His graceful
attitudes, significant gestures, perfect intonation, and impressive
pauses, when the lifted finger, and flashing eye told more than utterance,
were the result of sleepless toil; while his high acquirement was the
product of stern habitual thought, study of man, and keen observation."
"He did not trust to the occasion alone for his finest periods, and
noblest metaphors. In the armory of his capacious intellect the weapons of
forensic warfare had been previously polished and stored away. Ever ready
for the unfaltering tongue was the cutting rebuke, or apt illustration. By
labor, persevering labor, he achieved his renown. By exercising his
faculties in playing Logan when a boy, one of the highest standards of
mortal eloquence, either in ancient or modern times, he has left a lesson
to all ambitious aspirants, that there is no royal road to greatness; that
the desired goal is only to be gained by scaling rugged cliffs, and
treading painful paths." [Footnote: This statement, together with the
remarks that follow, is presented almost entire, from a reminiscence of
Red Jacket, given by Mr. Turner in his Pioneer History of the Phelps and
Gorham Purchase, a work that has rescued from oblivion, many interesting
and valuable historical recollections.]
The habit thus acquired in the orator's youth, became characteristic of
him, at a later period of his life. Previous to his making any great
forensic effort, he could be seen walking in the woods alone, apparently
in deep study.
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