_ Life and Character of Nathaniel BowditcJi. 45 



poverty is no dishonor, and need be no hindrance ; that the great- 

 est obstacles may be surmounted by persevering industry and an 

 indomitable will. He has shown them to what heights of great- 

 ness and glory they may ascend, by truth, temperance, and toil. 

 He has proved to them that fame need not be sought for solely 

 in political hfe ; although that is a worthy field, and the country 

 must be served, — and served, too, not by the worst but by the 

 best of men, — not by the factious, the ignorant, the scheming, 

 but by the wisest, the most enlightened, the best accomplished, 

 that we have among us ; by men who dare to tell the people of 

 their duties as well as of their rights ; and who, instead of meanly 

 flattering them for their votes, will boldly speak to them the words 

 of truth and soberness, and point out to them their errors and 

 faults. 



Above all. Dr. Bowditch has left us a most glorious and pre- 

 cious legacy in his example of integrity, love of truth, moral 

 courage, and independence. He has taught the young men here, 

 and the world over, that there is nothing so grand and beautiful 

 as moral principle, nothing so sublime as adherence to truth, and 

 right, and duty, through good report and through evil report. He 

 has, indeed, blessed the world greatly by his science and his prac- 

 tical wisdom ; but quite as much, nay, fai' more, I think, by his 

 upright and manly character. He has taught mankind that rev- 

 erence for duty, and trust in Providence, and submission to His 

 will, and faith in the rectitude of all His appointments, and a fil- 

 ial reliance upon His love, are sentiments not unworthy nor unbe- 

 coming the greatest philosopher. For this we honor and eulogize 

 him ; not for wealth, title, fortune, those miserable outsides and 

 trappings of humanity, but for the qualities of the inner man, 

 which still live, and will live forever. He studied the stars on 

 the earth — may he not now be tracking their courses through the 

 heavens ? Long ere this, perhaps, he knows all the beauties and 

 the mysteries of their tangled mazes — has examined the rings of 

 Saturn and the belts of Jupiter, traversed the milky way, and 

 chased the comet through infinity. Methinks I hear his depart- 

 ing and ascending spirit exclaiming, as it wings its flight upwards, 

 in the language of the beautiful hymn : — 



" Ye golden lamps of heaven ! farewell, 



With all your feeble light : " - 



Farewell, thou ever-changing moon, 

 Pale empress of the night ! 



