APPRECIATIONS 441 
Read by Livingston Stone, before the American Fisheries 
Congress, held at Tampa, Florida, Feb., 1808. 
A figure which stands out most prominently in my 
memory, as I recall the early days of American fishculture, 
is that of one who has been called a plain man. He was 
a plain man indeed, but one who was made after nature’s 
largest pattern. He was large in mental caliber and large 
in physical frame, large in his broad sympathies and in 
his wide scope of vision, large in his comprehensive grasp 
of great aims, and large in his capacity for great under- 
takings—large in everything, and small in nothing. 
You at once recognize, I know, Prof. Spencer F. Baird, 
the first United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. 
The mere mention of Prof. Baird’s name strikes a 
chord of dear memories in the hearts of all who knew 
him. No man of our time has left a purer memory, a 
more stainless name or a more animating or enduring 
influence over his special field of labor than Prof. Baird. 
He was loved by those who knew him when he was living; 
he is revered by those who have survived him. Prof. 
Baird lived on a higher plane of life and breathed a purer 
atmosphere than most men. Quiet and unassuming, with 
a nature as gentle as a child’s, his natural superiority 
never failed to show itself when he was with other men; 
not even when among the distinguished men who gathered 
in the winter at the national capital. Yet he was thought- 
ful and considerate of his subordinates, and always ready 
to give its meed of praise to any work well done by his 
humblest employe. Prof. Baird had the enviable gift not 
only of endearing every one to him who came in contact 
with him, but of inspiring them with his own enthusiasm 
