396 Edward Livingston Youmans. 



Himself one of the plain people, as Abraham Lin- 

 coln used to call them, he knew what they were and 

 what they wanted. In concluding our survey of his 

 life, what impresses us most, I think, is the broad 

 democratic spirit and the absolute unselfishness which 

 it reveals at every moment and in every act. To Ed- 

 ward Youmans the imperative need for educating the 

 great mass of the people so as to use their mental 

 powers to the best advantage came home as a living, 

 ever-present fact. He saw all that it meant and means 

 in the raising of mankind to a higher level of thought 

 and action than that upon which they now live. To 

 this end he consecrated himself with unalloyed devo- 

 tion ; and we who mourn his loss look back upon his 

 noble career with a sense of victory, knowing how the 

 good that such a man does lives after him and can 

 never die. 



