Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 6.djvu/324

300 great things, and the bearing of general principles upon facts.

He was a philanthropist of unbounded generosity and discriminating judgment, giving not only his treasure, but his active care to the objects of his benevolence, and wisely intent upon helping them to help themselves. Uncounted thousands he served in lighting to them the lamp of knowledge, and thus guided them on the path of fruitful work.

He was a conscientious friend of the laboring man, although some of them would not accept his theory, for he not only was just and kind to all employed by him, but he also strove to defend the freedom of all of them, as men and citizens, against what he considered the tyranny of their own organizations.

He was a thoroughly genuine man, magnificently sincere and free from cant; never seeking to appear what he was not; his very foibles, errors and indiscretions springing from a large idealism and a high-spirited, almost impatient, zeal in serving justice and truth and the public good.

And how charmingly human he was with his vivid enthusiasms, his quick and combative temper, his irascible moods—and, behind all this, a soul overflowing with warm sympathies and love of peace and good-will to all men.

And what a great figure he was in his retirement from public office! Indeed, our history shows no finer example of active statesmanship in private station, as the words uttered by that single citizen could not have commanded higher respect and compliance if they had come from a Senate chamber or an Executive chair.

And he enjoyed, as he deserved, the rare fortune that to his last days in old age the light of his mind burned with undiminished brightness, and that his counsel was sought by his fellow-citizens with ever-increasing confidence.