Speech #580071693

As I learned to know him he impressed me as being earnest. kindly. considerate of the feelings of every human being with whom he came in contact. as a man who sought to contribute to the happiness of all those who surrounded him. I learned in the conversations I had with him that his whole mind was devoted to the building up of the Southern States. and especially of the State of Alabama. He belonged to that progressive school which sought to bring immigration from every quarter. who earnestly sought to develop every resource within the great State in which he lived. and. as the Senator from Iowa has just said. one of the great purposes he had in life was to bring about a more kindly feeling among all sections of the Union. It may be that his mind did not so often revert and he did not so often speak of the suffering days of the past as some others who participated in that great strife. and yet I learned from him that whatever was honorable and whatever was glorious in the record of his State. either in peace or in war. was a source of pride and gratification to him. and he often spoke of the great men who had represented Alabama in this and the other House. But that which impressed me most about him was his universally kindly disposition. his high moral character. and his constant habit of trying to contribute to the happiness and to the good feeling which might exist between those with whom he came in contact.