PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 141 



him which his noble character, friendliness and unselfish- 

 ness made sure and constant. His friends were friends 

 for life. He never lost enthusiasm for his studies in 

 ornithology and was always making some real and true 

 additions to the sum of human knowledge in this inter- 

 esting science. His words were those of truth and his life 

 was simple, noble, honest. 



Among the articles which Mr. Boardman contributed 

 to the Calais Times during the last few years of his life 

 was a biographical sketch of his friend, the late James 

 Murchie of St. Stephen. The closing paragraph of that 

 fine article applies with great aptness to Mr. Boardman's 

 own life : "There was manifested in him none of the 

 decrepitude or petulance of old age. When last I saw 

 him, his face was sunshiny, for his 86 years had always 

 been maturing goodness. The length of his life is 

 neither magical nor mysterious, when we consider cer- 

 tain habits and dispositions which he possessed. He 

 lived simply and loved simplicity ; he was unostentatious, 

 industrious, frugal and democratic. Temperate in all 

 things, he was a later day Puritan, an improvement on 

 the old Puritan in that it adds cheer to a loyal devotion 

 to the right. His great age was beautiful simply because 

 his youth had been so ; his October was the natural 

 result of his May. His latter days had a magnificent 

 maturity because in his younger days he had always 

 sought that which was good. He was like one of those 

 glorious maples that we see in October, that nature 

 crowns as the resplendent monarch of the surrounding 

 forest." 



