Lesley.] [Feb. 21, 



and close acquaintance with him were not words, but things ; not theo- 

 retical, but practical ; and of these things I could reveal many instances 

 not known to nor suspected by others. He had an exceedingly sweet and 

 gentle nature. Had it not been for these fundamental and innate princi- 

 ples of character his irritable, nervous temperament would have done 

 him and others a world of mischief. His master passion, I think, was the 

 desire of fame ; he loved above all things to be correctly understood and 

 well and widely esteemed, but I never knew him to sacrifice either truth 

 or justice to this passion ; and I have often had occasion to wonder at the 

 pleasure which he took, in the most child-like way, in the genuine fame 

 of other men, even when they were his competitors. He had the great good 

 fortune of possessing ambition as a virtue and not as a vice ; and the line 

 which his ambition took was a conduct in life having for its object the 

 establishment of a universal confidence not so much in his ability as in 

 his trustworthiness. It was successful. All worthy men who knew him 

 well came to the point of trusting him implicitly, and the satisfaction he 

 took in this was touching to those who loved him, it was so nai've, so 

 simple hearted, so truly beautiful. 



In this Society, among whose members are so many religious men, I 

 can venture to add that Mr. Ashburner was a religious man without 

 derogating from his reputation as a philosopher. He was a zealous Pro- 

 testant Episcopalian, and, when a young man, " was an active worker in 

 Trinity Church, West Philadelphia, showing great ability as a teacher of 

 a large men's Bible class ; and, when he moved to Pittsburgh, he became 

 at once connected with Calvary Church." I quote, these words from The 

 Churchman as part of the record of his life. The writer goes on to say : 

 "Here, as elsewhere, and in everything he did, he illustrated how a 

 scientific student can be an earnest Christian believer, and an indefatigable 

 man of business can find time to do Christian work and show an interest 

 in all Church matters. It was characteristic alike of his nature, thougtit- 

 fulness and Christian character, that one of his last acts, when death was 

 fast approaching, was to send a contribution to his rector to be used for 

 benevolent purposes ; and his devout spirit is equally attested in the fact 

 that he received with quiet joy just before he died the memorial of his 

 Lord's death." 



Of all this I know nothing as a churchman and nothing from my per- 

 sonal intercourse with him, for we never broached between us a single 

 bottle of that hot wine, theology; I respecting the genuine spiritual con- 

 victions of a young man born and bred in "The Church," and he know- 

 ing perfectly that I accepted no creed for more than a human invention, 

 and thought no better of a good man who taught an Episcopalian Bible 

 class than of a good man who sent in. an exact record of an oil-well boring. 

 It was quite enough for me to know that he was growing year by year 

 into the likeness of the man Christ Jesus ; and for him, that he knew that 

 1 knew it. On that basis, all our intercourse proceeded happily. And on 

 that basis, I feel sure, rose slowly and steadily the fine structure of his 



