FRANCIS AMASA WALKER. 645 



his speech of acknowledgment to eulogy of the Irish Catholic soldiers 

 who had been his comrades iu the war for the Union. Indeed, he was 

 always a good stander-by. No comrade or friend need ever fear that 

 his good name would suffer from any hostile critic in Francis Walker's 

 presence. 



He had none of the spirit which can find nothing but evil and degen- 

 eracy and deca in our national life — a spirit which does more than any 

 other to create what it thinks it finds and to bring to pass its own 

 prophecies. As nothing can be more injurious to a child than to teach 

 him that he is base and worthy to be despised, nothing can be more 

 injurious to a nation than to teach it such a lesson. The boastful, brag- 

 gart, self-asserting temper which is sometimes found iu a nation whose 

 place iu tlie world, whose title to the respect of mankind, is not yet 

 assured, bad as it is, is infinitely less harmful than the spirit of an indis- 

 criminate detraction. The taking for granted that honesty and courage 

 and nobility are the motives of public conduct tends to elevate public 

 conduct to a higher standard. We may be willing, in admiration for 

 his mighty genius, to submit to Oarlyle's note of despair and contempt. 

 Yet I believe Emerson has inspired a hundred heroes where Carlyle 

 has inspired one. The satirist's scourge, the critic's sneer, or the pes- 

 simist's whine or moan never exalted a nation and never saved a soul. 

 It is not that these men are possessed by an enthusiasm for a lofty 

 ideal. If it were we might bear with them. They have neither enthusi- 

 asms nor ideals. Whatever other qualities these wallers may have, they 

 have neither faith, liope, nor charity. 



It is remarkable that a man among whose great titles to distinction 

 were those of author and soldier should be so indifferent to fame and 

 praise. 



"Lyke as a ship that through the ocean wyde 

 By conduct of some star doth make her way," 



he was constant to one bright and blazing star — the star of duty — 



"Of whose true fixed and resting quality 

 There is no fellow in the firmament." 



II. — EXTRACTS FROM ADDRESS BY HON. CARROLL D. WRIGHT.' 



When a man passes through the supreme agony of his existence, 

 leaving only the clay embodiment of his soul, the mind, after the first 

 shock of personal loss, turns from the contemplation of the individual 

 embodiment to the life, character, and achievements of the real man. 



1 Extracts from an address delivered at the regular quarterly meeting of the Ameri- 

 can Statistical Association, held in Huntington Hall, Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 

 nology, Friday evening, April 16, 1897, 8 p. m. Hon. Horace G. Wadlin, vice-president 

 of the association, presided. Many friends and acquaintances of General Walker 

 were present by invitation. Printed in Quarterly Publications of the American Sta- 

 tistical Association, new series, No. 38 (Vol. V), June, 1897. 



