been multiplied into
unbroken continuity if he had possessed the calm greatness that never
hastens and never rests. He did not rest; but through the first half of
his life, he surely forgot the Scripture which saith: 'He that believeth
shall not make haste.' It has often been asserted, that power which has
rest is greater than a turbulent power. We shall not attempt to settle
whether Erie or Niagara is greater, but we should certainly choose the
Lake for purposes of navigation.

Many men are careless of their character in private, but sufficiently
careful in public. The reverse is true of Neal. He has never hesitated
to throw his gauntlet in the face of the public as he threw his letters
of introduction in the fire when he arrived in Europe. But when he comes
into the charmed circle of his home, he is neither reckless nor
pugilistic, but a downright gentleman. We don't mean to say that Neal
never gets in a passion in private, or that he never needed the
wholesome restraint of a strait-waistcoat in the disputes of a Portland
Lyceum or debating-club. We do not give illustrative anecdotes, because
a lively imagination can conceive them, and probably has manufactured
several that have been afloat; still, we dare guess that the subject has
sometimes given facts to base the fictions on.

We speak of the past. A man with a forty-wildcat power imprisoned in him
is not very likely to travel on from youth to age, keeping the peace on
all occasions. Years bring a calming wisdom. The same man who once swore
five consecutive minutes, because he was forbidden by his landlady to
swear on penalty of leaving her house, and then made all the inmates
vote to refrain from profane language, and rigidly enforced the rule
thus _democratically_ established, is now, after a lapse of more than
thirty years, (particularly provoking impulse aside,) a careful and
dignified gentleman, who might be a Judge, if the public so willed.

That a long line of intellectual and finely developed ancestry gives a
man a better patent of nobility than all the kings of all countries
could confer, is beginning to be understood and believed among us;
though the old battle against titles and privilege, and the hereditary
descent of both, for a time blinded Americans to the true philosophy of
noble birth.

Neal's ancestors came originally from Scotland, and exemplify the
proverb that 'bluid is thicker than water,' in more ways than one. They
have a strong feeling