suffer the scoffs and scorn of the large majority of our Western society.

LELAND STANFORD was not a perfect man. That work seems beyond the power, wisdom, or at least the desire of the Almighty to create; but in many of the qualities which go to make the man he surpassed the large majority of mankind. While he created and acquired a great fortune, he never used the vast means at his command to oppress those who had helped create that wealth. He never sought his fellow-man as his prey. The man who held the throttle of the locomotive; he who handled the train, worked the brake, laid the rail, or shoveled the sand was his comrade, friend, and equal. His life, as I have observed it, was one of tender, thoughtful compassion for the man less fortunate in life than himself. Those who have associated with him for many years; those who have been in his employ had at his hands always received courteous treatment, a patient hearing, the result of which was not alone a word of cheer, but substantial relief. If a wrong had been done, it was quickly remedied upon the lines of justice, equity, and generosity. No employé of his had ever been denied the sacred right of petition and, higher and above all, redress.

The events of his life, from the farm on which he was born, through early struggles to the splendors of worldly success, have been portrayed, and I will not dwell upon them. Suffice it to say that he was reared in the school of hardship and struggle in which is created the incentive to aspire.

The exercise of his youth was but an incentive to conquer, and he went forth well armed and equipped to meet the battle of life. So well fitted was he to march in the very front of conquest that he early in life sought the van of civilization in the far West, and it was in that field, at a time when the Argonauts looked for manhood and stability of character, regard less of what his antecedents and early traditions may have

been, that he was early marked as a leader of thought, action, and men. I can not better illustrate the conditions by which he was surrounded than by reciting a short sketch of his early life from the pen of his old associate, Capt. N. T. Smith:

At this early day, both at Cold Springs and at Michigan Bluff, Governor STANFORD, in an unusual degree commanded the respect of the heteroge neous lot of men who composed the mining classes, and was frequently referred to by them as a sort of an arbitrator in settling their disputes for them. While at Michigan Bluffs he was elected a justice of the peace, which office was the court before which all disputes and contentions of the miners and their claims were settled. It is a singular fact, with all the questions that came before him for settlement, not one of them was appealed to a higher court.

LELAND STANFORD was at this time just as gentle in his manner and as cordial and respectful to all as in his later years. Yet he was possessed of a courage which, when tested, as occasion sometimes required, satisfied the rough element that he was a man who was not to be imposed upon. His principle seemed to be to stand up for the right at all times. This was so well recognized by all with whom he came in contact that when acting as an arbitrator his decisions were seldom questioned.

In these early Californian days, especially in the mining districts, there was nothing to restrain men in the exercise of their natural impulses and from following out the instincts of their natures. There was no society and but little restraint upon the individual. Yet at this time, as I have indicated, Mr. STANFORD exhibited the same gentle instincts which characterized his after life. He never indulged in profanity or coarse words of any kind, and was as considerate in his conduct when holding intercourse with the rough element as though in the midst of the highest refinement. This was particularly noticeable to all who met him.

He was the first Republican in the State of California to be elected to a State office, and filled the office of governor for the two years of 1861-'63, at which period the passions of men were incited to the highest point; reason had almost abandoned even the most conservative men; friends and families were divided upon the great question of a united country; bloodshed and riot had been no uncommon event, and was

still threatened in almost every hamlet; but his administration was conducted in such a firm, just, and honest manner as to dis arm and quiet his adversaries. At the same time he merited and received the approbation of all Union-loving men, and even the admiration of the rebel and Southern element, then proportionately so numerous all over the State. This respect and admiration he held to the day of his death, and probably no man in the State numbered among his friends so many of the late secession element as the governor. He was at that period what you found him here.

While a firm believer in the perpetuity of this country as a strong, united nation, he understood human nature and the motives that control men. Knowing they had been driven into the course they followed, from environment, education, and association, he well knew that the latent good sense and patriotism of the American in them would, under favorable conditions, assert itself. He discussed issues calmly with men, never governed by passion or prejudice. These great qualities were the marked characteristics of the man, which stamped him as one high in the esteem of all with whom he came in contact. I have said before that Senator STANFORD was not a perfect man, but a man of whom it can truthfully be said: He was of great benefit to mankind. At this hour some see him as one who had been at the focus of adverse criticism for a quarter of a century, but to those who have known him is now clear the thought, as it will be in history to come, that LELAND STANFORD was in more respects than falls to the lot of ordinary mortals a great and good man —a benefactor of the human race.

There is nothing more beautiful in life than our custom of strewing flowers on the graves of the dead, and no words are better uttered than those that speak well of them. Some of our associates on this floor have regarded as futile our prac

tice of meeting in solemn conclave to pay a tribute of respect and affection to the departed; yet their words were lightly spoken, Mr. Speaker, and did not spring from their hearts; for I have seen these same Representatives, sitting with bowed heads and tear-bedimmed eyes; have heard them utter such words as the eloquence of death only can inspire. So, there is not one among us here to-day who in his heart begrudges the time spent in doing reverence to the dead; for soon comes the reflection that some other among us, even in the twinkling of an eye, may pass out into the great unknown.

Mr. Speaker, there is little that I can say of Mr. STANFORD'S life that is not familiar to you all. From one ocean to the other he was known by the people only as a man who had amassed great wealth; yet by those of us who knew him well he was admired, respected, and loved for qualities of both mind and heart; and God's poor among us remember him best of all. As one of his fellow Senators well said: "If each one to whom he had done a good deed would lay a leaf upon his grave, Mr. STANFORD would sleep to-night beneath a mountain of foliage."

Wise philosophers have said that all is vanity. It is, indeed, a predominant attribute of human nature. Yet there is love, too; there is something in that.

Mr. STANFORD never made a vain or lavish display of his wealth, yet he distributed it among the needy with a generous hand. He was ambitious to be highly honored among men, and it is said even aspired to the highest office within the people's gift; yet there was not in him the stern stuff of which ambition should be made. He never turned a deaf ear to the distressed cries of the poor. He erected during his life and bequeathed at his death a splendid free institution of learning; yet it was not his vanity that gave the institution its name. It was paternal affection. His grief over the death

of an only son was so poignant that all hearts were touched. The boy was his delight; the pride of the household; the object of all his and the fond mother's anticipations for the future; the deserved heir to their millions. Here was in real life a pathetic analogue to the story of Dombey and Son. And when they laid the youth in his grave the manifestation of grief by father and mother touched the hearts of all men, for love is found within the portals of the rich man's palace as well as in the humblest cottage of us all.

Mr. Speaker, on every side are reared enduring monuments of brass and marble to perpetuate the achievements of men. Some of the world's famous and great ones, long since passed away, were laid in their shallow graves with all the pomp and circumstance that vanity inspires. Martial music and flying banners have proclaimed the death of the world's truly great. Lives have gone out in a blaze of glory-men renowned in statecraft, art, literature, and war. Splendid monuments and pages of history commemorate the achievements of a French soldier whose genius changed the map of a continent; a man whose indomitable spirit overawed the monarchs of all Europe; a student of literature, a devotee of art, skilled in diplomacy, able in statecraft, selfish, cold, intellectual, and ambitious, he sought the bubble reputation even at the cannon's mouth. Yet when he was carried to the grave with martial music, flying banners, and acclamations from thousands few wept for him.

And so it is throughout life, Mr. Speaker. The character of the procession that follows us to the grave proclaims the vir tues of our lives. Hundreds of lowly and humble ones wept over Mr. STANFORD'S grave, and yet remember him in their prayers; and though the pages of history may record no great deeds of his life, yet will he be remembered in the plain and simple annals of the poor when others of greater achievements and wider fame have long since been forgotten.