FRANCIS CABOT LOWELL. 901 



Struggle between President Johnson and Charles Sumner so fixed his 

 attention that he formed an ambition to be some day a Senator of the 

 United States — a youthful dream that might well have been gratified 

 had he not accepted a seat on the bench. Most normal boys have 

 visions of holding great places in the world, and this one would not be 

 worth recalling were it not that it showed already a sense of reality, a 

 capacity for observing political facts, rare at that age. In later years 

 he maintained that, at the time of Johnson's administration, he was 

 quite justified in thinking an influential Senator more important than 

 the President. 



In boyhood he was so large as to outgrow to some extent his strength, 

 and although he rode a horse, fished, and sailed a boat well, — and 

 indeed was an excellent boatman throughout his life, — he took little 

 part in the rougher competitive sports, such as baseball and football, 

 which throw boys together. 



In 1872 he passed the examinations for admission to Harvard 

 College with honors in every subject in which honors could be obtained; 

 but on account of his health, which was believed to be delicate, he did 

 not go to Cambridge until the next year when he joined his class as 

 a sophomore. While he never complained of his fortune at any period 

 of his life, he always had a feeling that this delay at the outset did 

 not give him a quite fair start in his college career. In fact, it was a 

 couple of years before his classmates appreciated his merit and his 

 force; but in time these were recognized and in his senior year he 

 was chosen to preside at the meeting called for the discordant busi- 

 ness of choosing class officers. In scholarship he naturally ranked 

 high, graduating with honors in History, and the confidence of 

 the authorities in his ability was shown by his being selected to fill 

 a sudden vacancy in writing a Commencement Part with only a few 

 days' notice. 



After graduating he spent a 3'ear in travel over Europe, returning 

 to enter the Law School, where he was from the outset one of the 

 leading men. The beginning of active life in the world was not wholly 

 promising, for he had not the push or the good luck to attract business. 

 He was for eighteen 3'ears in practice at the bar, first with the writer 

 of this memoir, and later with Frederic J. Stimson also, who joined 

 the firm in 1891. In all the intercourse of the office he was the most 

 considerate, generous and wise of partners; but the clients were not 

 numerous, and in fact the amount of work was neither exacting nor 

 highly remunerative. He was not, however, discouraged, for he had 

 within himself other resources. In the early years of practice the 



