept th« responsible position, and he took this oppor- 

 tunity to settle with his sons in America. Had his accident of 1863 not 

 implanted the seeds of paralysis in his brain, we should not now be 

 lamenting the long sufferings and death of a remarkable man ; for, during 

 a number of years he acquired a reputation among our coal and iron men, 

 which would have placed him foremost among professional experts of 

 Mining Engineering in Pennsylvania. 



His physical energy and endurance so well supported his intellectual 

 ability ; his long experience was so completely at the command of a good 

 judgment ; the warmth of his heart colored so charmingly his inflexible 

 and proud integrity ; while natural force of will and earnestness of pur- 

 pose made his executive plans rapid and direct, and his methods so 

 thoroughgoing as to be the reverse of that penny-wise pound-foolish, 

 hand to mouth manner so common with Americans, — that life alone failed 

 to the establishment of his fame among us. 



Such was the man whose name stands worthily on the list of members 

 of our Society. 



