54 



THE MUSEUM 



teemed friend, as they listened to the 

 funeral oration delivered by Mr. 

 Thomas Vickers, one of his nearest 

 friends, who had promised to act the 

 part that Mark Antony had done to- 

 ward his dear friend Ctesar. 



Mr. Vickers feelingly responded as 

 follows: 



Dear Friends: There is no one of 

 us who does not feel that all words 

 are inadequate on an occasion like 

 this, whether their object be consola- 

 tion or the expression of one's appre- 

 ciation of the worth of a friend. And 

 yet I could not refuse to say a word of 

 leave-taking at the departure of one 

 whom I have known so long. It was 

 his own request often repeated that I 

 should do so. 



I can not think that it troubled our 

 friend how most men would speak of 

 him, when he himself had become si- 

 lent. He was a man singularly self- 

 poised and self-centered in a noble 

 sense, and yet kind and true, and a 

 strong lover of his friends. So that, 

 on the other hand, I can well imagine 

 him wishing that the sympathetic 

 voice of a friend might be heard at 

 his bier. Our friendship began not in 

 private interest, but in a desire for 

 public good and a common love of 

 knowledge; thus it has survived many 

 changes and long absences, notwith- 

 standing wide diversities of taste and 

 work. 



He was not a man who followed 

 beaten paths; for he well knew that 

 they are the really dangerous ones to 

 him who is in pursuit of truth. It was 

 said of old that "we perish by other 

 men's examples." It is always easier 

 to follow than to lead He did not 

 choose the easy way. He cared noth- 

 ing for the toil and the difficulty. He 

 preferred to scale the heights and view 

 the prospect himself, rather than de- 

 pend upon the report of others. He 

 was a born investigator, a man of crit- 

 ical and judicial mind, which yielded 

 assent only to personal conviction. 

 He was essentially a man of sound un- 

 derstanding; of strong and massive in- 



dividuality; faithful to his own best 

 thought; but not narrow, intolerant or 

 exclusive. A man himself, marked 

 and powerful, he respected manhood 

 in others, and did not insist that they 

 should traverse life's ocean according 

 to the chart which he had constructed 

 for himself. Thus he was broad in his 

 sympathies, and catholic in spirit. 

 Capable of intense feeling, especially 

 when aroused by a sense of wrong or 

 injustice, he was nevertheless gentle 

 and companionable as a child. 



He had the indominable resolution 

 of a fearless mind, and the serene and 

 cheerful disposition that comes from 

 faith in honest work. He was simple- 

 hearted, and of simple habits, with a 

 supreme contempt for sham and pre- 

 tension. He was utterly devoid of os- 

 tentation; a man of luminous intellect, 

 but with no desire to shine, and wholly 

 indifferent to the plaudits of the 

 thoughtless multitude. He was su- 

 perior to all low ambitions, and there- 

 fore free from all the cares that attend 

 them. The love of office had no se- 

 ductions for him, and so he never de- 

 parted from the path of rectitude to 

 obtain one. I have known no man 

 who would have had a better right to 

 apply to himself the grand words of 

 Seneca: "I will live and die with this 

 testimony — that I loved good studies 

 and a good conscience, that I never in- 

 vaded another man's library, and that 

 I preserved my own." 



I have known the man whose earth- 

 ly form lies before us intimately for 

 almost 30 years, and have discussed 

 with him many things of more than 

 passing interest; but I do not know 

 what he thought of those things which 

 many regard as the only real problems 

 of life and death. Nor was I curious 

 to inquire. I know that he agreed 

 with all good men everywhere that vir- 

 tue does not dwell upon the tip of the 

 tongue, but in the temple of a pure 

 heart. I know that he valued himself 

 most upon his conscience, upon his 

 integrity as a man, upon his constancy 

 as a friend, and his honor as a citizen. 



