Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/152

 116 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS ceeded because he insisted on being its centre, and in overruling and guiding all his secretaries to act so as to produce unity and harmony. Those who study his administration will acknowledge how sincere and successful were his efforts, as did those who were contemporary with him.&quot; Mr. Polk, who was a patient student and a clear thinker, steadfast to opinions once formed, and not easily moved by popular opinion, labored faith fully, from his entrance into public life until the day when he left the White House, to disseminate the political opinions in which he had been edu cated, and which commended themselves to his judgment. His private life was upright and blameless. Simple in his habits to abstemiousness, he found his greatest happiness in the pleasures of the home circle rather than in the gay round of public amusements. A frank and sincere friend, courteous and affable in his demeanor with strangers, generous and benevolent, the esteem in which he was held as a man and a citizen was quite as high as his official reputation. In the words of his friend and associate in office, Vice-President Dallas, he was &quot;temperate but not unsocial, indus trious but accessible, punctual but patient, moral without austerity, and devotional though not bigoted.&quot; See &quot;Eulogy on the Life and Character of the Late James K. Polk,&quot; by George M. Dallas (Philadelphia, 1849) ; &quot;Eulogy on the Life and