30 PROFESSOR HENRY AND THE 



And then, out of the fullness of his knowledge, 

 with abundance of illustration and example, he 

 demonstrated that the discovery of new truths, 

 and their application to the arts, had elevated the 

 farmers from the mere drudges they were in the 

 seventeenth century to their present high state of 

 intelligence and comfort. 



The effect was overwhelming ; and the " Little 

 Giant " must have felt that there was another 

 "giant" there to whose title no diminutive prefix 

 could be properly applied. 



The meeting adjourned till the next day, and 

 these significant words were written in the Secre- 

 tary's diary, under date of June 25 : "Judge 

 " Douglas, toward the close, made an apology for 

 " the warmth of his expressions. I did the same. 

 " Judge Rusk followed so the whole was am- 

 " icably settled." 



Since that day no further assaults have been 

 made on the Smithsonian Institution; and it 

 stands a proud monument to the genius, the 

 learning, the labor, and the character of the great 

 Secretary; who was content to sink his personality 

 in the impersonal institution to be overshadowed 

 by the creature of his own creation, in order that 

 true knowledge might the better be increased and 

 diffused among men. 



The conscientious obligation he felt pressing 

 upon him to lose no opportunity for diffusing 



