He has done work of the first quality in a great variety
of fields. In each he has done work enough to fill the life
and to fill the measure of fame of a busy and successful man.
I have learned of him the great virtue of Hope; to judge
of mankind by their merits and not their faults; to understand
that the great currents of history, especially in a republic,
more especially in our Republic, are determined by great and
noble motives and not by mean and base motives.
In his very best work Dr. Hale seems always to be doing and
saying what he does and says extempore, without premeditation.
Where he gets the time to acquire his vast stores of knowledge,
or to think the thoughts we all like to hear, nobody can tell.
When he speaks or preaches or writes, he opens his intellectual
box and takes the first appropriate thing that comes to hand.
I do not believe we have a more trustworthy historian than
Dr. Hale, so far as giving us the motive and pith and essence
of great transactions. He is sometimes criticised for inaccuracy
in dates or matters that are trifling or incidental.
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