•ilO AUTHENTIC HISTORY 



looked on him bearing the burden of years, and stricken with disease, though he still 

 stood with eye undimmed and will undaunted, I may say that in his prime he was a 

 man physically well proportioned, muscular and strong, of clear and ruddy complexion, 

 with face and feature of great nobility and under perfect command and control. In 

 his youth and early manhood, notwithstanding his lameness, he entered with zest into 

 almost all of the athletic games and sports of the times. He was an expert swimmer 

 and an excellent, horseman. AVhen residing at Gettysburg he followed the chase, and 

 kept his hunters and hounds. 



On a recent visit to his iron works, I found the old mountain men garrulous with 

 stories of the risks and dangers of the bold rider, as with horse and hound he followed 

 the deer along the slopes and through the gaps of the South Mountain. 



In private life, among his friends, Mr. Stevens was ever genial, kind and considerate. 

 To them he was linked with hooks of steel. For them he would labor and sacrifice 

 without stint, complaint or regret. In his hours of relaxation there could be no more 

 genial companion. His rare conversational powers, fund of anecdote, brilliant sallies 

 of wit, and wise sayings upon the topics of the hour, made his company miich sought, 

 and many of these are the current coin of the circles in which he moved. 



Mr. Stevens was an honest and truthful man in public and private life. His word 

 was sacred in letter and spirit, and was never paltered in a double sense. In money 

 matters he was liberal to a fault, and out of his immense professional income he left 

 but a meagre estate. In his private charity he was lavish. He was incapable of say- 

 ing no in the presence of want or misery. His charity, like his political convictions, 

 regarded neither creed, race nor color. He was a good classical scholar, and was well 

 read in ancient and modern literature, especially on subjects of philosophy and law. 

 In his old age lie read but few books. Shakspeare, Dante, Homer, Milton and the 

 Bible would, however, generally be found u^^on his table in his sleeping room, where 

 he was accustomed to read in bed. He was simple and temperate in his habits. He 

 disliked the use of tobacco, and for forty years never used or admitted in his house 

 intoxicating drinks, and only then by direction of his physician. 



Mr. Stevens was deeply loved and fully trusted by his constituents. He was often in 

 advance of their views; sometimes he ran counter to their prejudices or passions; yet 

 such was his popularity with them, so strong their faith in his wisdom, in the integrity 

 of his actions and the purity of his purpose, that they never failed to sustain him. 



Popular with men of all parties, with also his own supporters, his name was a house- 

 hold word. To them and among themselves, "Old Thad" was a name of endearment, 

 while even his foes spoke of him with pride as the ' ' Great Commoner. ' ' No man ever 

 died more deeply mourned by a constituency than Thaddens Stevens. 



Having briefly selected some of the incidents that marked the history of my friend, 

 I will in conclusion say a few words of him on the subject in connection with which he 

 is probably more widely known than any other — slavery. Mr. Stevens was always an 

 anti-slavery man. From the time he left his native mountains, to the moment of his 

 death he was always not only anti-slavery in the connnon acceptation of the term, but 

 a bold, fearless, determined and uncompromising foe of oppression in any and every 

 form. He was an abolitionist before there was such a party name. His opposition to 

 American slavery never altered with his party connection, and was never based upon 

 mere questions of expediency or political economy. He always viewed it as a great 

 wrong, at war with the fundamental principles of this and all good governments, as a 

 sin in the sight of God, and a crinre against man. For many years, long before it be- 

 came popular to do so, he denounced this institution as the great crime of the nation, 

 on the stump, in the forum, in party conventions, in deliberative assemblies. On this 

 question he was always in advance of his party, his State, and his constituents. 



Always resident in a border county, he defended the fugitive on all occasions, asserted 

 the right of free speech, and stood between the abolitionist and the mob, often with 



