MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH. 25 



with improved facilities the workers who are here 

 devoting their lives to the advancement of knowl- 

 edge. All honor to such men.* Had such assist- 

 ance come earlier, the career of the great scientist 

 might have been different ; but it was not to be, 

 and thenceforth another life opened before him, 

 and another man was unfolded to the world. 



Perhaps the highest praise that can be bestowed 

 upon any man, is to say of him that he is just 

 equal to all the duties ever imposed upon him, 

 and never above them ; that his reserves are 

 not called into action until the emergency re- 

 quires them. Such men are the great benefactors 

 of mankind. Such a man was the Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution. The principles he laid 

 down for the administration of the noble gift of 

 Smithson required time for their development, 

 and promised no present brilliant results. The 

 foundations were to be laid deep in the earth, 

 where the laborer and his work were scarcely 

 to be seen by the passer-by. No popular ap- 

 plause would greet the achievement for years 

 to come, while popular clamor was ever 

 ready to cry out against the waste of time and 

 money that produced no instant fruits. ^The 

 man of clear purpose and resolute will stood guard 

 over the work; and with just force enough, and 

 no more, drove off the assailants till the foundations 



* See Appendix, Note F. 



