is
among the happiest of human beings, always looks at the bright side of
circumstances--loves to hear of the prosperity of his neighbors, and
hopes for favorable turns of character, even in the most depraved. The
exaltation of his intellectual pursuits, and his sincere piety, have
enabled him to rise above all the petty disquietudes of everyday life,
and he seems utterly incapable of envy or detraction, or the indulgence
of any ignoble or unmanly passions. Indeed, one of his most intimate
friends remarked "that he was the _beau-ideal_ of dignified manliness
and truthfulness of character." His manners possess all that
unostentatious frankness, and self-possessed urbanity and quietude, that
is indicative of refined feelings. That such a shining mark has not
escaped envy, detraction, and persecution, will surprise no one who is
well acquainted with the materials of which human nature is composed.
"Envy is the toll that is always paid to greatness."

Mr. Schoolcraft has had enemies, bitter unrelenting enemies, from the
wiles of whom he has lost several fortunes, but they have not succeeded,
in spite of all their efforts, in depriving him of an honored name, that
will live as the friend of the red man and an aboriginal historian, for
countless ages.

Some twenty years ago he became a professor of religion, and the
ennobling influences of Bible truth have mellowed, and devoted to the
most unselfish and exalted aims his natural determination and enthusiasm
of character. God has promised to his people "that their righteousness
shall shine as the light, and their just dealing as the noonday."
Protected in such an impregnable tower of defence from the strife of
tongues, Mr. Schoolcraft has been enabled freely to forgive, and even
befriend, those narrow-minded calumniators who have aimed so many
poisoned arrows at his fame, his character, and his success in life.
These are they who hate all excellence that they themselves can never
hope to reach.

Mr. Schoolcraft's persevering industry is so indomitable, that he has
been known to write from sun to sun almost every day for many
consecutive years, taking no recreation, and yet these sedentary habits
of untiring application being regulated by system, have not impaired the
digestive functions of his usually robust health. One of his family
remarks, "that she believed that if his meals were weighed every day in
the year they would average the same amount every twenty-four hours."