Edward Hitchcock
MEMOIR EDWARD HITCHCOCK. 1793-1864. BY J. P. LESLEY. HEAD BEFORE THE NATIONAL ACADEMT, AUG. 9, 18C6. 113 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF EDWARD HITCHCOCK. WE cherish the memory of the good and wise, not because they are rare, for the world is full of them; they exist in every society and grade of society, in every business and profession, even in the limited circle of acquaintanceship of every respectable person. But we cherish the memory of the wise and good, because it is dear to us, because we have been taught, encouraged, aided, cheered, blessed, and ennobled by them; and their memory is a continuation of their living words and deeds, and we can make it an heirloom for our children. A man to be remembered is a man to be spoken of. Even in the most barbarous aboriginal stages of the history of mankind, men here and there appeared, whose biographies, could they be written, the world could make good use of. In our own days of high civilization, almost every active life deserves a record. But the law of natural selection rules in literature also, and the struggle for posthumous fame, like the struggle for animal life, is crowned only in the persons of the best competitors. One of these favored few we celebrate this evening. A man of religion, a man of science ; in both, a docile student and an expert teacher ; in both, enthusiastic and self-saer.ficing; in both, gentle, persuasive, affectionate, sympathetic ; in both, shackled by traditions which he both feared and hated to break, yet vigorously holding up his shackles and keeping abreast and in some respects ahead of the advancing age.
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