His kindness to his fellow men was shown more in deeds than in words--for
of words of compliment he was particularly sparing; and he loved to do
good by stealth. A letter from his pastor, the Rev. Dr. Shelton, says: "He
was very kind and affectionate when he thought he discovered merit in any
body however humble, and though he dropped never so much as a hint to the
individual himself, he was pretty sure to speak a good word for him in
quarters where it would have an influence. A great many never knew whom
they had to thank for this. Here he recommended some one for a place,
there he picked up a book or a set of books for some distant library. In
this way he went about doing good, and, not given to impulse, was
systematically benevolent." A letter from another hand speaks of the
clergymen whom he had put in the way of getting a parish, the youths for
whom he had procured employment--favors quietly conferred, when perhaps
the person benefited had forgotten the application or given up the
pursuit. He preserved carefully all that related to those persons in whom
he took a kindly interest. "Never," says Dr. Shelton, "did a juvenile
letter come to him that he did not carefully put away. Whole packages of
them are found among his papers; if they had been State documents they
could not have been more important in his eyes."

I have spoken of the hopefulness of his temper. This was doubtless in a
great degree constitutional, for he is said to have been an utter stranger
to physical fear, preserving his calmness on occasions when others would
be in a fever of alarm. He loved our free institutions, he had a serene
and steady confidence in their duration and his published writings are for
the most part eloquent pleas for freedom, political equality and
toleration. Even the shameless corruption which has seized on the local
government of this city, did not dismay or discourage him. He maintained,
in a manner which it was not easy to controvert, that the great cities of
Europe are quite as grossly misgoverned, and that every overgrown