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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 
 
 OF 
 
 EVARTS W. FARR, 
 
 (A REPRESENTATIVE FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE,) 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE 
 
 us, 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND IN THE SENATE, 
 FORTY-SIXTH CONGRESS, THIRD SESSION. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
 
 188 i. 
 
JOINT RESOLUTION to provide for the publication of the memorial addresses on EVARTS 
 
 W. FARR. 
 
 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of Amer 
 ica in Congress assembled, That there be printed twelve thousand copies of the 
 memorial addresses delivered in the Senate and House of Representatives upon the 
 life and character of Honorable EVARTS W. FARR, late a Representative from the 
 State of New Hampshire, together with a portrait of the deceased; nine thousand 
 copies thereof for the use of the House of Representatives and three thousand 
 copies for the use of the Senate. And a sum sufficient to defray the expense of 
 preparing and printing the portrait of the deceased for the publication herein pro 
 vided for is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise 
 appropriated. 
 
 Approved, March 3, 1881. 
 
ADDRESSES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 DEATH OF EVARTS W. FARR. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE. 
 
 DECEMBER 6, 1880. 
 
 Mr. BRIGGS. Mr. Speaker, it becomes my painful duty to announce 
 the death of my late colleague, Hon. EVARTS W. FARR, and I desire 
 to present the following resolutions in connection therewith. I wish 
 also to give notice that at some future day I will ask to present the 
 customary resolutions, in order that appropriate remarks may be 
 heard in relation to the life and services of the deceased. 
 
 The SPEAKER. The resolutions proposed by the gentleman from 
 New Hampshire will be read. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows: 
 
 Resolved, That this House has heard with sincere regret the an 
 nouncement of the death of Hon. EVARTS W. FARR, late a Repre 
 sentative from the State of New Hampshire, and a member-elect to 
 the Forty-seventh Congress from said State. 
 
 Resolved, That the Clerk of the House be directed to communicate 
 the foregoing resolution to the Senate. 
 
 Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the deceased this 
 House do now adjourn. 
 
 The resolutions were agreed to; and accordingly the House ad 
 journed. 
 
PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE. 
 
 DECEMBER 22, 1880. 
 
 Mr. UPDEGRAFF, of Ohio. I have a resolution from the Committee 
 on Invalid Pensions, which I ask permission to submit at this time. 
 The SPEAKER. The resolution will be read. 
 The Clerk read as follows : 
 
 Whereas the Committee on Invalid Pensions desires to place upon 
 its record its appreciation of the kindly qualities and faithful labors 
 of their late member, Hon. EVARTS W. FARR, of New Hampshire; 
 and 
 
 Whereas its members wish to express their regret and sympathy to 
 the country, the State of New Hampshire, and to the bereaved family 
 of the deceased in a worthy and substantial manner: Therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That the House be requested to make the customary ap 
 propriation of the balance of the salary which would be due to him 
 as a member of the Forty-sixth Congress; and that the next Con 
 gress, to which he was elected, be respectfully requested to make a 
 similar appropriation of the salary which would have been due to 
 him as a member of the Forty-seventh Congress. 
 
 The SPEAKER. What disposition does the gentleman desire to make 
 of the resolution ? 
 
 Mr. UPDEGRAFF, of Ohio. I desire to have it considered. 
 
 The SPEAKER. The Chair would suggest that action upon it would 
 be facilitated by reference to the proper committee, the Committee 
 on Appropriations. 
 
 Mr. UPDEGRAFF, of Ohio. Very well. I will move that it be re 
 ferred to that committee. 
 
 The resolution was referred accordingly. 
 
PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE. 
 
 FEBRUARY i, 1881. 
 
 Mr. MORSE. Mr. Speaker, I ask consent at this time to introduce 
 a resolution touching the funeral expenses of the late Representa 
 tive from New Hampshire, Hon. EVARTS W. FARR. 
 
 The SPEAKER. The resolution will be read. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows: 
 
 Resolved, That there be paid out of the contingent fund of the 
 House a sum sufficient to pay the necessary funeral expenses of Hon. 
 EVARTS W. FARR, late a Representative from the State of New 
 Hampshire. 
 
 The resolution was agreed to. 
 
 FEBRUARY 18, 1881. 
 
 Mr. ATKINS, from the Committee on Appropriations, reported the 
 following preamble and resolution : 
 
 Whereas the Committee on Invalid Pensions desire to place upon 
 its record its appreciation of the kindly qualities and faithful labors 
 of their late member, Hon. EVARTS W. FARR, of New Hampshire; 
 and 
 
 Whereas its members wish to express their regret and sympathy to 
 the country, the State of New Hampshire, and to the bereaved family 
 of the deceased in a worthy and satisfactory manner: Therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That the House be requested to make the customary ap 
 propriation of the balance of the salary which would be due to him 
 as a member of the Forty-sixth Congress; and that the next Con 
 gress, to which he was elected, be respectfully requested to make an 
 appropriation of six thousand dollars, in lieu of the entire salary 
 which would have been due to him as a member of the Forty-seventh 
 Congress. 
 
 The resolution was adopted. 
 
ADDRESS OF MR. BRIGGS ON THE 
 
 ADDRESS OF JA.R. BRIGGS, OF NEW j^AMPSHIRE. 
 
 ^EBRUARV 8, 1881. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER: I desire to submit the following resolutions. 
 The SPEAKER. The resolutions will be read. 
 The Clerk read as follows: 
 
 Resolved, That this House has heard with profound sorrow the an 
 nouncement of the death of Hon. EVARTS W. FARR, late a Repre 
 sentative from the State of New Hampshire. 
 
 Resolved, That in token of regard for the memory of the lamented 
 deceased the members of this House do wear the usual badge of 
 mourning for thirty days. 
 
 Resolved, That the Clerk of this House do communicate these 
 resolutions to the Senate of the United States. 
 
 Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the 
 deceased this House now adjourn. 
 
 Mr. BRIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to perform the melancholy duty 
 of announcing to this House the death of my colleague, EVARTS W. 
 FARR, which occurred at his home in Littleton on the 3oth of Novem 
 ber last. It was my sad privilege to be with him when he passed 
 away. He died as he had lived, with the heroism of a noble man 
 hood born of hope and faith. 
 
 It is no vain tribute of respect New Hampshire would fain pay to 
 her noble and gallant son. As a member of this House, I submit he 
 was universally respected both by political friends and foes. But it 
 is not merely an excellent Representative at the National Capitol 
 that New Hampshire mourns in the death of Major FARR. Among 
 those who pressed eagerly to the front when an imperiled nation 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 
 
 called her sons to her rescue, this man was the pride of our State, and 
 under the flag with which we draped that hearse at Littleton he 
 earned the imperishable gratitude of our people. 
 
 EVARTS W. FARR was born at Littleton on the loth of October, 
 1840. He belonged to one of the best families of our State. His 
 father, an honored member of the legal profession, survives him. Mr. 
 FARR was one of eight children, and his early advantages were those 
 of the typical New England country lad. He pursued his academic 
 course at Thetford, Vermont, where he was graduated with honors, 
 and went thence to college. Frank, earnest, and intelligent, the char 
 acter of the boy gave true promise of the man. What might have 
 been hts fortune had he been permitted quietly to pursue his studies, 
 we cannot tell. Destiny had assigned him a part in a stupendous 
 drama, which was to startle Christendom. In that drama he per 
 formed his part gloriously and well; and like many other young 
 Americans of that eventful period, he leaped to distinction before he 
 had reached the age of manhood. 
 
 At the breaking out of the war young FARR was a member of Dart 
 mouth College. With characteristic decision, he turned his back 
 upon college and his face to the field. He was the first man to enter 
 the service from the town of Littleton, from which he enlisted in the 
 First New Hampshire Volunteers. He served continuously from April 
 20, 1861, to June 4, 1865. 
 
 Soon after he entered the service he joined the New Hampshire 
 Second; was appointed a lieutenant June 4, 1861 ; he was promoted 
 to the rank of captain January i, 1862, and while in command of 
 company G lost his right arm at the battle of Williamsburgh, Virginia, 
 May 5. 1862. His regiment, one of the most gallant and distin 
 guished in the service, was then one of the four constituting General 
 Hooker s original brigade. 
 
 As soon as his wound permitted he returned to the field, and Sep 
 tember 9, 1862. was promoted to rank of major in the Ne\v Hamp- 
 
ADDRESS OF MR. BRIGGS ON THE 
 
 shire Eleventh. After righting with distinguished gallantry at Fred- 
 ericksburgh, Major FARR went with his regiment to the West, and 
 participated in the siege and capture of Vicksburgh. After the capt 
 ure he went South with General Sherman to attack General John 
 ston at Jackson, Mississippi, and during the remainder of the war 
 served on court-martial duty, most of the time as judge-advocate. 
 
 Unquestionably his employment on court-martial duty during all 
 the latter part of the war alone prevented his high promotion in the 
 line. As it was, his career as a soldier was an exceptionally brill 
 iant and successful one. In many of the severest engagements of the 
 war he won golden laurels. In the action at Fredericksburgh it was 
 my fortune to be near him, and no veteran of a hundred battles could 
 have shown a statelier, loftier heroism. There was a touch of chiv 
 alry in his nature, and he was then of the age when this spirit is at 
 high tide. His patriotism was not lost in the effervescent spirit of the 
 cavalier; he had devotion as well as courage. Nor was his courage 
 of that lower order, derived from excitement. It had nothing t o do 
 with rashness nor frenzy. He was cool, patient, and determined. It 
 was the courage of Ney rather than that of Murat. In the fiercest 
 and most disheartening fight he was never known to lose his self- 
 command. This, with his quick decision and soldierly intuition, com 
 bined to make him a man of wonderful resources. In action or in 
 any grave and responsible situation he never was " at his wit s end." 
 
 Another trait of a great soldier was his fortitude, his power of en 
 durance. " No pain," writes an officer who was long and most inti 
 mate with him, "no pain that he suffered could bring a moan, no toil 
 he encountered could dismay him, the longest and hardest march we 
 ever made could not bring a word of complaint from his lips." 
 
 In the fight between Hooker s and Longstreet s divisions at Will- 
 iamsburgh, FARR S coolness and endurance came out in full flower. 
 The fight was close, hot, and prolonged to the verge of human en 
 durance. It rained hard, and the sufferings of the men were terrible. 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 
 
 FARR seemed imbued with the spirit of a multitude. He demeaned 
 himself through that weary, bloody day in a manner never to be for 
 gotten by those to whom it was known. His valor was equaled only 
 by his equanimity. Only breaking ranks, only the signs of yielding, 
 could provoke his impatience. Just at the close of that terrible day 
 he received the shot which made his empty sleeve thenceforth his 
 badge of honor. 
 
 What a tell-tale thing is an empty sleeve. 
 
 # # # 
 
 It tells in a silent tone to all, 
 
 Of a country s need, and a country s call, 
 
 Of a kiss and a tear for child and wife, 
 
 And a hurried march for a nation s life : 
 
 It tells of a battle-field of gore, 
 
 Of the saber s clash, of the cannon s roar, 
 
 Of the deadly charge, of the bugle s note, 
 
 Of a gurgling sound in a freeman s throat, 
 
 Of the whizzing grape, of the fiery shell, 
 
 Of a scene which mimics the scenes of hell; 
 
 Though it points to a myriad wounds and scars, 
 
 Yet it tells that a flag of stripes and stars, 
 
 In God s own chosen time will take, 
 
 Each place of the rag with the rattle-snake ; 
 
 And it points to a time when that flag will wave, 
 
 O er a land where there breathes no cowering slave. 
 
 Till this very hour, who could ere believe, 
 
 What a tell-tale thing is an empty sleeve, 
 
 What a weird, queer thing, is an empty, sleeve. 
 
 
 
 His tastes were essentially military, and he brought to his duties in 
 the field that energy and fixedness of purpose which characterized 
 the man in all he undertook. He mastered the science of the camp 
 and field in an incredibly short time, and, young as he was, became 
 a recognized authority therein. He was a strict disciplinarian, thor 
 ough and exact in all his duties, and requiring the same of others. 
 But he was full of considerate kindness to his men, to whom he en 
 deared himself as the friend of all. 
 
 2 FR 
 
10 ADDRESS OF MR. BRIGGS ON THE 
 
 Prompt, brave, and responsible, he was ever at the post of duty; 
 and in those evil days there marched not under the flag a hero of 
 more dauntless courage, a devotee of more unfaltering faith than 
 EVARTS W. FARR. 
 
 At the close of the war he embraced the profession of the law and 
 at once became one of the most promising members of the New 
 Hampshire bar. An ardent and stirring Republican, he also came 
 early to the front in the politics of our State. He held, successively, 
 the positions of assistant assessor and assessor of his internal-revenue 
 district, solicitor of Grafton County, and a member of the governor s 
 council. To the latter position he was handsomely elected in a dis 
 trict which had always been strongly Democratic; and in this, as later, 
 in his two Congressional canvasses, his popularity was abundantly 
 demonstrated. He did credit to every place he held, and his elec 
 tion to the Forty-sixth, and his re-election to the Forty-seventh Con 
 gress, were only in the natural course of his ascendant fortune. Of 
 his career in this House, so sadly and so early closed, I will not speak. 
 That I leave to others. His record is familiar to you all. Is it not 
 one of promise ? 
 
 His memory long will live, alone 
 
 In all our hearts, as mournful light 
 That broods above the fallen sun, 
 
 And dwells in heaven half the night. 
 
 Pf the character of the deceased I propose to offer few words other 
 than those I have already spoken. His was an open, generous, san 
 guine, earnest nature such an one as "he who runs may read." 
 Were I fully to express my own admiration for the man, I should be 
 suspected of intemperate speech. My acquaintance with him began 
 in the Army, where we were comrades together, and from that time 
 our friendship was fast. He was instinct with generous and kindly 
 impulses which endeared him to his friends and bound them to him 
 in bonds of the strongest affection. Naturally in such a character 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 
 
 there was that which inspired his foes with respect, and however he 
 might dislike, no man could despise EVARTS W. FARR. 
 
 Like all of us, the man had his faults; yet he had no prominent 
 defects, and I never knew a man whose faults counted for less as 
 against the general strength and purity of his character. I have had 
 much to say of his earnestness, for this I conceive was the leading 
 factor of his strength. He was ready to take up any duty that lay 
 before him, and to attack it with firm and sincere purpose. He fol 
 lowed a purpose with his whole soul and did nothing by halves. This 
 element of his character, together with his versatility, implied large 
 possibilities. He was a young man, and with length of days must have 
 accomplished that of which all that he had done was but a hint. On 
 the whole, his character was solid, well rounded, and symmetrical; with 
 out grotesque or brilliant eccentricities, he was a very positive force. 
 
 The immediate cause of his death was a sudden and violent at 
 tack of typhoid pneumonia. Overwork had induced extreme debility, 
 and his system had little power of resistance. His general health 
 had been blighted in the Army, and his empty sleeve was not the 
 only sad remembrance, not the only legacy of woe that he brought 
 back from southern fields. A post-mortem examination disclosed 
 the presence of chronic disease, which, at best, must ere long have 
 proved fatal. 
 
 In his domestic relations he commanded the strongest affection. 
 We will not lift the veil from that circle of crushed hearts. There is 
 that which should be respected. There is a supreme sorrow, as one 
 day 
 
 There was dole in Astolat. 
 
 Major FARR was a great favorite in our State, and his name will be 
 set among those whom New Hampshire delighted to honor. He 
 was a most gallant soldier, a promising young statesman, and a noble, 
 sincere man. We bespeak your respect for his memory as some 
 thing we shall proudly and gratefully cherish. 
 
12 ADDRESS OF MR. BLAND ON THE 
 
 ADDRESS OF yV\R. J3LAND, OF ^MISSOURI. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER: Death has again visited these gilded walls and 
 removed from our Chamber one of our most worthy and useful 
 members. It is not my purpose to give a history of the deceased, 
 but I shall confine myself to a few outlines that marked his life. 
 Major EVARTS W. FARR was born at Littleton, New Hampshire, 
 October 10, 1840. We learn that at the early age of twelve he 
 struck out for himself, and by industry and hard toil procured the 
 means for his livelihood and education. He graduated at Thetford 
 (Vermont) Academy, and entered Dartmouth College with the class 
 of 1863. But that patriotic ardor and devotion to his country and 
 to duty that always characterized him caused him to leave college 
 and volunteer as a soldier in the Union Army. He enlisted in 1861. 
 For his bravery he was promoted through various grades to the rank 
 of major. While with Fighting Joe Hooker s brigade he lost his right 
 arm in the battle of Williamsburgh, in May, 1862. Notwithstanding 
 the loss of his arm by amputation he continued in the Army, and 
 served with a major s commission, participating in the battles of 
 Vicksburgh and Jackson, Mississippi, and various other engagements, 
 until he was appointed judge-advocate, the duties of which office he 
 performed with marked distinction. After the war was over he com 
 menced the practice of law at his home in New Hampshire. As a 
 soldier Major FARR was courageous, true to his country, never falter 
 ing where duty called. To his soldiers he was kind and considerate, 
 though exacting in the performance of every command. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, it was not rny fortune to know Major FARR person 
 ally till I met him in the Committee on Pensions. I shall never 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 
 
 forget the first time I met him in committee-room. The chairman 
 called over the names of the- committee for reports. None were 
 ready except Major FARR. When his name was called he brought 
 forward a large list of bills with accompanying papers and his reports. 
 He began sorting out his reports dexterously with one hand. I then 
 for the first time noticed he had lost his right arm; but it seemed to 
 me that this was no embarrassment to him, for he selected his reports 
 from other papers with as much apparent ease and facility as though 
 he was using both hands. He read his reports to the committee, and 
 they were all adopted unanimously. 
 
 I was struck with his familiarity with the pension laws, the rulings 
 of the Pension Department, and the concise manner in which he 
 stated the laws and the facts bearing on each case. I never knew 
 one of his reports to be rejected or anywise amended by the commit 
 tee. His judgment was clear and logical. He was always careful 
 of the interests of the public; but, while at all times diligent in pro 
 tecting the Government, he never permitted technical questions of 
 law to weigh against what seemed to him to be an equitable and 
 meritorious case. His justice was always " tempered with mercy." 
 At times it was difficult to secure a quorum for business; several 
 members of the committee were not regular in attendance. Not so 
 with Major FARR; he was always prompt in attendance, and never 
 behind with his reports. 
 
 From my acquaintance with him I was led to highly respect him 
 as a man of sterling integrity, of ripe judgment, and great industry. 
 I think I may truly say his abilities were far beyond the average. 
 He was serving his first term in Congress, and his modesty, the 
 insignia of true merit, forbade him entering the arena of every-day 
 debate and wrangle, a means by which too many endeavor to thrust 
 themselves in the Record and before the public at the expense of 
 orderly and intelligent legislation. But he never faltered in the dis 
 charge of his duty when he saw it necessary to attack a bad measure 
 
14 ADDRESS OF MR. BLAND ON THE 
 
 or sustain a good one. Major FARR was a close attendant upon the 
 sessions of the House. He was seldom out of his seat. He was 
 watchful of all the proceedings of legislation. He seemed to com 
 prehend instinctively all that was proposed for action, and his judg 
 ment as to the right or wrong of a measure was seldom at fault. I 
 differed with him politically, but I am sure he acted with his party 
 from as sincere convictions as I did with mine. There was no mem 
 ber of the Forty-sixth Congress whom I respected more highly than 
 him. If I were called upon to give my measure of the man, I should 
 say that clear judgment, a high sense of honor, an inflexible will were 
 his peculiar characteristics. He was also a man of generous and 
 noble impulses. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, this occasion brings to us the solemn thought of death, 
 of the uncertainties of all human aims, and the end of our ambition. 
 Man, like a shadow, gropes for a while in the gloom of earth and 
 vanishes. The dark cloud glitters for a moment in the lightning s 
 glare; the thunderbolt signalizes the approaching storm. The cloud 
 drenches the earth with torrents that rush headlong down to the 
 eternal sea. The thunder s roar dies away in soft echoes along the 
 distant hills. The cloud melts away beneath the effulgence of the 
 noonday s sun. Thus the whirl of life is spent and passes into eter 
 nity. Man may dominate the earth, but it was given to One alone 
 to conquer death. 
 
 We stand here to-day, and the words that fall from our lips are 
 licked up with the tongue of electric fire and whispered in the ears 
 of all nations. 
 
 We span continents with iron girders and bridge them with the 
 commerce of the world. We measure the depths of the sea, the 
 breadth of rivers, and the distances and magnitude of the heavenly 
 bodies. We predict with mathematical precision the course and 
 velocity of planets, the visit, exit, and return of comets. Yet, sir, 
 with all this power over earth and its surroundings \ve cannot tell the 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 15 
 
 day nor hour of our existence, for death " cometh as a thief in the 
 night." 
 
 Leaves have their time to fall, 
 And flowers to wither at the North wind s breath, 
 
 And stars to set; but all, 
 Thou hast all seasons for thine own, death ! 
 
 Happy for us we cannot foretell his coming. Our adjournment at 
 the last session would have been sorrowful indeed had we known 
 that on our reassembling one seat here would have thus been made 
 vacant. Our grief was wisely spared us to this last moment. Yet, 
 when we see a man thus cut down in the prime of life, when the 
 dreams of his early ambition were being realized, we are tempted to 
 complain at what would seem to be a harsh visitation of Providence. 
 But, Mr. Speaker, death waits for no one. The justice and wisdom 
 of an all-wise God are far beyond human ken. To His will we 
 meekly bow; to his commiserations and tender mercies we commend 
 the stricken widow and children of our friend. 
 
 EVARTS W. FARR is no more. His mortal remains rest beneath 
 the snow-mantled sod of his native State. 
 
 There shall the yew her sable branches spread, 
 And mournful cypress rear her fringed head ; 
 From thence shall thyme and myrtle send perfume, 
 And laurel ever green o ershade the tomb. 
 
 How unspeakably sad it would be to close our tribute to our friend 
 here. Can we have the heart to consign him to the cold clay of 
 mother earth, and there leave him as food for the worms ? O no ! 
 no ! The blessed hope of immortality forbids it. 
 
 Let earth dissolve, yon ponderous orb descend 
 And grind us into dust; the soul is safe; 
 The man emerges, mounts above the wreck 
 As towering flame from nature s funeral pyre. 
 
1 6 ADDRESS OF MR. BOWMAN ON THE 
 
 ADDRESS OF ^AlR. BOWMAN, OF ^MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER: It is fitting that we should turn aside for a time 
 from the business of the session, from our political contests and 
 wrangles, from the heated discussion of disputed questions, from all 
 the turmoil and noise and labors of Congressional life, and offer up 
 our tribute of respect to the memory of our deceased friend and 
 brother member, and place upon perpetual record our recognition 
 and appreciation of his character and services. It is the last thing 
 we can do for him. For him all the petty ambitions of life, the 
 struggle for honorable distinction, the cares and troubles and disap 
 pointments which beset the life of every man who devotes it to 
 services in high position for his country, the carping and unjust criti 
 cisms of opponents, the life of work and worry all these, which are 
 a part of the lot of every public man lifted up into a position where 
 he can become the target of press or person, are over for our dead 
 friend, and can trouble him no more in that better life of never- 
 ending rest and peace to which he has gone. 
 
 After life s fitful fever he sleeps well. 
 
 He passed away from an honorable and eventful life, and, although 
 comparatively young in years, no one can feel that that life was not 
 rounded out into full completeness, or mourn on his account that it 
 has ended, although our sympathies go out to those near and dear to 
 him, who lament his loss. All those who knew him, both in private 
 and in his public career, realize that his State, his constituency, and 
 his friends will miss his presence and the useful and honorable place 
 which he occupied in the councils of the nation. 
 
 His duty in life, his obligations to his country and his people, had 
 been honorably and nobly performed, and it is perhaps a fortunate 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 17 
 
 and happy fate for a man to pass away from this world in the height 
 of his powers, in honorable position gained by faithful service for his 
 fellow-men and by their appreciation of his worth, deeply regretted 
 and lamented by them, rather than in the "sere and yellow leaf" of 
 old age, with faculties impaired and powers of usefulness gone, so 
 that as one sinks beneath the waters of life, he leaves scarcely a 
 ripple behind. 
 
 Judged by what he was and what he had done no one can call the 
 life of our friend a short one; nay, more, upon the calendar of events 
 and marked by them alone his was a life longer by far than many a 
 one of fourscore years and ten. His life has been described by his 
 colleague, who has preceded me ; it is not for me to refer to it in 
 detail, or to the examples of heroism and devotion to country which 
 it displays. 
 
 From among the quiet and beautiful hills of the Granite State he 
 went forth to battle for his country, and there has come to us from 
 his comrades the touching story of his heroism, manliness, and devo 
 tion to the cause for which he was ready to sacrifice his life, and for 
 which he probably has sacrificed his life as much as if he had in 
 reality given it up from musket-ball or bayonet thrust on the field 
 of battle. We know how early in the war he lost his arm, which was 
 taken off at the shoulder, and how when for most men this would 
 have been considered, and rightly considered, as an excuse from 
 further service, and to have entitled them without further work and 
 dangers to the honors and gratitude of their countrymen, he again left 
 his home among the White Hills and went to the far southern coun 
 try to once more endure the hardships, trials, and dangers of military 
 life. He had well earned the reward of rest from military labors 
 and of escape from its dangers earned it at sad cost but he refused 
 to accept that reward, counting life or loss of limb, suffering, and 
 privation and danger as nothing, if he could serve his country. 
 
 From all that I have seen and known of him; from what I have 
 
1 8 ADDRESS OF MR. BOWMAN ON THE 
 
 known of his life here and have heard of it as it was spent at his 
 home among the New Hampshire mountains both before and after 
 his military experience, I cannot but regard him as one of those mar 
 tyrs of the war who have really given up their lives for their country. 
 The strong, vigorous, and rugged New Hampshire boy, reared in the 
 bracing mountain air, where the very breezes are laden with strength 
 and vitality, leading the healthy and hearty outdoor life of the coun 
 try, came back from the wars weakened and with his vitality sapped 
 by enervating climate or deadly miasms or the vital waste caused 
 by hardship, privation, and toil. 
 
 Many a soldier gave up his life on the field of battle by stroke of 
 sword, or met an immediate and therefore merciful and happy death 
 by rifle-bullet or cannon-ball, and we honor them, and never can 
 honor them too much, as men who died for their country; and we 
 place above their graves the old but never worn-out legend that " It 
 is sweet and beautiful to die for one s country," and shall hold them 
 in grateful remembrance through all the ages. 
 
 There was many and many a soldier who left behind him on south 
 ern battle-fields or in southern swamps, when he came marching 
 home after the war under triumphant flags, the better part of his life, 
 a vitality and strength so weakened and sapped that no cool northern 
 breezes and no fond attentions of home could restore them, and who 
 brought back with him the seeds of disease and weakness, so that 
 nevermore could he know the delights of health and the mere" pleas 
 ure of living, but always his life must be, if not a burden to him, yet 
 something to be careful of, to be watched and guarded, and thus 
 keeping him back from all that he would be or do. Many a life has 
 thus dragged itself along through weary years since the war and has 
 prematurely ended, when, so far as human minds can foresee, it might 
 have had before it many years of active and happy usefulness. 
 These men were as truly the martyrs of the war as those who had 
 the perhaps happier fate of meeting a short and sharp shrift on the 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 19 
 
 field of battle. For the one was the excitement, the honor, the 
 glory, the swift passing away of life without suffering and without 
 knowledge; for the other, the long and weary years, the patient en 
 durance, the uncomplaining words, the cheerful acquiescence in a 
 life whose high capabilities he could not improve, and that feeling of 
 limitation of powers and of his chance to make the most of his life 
 which want of strength and endurance always brings, and then an 
 early and premature death, when perhaps the promise of future use 
 fulness and advancement, the hopes of being most useful to himself 
 and family and friends and country, are at the brightest. 
 
 I do not mean to say that the life of our friend was thus hampered 
 and bound in by the strong bonds of bodily weakness so that he 
 could not make the most of it, and did not achieve high and honorable 
 distinction which any man might well be proud of, but I believe that 
 the causes of his death lie in his services in the war, and that, so far 
 as men can judge of what cannot be seen or known, many years of 
 honor and of usefulness would now be before him if it had not been 
 for what he sacrificed and did for his country. His record as a 
 soldier, a statesman, and a citizen is a most honorable one. 
 
 My acquaintance with him commenced with the present Congress, 
 to which we both of us came as new membejs, and, living near each 
 other here, our acquaintance ripened into intimacy and friendship. I 
 am sure that no one came into close contact with him or to really 
 know him who did not feel for him respect and affection. Quiet and 
 undemonstrative in his manners, not given to self-assertion or to 
 show, not thrusting himself forward before the people, but content 
 to remain quietly in the background unless he was needed and could 
 do good at the front, the unthinking and careless world, judging only 
 by the exterior and not caring to penetrate below the outer surface, 
 might underrate him and not give to him credit for the qualities 
 which he possessed; but behind his quiet manners there was a brave 
 heart, an honest mind and purpose, deep and settled convictions of 
 
ADDRESS OF MR. BOWMAN ON THE 
 
 right, which no plausible arguments or specious reasons could disturb. 
 I think one of the distinguishing traits of his character was his hatred 
 
 of shams and false pretensions, whether in public or private life, in 
 
 
 humble or in official station; his desire to go to the root of a matter, 
 
 and to find out the right and the true thing; his dislike of the thin 
 veneers and disguises plastered over political or personal iniquities, 
 wrongs, or injustice; his wish to call things by their right names and 
 to have the world call them by their right names and recognize them 
 as they were; in a word, his desire for the truth, however disagree 
 able, unpleasant, or humiliating. 
 
 He was honest in conviction and word and action. The same 
 desire to uphold the right which led him from his northern hills, and 
 to give up all the comforts of home and to make sacrifices of health 
 and limb, followed him into his public service here; and in these 
 Halls he always sought by word and vote to do what he thought to 
 be the right thing, and the honest, true, and therefore the best thing 
 for the people and the country. The best policy is almost always no 
 policy; but doing just the right thing and letting policies and the 
 future take care of themselves, sooner or later the right triumphs, and 
 we find that the unselfish policy of doing what is right without regard 
 to consequences turns out to be the wisest as well as best policy. 
 
 Our friend was a man of strong convictions, earnest purposes, and 
 of excellent judgment, forming his opinions with care, and skilled in 
 giving utterance to them when the occasion required. Honest and 
 incorruptible, earnest and industrious, interested in all the great ques 
 tions of the day, faithful in attending to his duties here and elsewhere; 
 a good man, a good soldier, a good statesman, pure in private life 
 and in public life, such is his record, and such is the description and 
 the memorial of him which we can place upon our records. Happy 
 is he who is thus laid to rest with his life s warfare accomplished, 
 and with the feeling in the hereafter that he has fought the good fight 
 and has passed away loved, honored, and respected. 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 21 
 
 We followed him to his last resting-place amid the snows of the 
 beautiful valley which had always been his home. It seemed as if 
 the whole population had gathered together to honor him in his death 
 even as they had honored him in his life; to offer up the last tribute 
 of respect which they could ever pay to him ; to perform for him the 
 last sad services which they could ever render. The affectionate 
 words of remembrance, the tearful eyes, the faltering accents, the sad 
 faces, all showed that our friend had as deep and warm a place in the 
 hearts and affections of the people to whom he belonged as in their 
 honor and respect. 
 
 They gathered in great throngs to accompany in its last journey 
 all that was left here below of our friend; to listen in the village 
 church to the words of consolation and of praise of him who had 
 gone out from among them never to return, and to find a sad solace 
 in the recital and remembrance of his virtues and of his life among 
 them from his boyhood to his death. And so almost under the 
 shadow of Mount Washington and the Franconia range we laid him 
 to rest amid the scenes which he loved so well, where the grand and 
 majestic mountains, whitened to their summits with the snows of 
 winter, look down upon his grave, and where in summer the ever 
 lasting hills whose granite summits pierce the sky keep watch and 
 ward over the beautiful green valley where he has found his last rest 
 ing-place. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. UPDEGRAFF, OF OHIO. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER: To me it is a mournful pleasure to add my heart- 
 deep tribute of veneration and love to what has already been so 
 fittingly said in memory of our departed comrade. I shall avoid all 
 extravagance of eulogy. The noble and manly character of EVARTS 
 W. FARR would be marred by any unreal adornment. And yet it is 
 well for his living associates, so soon to follow, to bear testimony to the 
 worth and exalted character of him whose memory to-day we honor. 
 
22 ADDRESS OF MR. UPDEGRAFF ON THE 
 
 Even in the rush of crowding duties here a moment s pause by 
 the bier of a fallen comrade is not an idle ceremony. It is wise 
 and well that for a little time at least party conflicts, and even the 
 tumult of needful interests, should be hushed in such a presence. In 
 that stillness are heard the truer voices, and to that vantage ground 
 come purer air and glimpses of a serener sky. Partisanship is hushed, 
 and the inspiration of generous comradeship strengthens the ties which 
 should bind associated men in amenity and mutual trust. Amid our 
 party antagonisms and fierce rivalries the fraternal intercourse and 
 warm friendships, to which that middle isle is no barrier, not only 
 redeem the sordid littlenesses of life but ennoble true manhood. 
 
 My acquaintance and intercourse with EVARTS W. FARR are among 
 the tenderest and most treasured recollections of this eventful Con 
 gress. In the early days of its first session we formed an acquaint 
 ance which soon grew into a warm friendship. Serving on the same 
 committee, I had opportunity to know and admire the many noble 
 traits of his character. His colleague has already tenderly and 
 eloquently told the story of his eventful life his early struggles, his 
 later triumphs, the confidence and love of his people and paid just 
 tribute to his domestic virtues and recognized abilities. 
 
 Coming of sturdy New England families, EVARTS W. FARR S life 
 attested the maxim that " the blood of descent is the prophecy of 
 destiny." He was a type of the region from which he sprang, and 
 of the intelligent and appreciative constituency which had laid upon 
 him the honors he so modestly accepted and the duties he so faith 
 fully discharged. In that section of our country education is univer 
 sal, labor is justly honored, property is largely distributed, and no 
 where operate more fully all the great formative forces which make 
 character, develop intellectual and moral elements, and mold nation 
 alities. Hence, that section, since the foundation of our Government, 
 has been represented in this body mainly by men of native strength 
 and sound learning, practical sense, and healthy patriotism men 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 23 
 
 both in mind and character self-poised and symmetrical the natural 
 outgrowth of such surroundings and such conditions. 
 
 One of the profoudest thinkers of this age has wisely said : 
 
 The deeper you study history the surer you find the truly great men and their 
 eras like threads interwoven in the tissue of the whole successive history of their 
 race or nation. There is yet Miltiades in the atmosphere we breathe in this coun 
 try, and there is Alfred in our daily doings. 
 
 And thus New England not only founded a distinctive nationalism 
 within her own borders, but awakening latent forces, voicing the 
 vague but irrepressible longings of the times, and organizing the 
 formative elements of a broader future, has added impelling power 
 to our growth, influenced our history, and being largely in sympathy 
 with the progressive principle which in a free country passes from 
 conscience to laws and institutions with irresistible force, has power 
 fully aided our national struggle into institutional existence and per 
 manence, and now these expanding elements are as much a part of 
 our national life as Warren and Adams and Webster are part of our 
 national history. 
 
 These reflections suggest themselves here because a typical out 
 growth of these New England conditions and these distinctive forces 
 was EVARTS W. FARR. His colleague has spoken of him as a stu 
 dent, a soldier, and a citizen. How characteristic and how touching 
 that patriotic devotion of the boy scholar turning resolutely away 
 from academic honors to the hardships and perils of the camp and 
 field the very hour he knew his country needed him. No wonder he 
 bore himself so bravely and so grandly through all that awful conflict. 
 The nobility of his nature recognized faithfulness to duty as his 
 supreme guide, so that even after he had lost his right arm at Will- 
 iamsburgh he joined his regiment before the wound was fully healed, 
 and with an intrepid valor which no danger daunted, no suffering 
 subdued, no defeat disheartened, he remained in active service till in 
 his shattered frame were fixed the seeds of disease which finally un- 
 
24 ADDRESS OF MR. UPDEGRAFF ON THE 
 
 dermined the citadel of life. While his country needed his services 
 he refused to care for his own health or safety. Indeed, he seemed to 
 
 value life itself 
 
 But as he served or saved the state. 
 
 I shall never forget his look or words as he replied to me one day 
 as to the loss of his arm. With the light of conscious triumph in his 
 eyes, he said in a deep, soft whisper, " No; it is less than I had 
 expected to give my country." Ah, the light of eternity alone can 
 reveal the awful sacrifices made willingly, proudly made to -our 
 imperiled nation ! 
 
 And though so modest as to his own claims to honor and so un 
 selfish as to his own demands, he was intensely sensitive to the needs 
 of his soldier comrades and deeply indignant at the wanton neglect 
 of their long-deferred appeals for hearing and justice. Carefully and 
 laboriously he examined the pension claims before that committee, 
 and urged those which were just and meritorious with an honest zeal 
 which stood amazed when he found it impossible to obtain for them 
 the attention of Congress. 
 
 His last recorded words in this House, near the close of last session, 
 were an eloquent plea that the soldiers of our country who had just 
 claims, not only for hearing but for help, should no longer be neg 
 lected, and that the one day in each week dedicated by our rules to 
 such claims should not be, as it had been, constantly taken for other 
 business. His was the completeness of integrity the very chivalry 
 of justice. And to him it very naturally seemed that there could be 
 no duty so imperative, no obligation so urgent, no work so welcome, 
 to the agents of the Government or the elected servants of the peo 
 ple, as to mete out just if not generous recognition to the deserving 
 soldiers of our country, many of whom are in dire need, helpless, 
 suffering, but still the same men whose once stalwart arms upbore the 
 dear old flag and whose bodies bridged the awful chasm over which 
 the nation marched to victory and peace. 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 25 
 
 A striking trait of Major FARR S character was his modesty. Con 
 scious of honest, faithful service, eager only for duty, he had no 
 hunger for mere notoriety, and sought no personal advertisement. 
 Even when fully prepared on a subject, he was wont to urge others 
 to take the floor a rare unobtrusiveness. Indeed, his quiet, earnest 
 work was for a purpose and not for effect, and seemed perpetually to 
 embody the spirit of the Persian proverb 
 
 Words are the children of the wind; deeds are the daughters of the soul. 
 
 Absolute honesty and truthfulness were among the impressive 
 characteristics of his nature. Not mere commercial honesty, but 
 truthfulness absolute and honesty in the highest sense of that much- 
 embracing and grand old Roman word. Wellington, in the House 
 of Lords, just after the sudden death of Sir Robert Peel, in speaking 
 to his memory, praised above all his " truthfulness," an honor alike 
 to the great statesman who merited it and to the great soldier who 
 so fitly valued it. Well may we all remember that the gratitude and 
 love of peoples follow only those who, in the service of their country, 
 lay unstained hands 
 
 Upon the ark 
 Of her magnificent and awful cause. 
 
 The generous nature of our associate was full of magnanimity. 
 Though intensely loyal and patriotic, though maimed in body and 
 broken in health in the service of his country during the war of the 
 rebellion, he bore no bitterness and no resentment. The magnanimity 
 of hit soul sought to embrace every citizen of our country in the 
 bonds of conciliation and brotherhood, and his broad patriotism rec 
 ognized in every State and every section parts of an indissoluble 
 national unity. 
 
 One of the. youngest members of this body, no man would have 
 selected EVARTS W. FARR as the first who should break our circle. 
 He was in the very morning of his usefulness and power. The 
 
 4 FR 
 
26 ADDRESS OF MR. UPDEGRAFF ON THE 
 
 dreams of youth were becoming realities, and with iron will and 
 brave heart he was shaping them into beneficence and fame. In the 
 midst of youth and ambition unfulfilled he has left us. 
 
 The ancient Northmen s image of death is less repulsive and more 
 Christian than that of Christian countries. No skeleton, but a gigan 
 tic figure that envelops men in the massive fold of his dark robes. 
 But whatever the symbol, whatever the promise of youth or the ripe 
 ness of age, death is always sudden and solemn. He sends no herald 
 and awaits no delay. 
 
 We know when moons shall wane, 
 When summer birds from far shall cross the sea, 
 
 When autumn s hue shall tinge the golden grain ; 
 But who shall teach us when to look for thee ? 
 
 Yet to the soul prepared it matters not. The " well done " is the 
 crown of life. So long as a man dwells on earth life is but a frag 
 ment. But the close may seal the work with the benediction of 
 changeless fruition. The career finished in honor and radiant with 
 faith becomes a completed power and an everlasting possession. 
 
 May those of us who are left to speak and hear the tributes of this 
 august and sad observance to our beloved associate take heed and 
 ponder the lesson it emphasizes. May we so live and act that some 
 thing of the good said of him to-day may be as truly said of us, and 
 that death shall be to us indeed the crown and vestibule of life. 
 
 The name and fame of EVARTS W. FARR live to his family, his 
 State, his country. He was a good citizen, a brave soldier, a faithful 
 legislator, a true man. Works of loving purpose and noble ambition 
 beautified a life round which will forever cluster tender and holy 
 memories. Warm with the affections and wise with the aspirations 
 which take hold of the life beyond, faith lends the light which clouds 
 cannot hide nor shadows dim. 
 
 In the bosom of his beloved New Hampshire, amid the wild 
 beauty of his native valley by the Ammonoosuc he sleeps, borne to 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 27 
 
 his last rest by the loving hands of the grand old fraternities of which 
 he was an honored member. Mount Washington, in cloud-crowned 
 grandeur, stands silent sentinel above his grave. It shall perish. He 
 
 shall live. 
 
 He has done the work of a true man ; 
 
 Crown him, honor him, love him; 
 Weep over him tears of women ; 
 
 Stoop manliest brows above him. 
 For the warmest of hearts is frozen, 
 
 The freest of hands is still, 
 And the gap in our picked and chosen 
 
 The long years may not fill. 
 
 ADDRESS OF M.R. J3HALLENBERGER, OF ^ENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER: I do not rise to occupy the attention of the House 
 with any formal eulogy of my comrade, colleague, and friend. 
 Others who knew him intimately and well have given the particulars 
 of his life and the analysis of his character and record in eloquent 
 and fitting terms. It was not my privilege to know him until we met 
 in the extra session of the Forty-sixth Congress which is now draw 
 ing to a close. I had not the intimacy that grows out of association 
 on committees, nor were we often thrown together in social gather 
 ings. But it was our fortune to sit near each other on the floor of 
 the House. An acquaintance was readily formed. His age, which 
 was nearly my own, his empty sleeve, and his Army record soon 
 drew me toward him. I could not fail to observe his conduct and 
 his votes during his brief service as a Representative. 
 
 At the request of his colleague, in charge of these memorial reso 
 lutions, and in justice to my own feelings, I very cheerfully place on 
 record in a few simple words my profound respect for the memory of 
 my deceased friend. His life was neither long nor eventful to a de 
 gree that justifies very general recognition and extended eulogy. I 
 
28 ADDRESS OF MR. SHALLENBERGER ON THE 
 
 greatly mistake the character and taste of EVARTS W. FARR, if liv 
 ing he would have enjoyed unmeasured praise. He was a man of 
 intelligence, of quick perceptions, of wonderful industry and fidelity, 
 of rare courage in upholding his convictions, and of transparent hon 
 esty of purpose. He was a student of books and a student of men. 
 He gave himself unreservedly to the work that he undertook. Never 
 absent from his seat unless from necessity, he kept himself informed 
 of the procedure of business and the merits of pending legislation. 
 He was industrious in committee, attentive to his constituency, and 
 extremely anxious to inform himself as to the best methods of serv 
 ing his country at large as well as the State he in part represented. 
 He was an earnest and uncompromising partisan in the true sense of 
 that word. He believed in the great principles of his party and in 
 its policy of administration as best for all sections of the country. 
 
 He recognized the necessity of political as well as military organ 
 ization, and when out-voted for command esteemed it his duty and 
 his privilege to march in the ranks, side by side with his comrades 
 and coworkers. He believed in aggressive rather than defensive 
 warfare; in advancing the right rather than in obstructing the wrong; 
 in sowing and cultivating good seed rather than in employing his 
 time and wasting his energies in the destruction of weeds. No one 
 could well suspect him of swerving in the least degree from his con 
 victions of right and duty. He was wise enough to seek more in 
 formation, and .discreet enough to build patiently and well by study, 
 observation, and experience the foundation of a Congressional repu 
 tation that, had he lived, must have sustained a solid structure. 
 
 His intellectual ability and parliamentary knowledge shone all the 
 brighter in the setting of a modest self-distrust. As a boy we are 
 told he schooled himself by his daily toil, as the brightest and best 
 of New England boys have done. When the war broke out he was 
 in college, and among the first in the Granite State to enlist in April, 
 1 86 1, as a private soldier. As a captain at Williamsburgh under 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 29 
 
 Hooker he left his right arm on the field of battle. Longer service 
 or greater sacrifice could not have been expected ; but his wound had 
 scarcely healed when he sought the front under Grant and Sherman 
 in the Southwest with a major s commission; and not till the war 
 closed did he quit the Army, not always in the field, but always in 
 the line of active, faithful service. After the war, as a law student, 
 successful practitioner, trusted and honored public officer, and finally 
 as a Representative in Congress, he maintained the same heroic and 
 unselfish character. 
 
 Others have been more conspicuous than he both in military and 
 in civil life, but we may look in vain for a better illustration of the 
 ideal volunteer soldier and citizen of the Republic. When danger 
 threatened his countrymen he was first to seek and last to leave the 
 most perilous and patriotic service. When peace came and the waste 
 of war must needs be repaired, he was again first among the faithful 
 in giving the best energies of a dauntless spirit and an enfeebled, 
 crippled body to the civil service. He died in the prime of man 
 hood, most loved and respected by those who knew him best. 
 
 It is said that a pebble dropped in ocean will send its wavelets to 
 the distant shore; is it too much to say that a life like that of our 
 deceased colleague, pure, unselfish,- uplifting in its aims and efforts, 
 dropped in the great ocean of humanity, will not pass from sight 
 without leaving behind an influence that touches the hearts and lives 
 of generations to come? The strength and promise of our Ameri 
 can institutions lie in the development of just such characters as that 
 of Mr. FARR. Faithful, as I am told, to every trust confided to him, 
 and generous in kind words and good deeds, he has done what he 
 could to alleviate human suffering and to elevate and ennoble human 
 kind. 
 
3 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. HALL ON THE 
 
 ADDRESS OF yVLR. ^ALL, OF JTEW J-fAMPSHIRE. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER: Thrice during this Congress has the end of earth 
 come to members of this House. One of our associates during each 
 of our previous sessions, and now a third just as we were assembling 
 here for this session, have been called from these scenes of warm 
 contention and earnest endeavor to that unseen world to which we 
 know we, too, are all so soon to follow. 
 
 Sudden and unexpected as were the deaths of Mr. Clark at our 
 first session and that of Mr. Lay at our last, the news of the decease 
 of my late colleague, Hon. EVARTS W. FARR, at his home in Little 
 ton, New Hampshire, on the 30th day of November last, was hardly 
 less unexpected or more appalling to his associates in this House or 
 to his friends in his own State. 
 
 On the evening of Monday preceding the opening of this session 
 I first learned of his brief illness through the public print, and the 
 next morning at nine o clock he was dead. Though the disease 
 which was the immediate cause of my late colleague s death was so 
 brief that his neighbors hardly missed him from the streets of the 
 village before he was dead, I am aware that he had for months suf 
 fered from a complication of diseases which we now know must at 
 any rate have at no remote period brought his life to a close. I very 
 well remember how much and how patiently he suffered here from ill 
 health during the last spring months until finally, under the earnest 
 advice of his physician, he was induced to ask leave of absence for 
 the closing weeks of the session and take a short sea voyage for the 
 benefit of his failing health. I think I have never known a member 
 of this House more constant in his attendance upon its sessions or 
 one who seemed to feel more keenly the necessary absence of an 
 hour than Mr. FARR; and so, troubled and too sensitive about his 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 31 
 
 enforced absence, two days before the close of last session he had 
 returned here improved in appearance and spirits, but still by no 
 means a well man. 
 
 From a conversation with him in this Hall, perhaps the last one 
 I ever had with him, for I never saw him after our separation last 
 June, I learned that he was one of that great army of martyrs to 
 their country s cause, who, spared death in battle, camp, and prison, 
 are reserved to after years of pain and infirmity, from insidious dis 
 ease fastened on the system while serving in our Army during the 
 late civil war. 
 
 Major FARR was one of the younger members of this House, 
 having but just completed his fortieth year at the time of his death; 
 but those years were full of earnest effort and stirring incident, though 
 no special privation beset his early life or remarkable opportunity 
 opened before his maturer years. 
 
 Waiving the assistance which parental affection was always ready 
 to afford he was always inclined, as I am informed, in his boyhood 
 to rely on his own unaided efforts, and early showed that manly self- 
 reliance and that spirit of independence which so characterized him 
 in after life, by largely, if not entirely, defraying the expenses of his 
 preparatory education at Thetford Academy, in Vermont, a semi 
 nary of good repute and large patronage, where he graduated with 
 valedictory honors and subsequently entered Dartmouth College in 
 the class which graduated in 1863. 
 
 Here the war of the rebellion found him pursuing his freshman 
 studies, the earnest, genial son of God-fearing, liberty-loving parents 
 of the Puritan stock. The offspring of such an ancestry, he had im 
 bibed from the daily intercourse of the home circle, from the teach 
 ing of the district school, and from the whole social and moral atmos 
 phere that molded his character an earnest admiration for that view 
 of life which claims complete freedom and equal privileges and op 
 portunity in life s struggle for all. 
 
32 ADDRESS OF MR. HALL ON THE 
 
 To a mind shaped under such influences anything like classific 
 distinction in the state or in social life, or the arbitrary enforced sub 
 servience of individuals or a race, was repugnant beyond endurance, 
 and it was past comprehension when any attempt was made to 
 reconcile such a system with any code of ethics which reckoned 
 honesty a virtue or theft an offense against fair dealing. Such views 
 his college life was calculated to intensify. 
 
 Dartmouth College had been founded a century before, in the 
 heart of our northern wilderness, having for its motto, " Vox claman- 
 tis deserto" the voice of one crying in the desert, and with the dis 
 tinct avowal that its mission was to educate the proscribed red 
 man in common with the sons of the white settler. With advancing 
 years and receding forests the Indian had ceased to frequent its halls, 
 but the comprehensive, race-wide philanthropy of Wheelock and his 
 associates had left an abiding impress on its successive generations 
 of instructors and given shape and direction to its mission as an edu 
 cator of young men; and when the great struggle of 1861 came on, 
 whenever it was referred to, whether among the students themselves 
 in the recitation room, or the hall of more public discourse, there 
 was praise of the social equality pervading life in the free States, and 
 a corresponding denunciation of the peculiar institution which had 
 brought on the great conflict and for the perpetuity of which the 
 struggle was confessedly waged; and soon young FARR, with others 
 of his fellow-students, had exchanged the academic gown for the 
 uniform of the soldier. 
 
 Volunteering on the 2oth of April, 1861, as a private, he remained 
 in the Army down to June, 1865, when he was honorably discharged. 
 During most of these years, excepting the brief period when he was 
 disabled from keeping the field after the loss of his right arm in the 
 battle of Williamsburgh, Virginia, in May, 1862, he seems to have 
 been in battle, camp, and on the march. 
 
 By his bravery and conspicuous exhibition of all the traits that 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 33 
 
 mark the good soldier, he rose from the rank of private to that of 
 captain in the Second Regiment, and finally to the rank of major in 
 the Eleventh Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers. 
 
 Returning at the close of the war to his mountain home, he set 
 about the study of the law, and was admitted to the bar of Grafton 
 County, New Hampshire, in 1867; at once opened an office in his 
 native town of Littleton, and there continued in the practice of his 
 profession down to the time of his last brief illness, excepting as he 
 was called to places of public trust; and these calls were not infre 
 quent, and they were conspicuously to commanding positions and 
 places which require for their possessor that private worth and public 
 confidence which Major FARR so fully possessed. 
 
 Having been assessor of internal revenue by presidential appoint 
 ment from July, 1870, to the abolition of the office in 1873, county 
 solicitor of Grafton County by executive appointment in 1873 and 
 again in 1876, a member of the executive council of his State in 
 1876, he was elected a member of this House for the Forty-sixth 
 Congress and again elected to the Forty-seventh Congress in No 
 vember last. 
 
 To those gentlemen in this House who were so fortunate as to 
 make Major FARR S acquaintance it will be no surprise when I say 
 he was a great favorite with his party and the pride of our New 
 Hampshire people. Proverbial for his honesty and his honor, his 
 patriotism proven by his heroic service for his country, his courage 
 on the very crest of battle attested by that empty right sleeve, a 
 bright man intellectually and well poised every way, never descend 
 ing from the highest moral plane in his daily walk and conversation, 
 a good lawyer, the pleasant gentleman always that you saw here, 
 the leader in every good work, it is no wonder that old men stood 
 by him, young though he was, nor that the young were fascinated 
 by his life, nor that all classes and ages rallied around him and made 
 him their standard-bearer whether he would or no. 
 
 FR 
 
34 ADDRESS OF MR. HALL ON THE 
 
 The men and women of that northern region are stern in their 
 notions of right and wrong, and exacting of their public servants in 
 matters of public policy; but so well had their requirements been 
 met in his case that their affection toward him whose life we to-day 
 commemorate was as fervid as the fires on their hearth-stones ; and 
 when his death was known there was a sense of personal bereave 
 ment among all classes which comes only when a trusted leader who is 
 the hope and reliance of the State in the emergencies of the future falls. 
 
 As a lawyer, Major FARR had his training and passed his profes 
 sional life at a bar which for many years has been remarkable for the 
 legal knowledge and forensic ability of its members. Personally I 
 knew little of him in his profession, but I am told that his natural 
 vigor of intellect, aided by that perseverance and determination to 
 excel which seem never to have failed him, very early gave him a 
 prominent position as a lawyer, not only in the minds of community 
 generally, but as well in the more discriminating estimate of the pro 
 fession. Doubtless others were severer students of books and sharper 
 practitioners, but none, I venture to say, took broader views of the 
 law or made more sensible application of its principles, and no one 
 practiced the law in a more honorable way, or more for the good of 
 the State, or more to the satisfaction of his clients, than Major FARR. 
 
 Genius has been said to be the undue development of some one 
 faculty at the expense of others, and all of us have seen too many 
 instances of the like. Genius in this sense Major FARR had not, but 
 if he had none of those shining qualities which dazzle and attract, 
 he had all those qualities which go to make up a noble manhood 
 well balanced and well disciplined. He was a most consistent and 
 serviceable man, rich in good works in public and private life alike. 
 No one was more constant in attendance here than he, none more 
 punctual or more fearless in putting himself on the record on all ques 
 tions acted on in this House. Though he took little of the time of 
 this House in speech-making, it was neither because he was not in- 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 
 
 35 
 
 terested in matters of legislation, nor because he was not a ready 
 and effective debater, for no one followed our deliberations with more 
 care than he, and he spoke with ease and an ability that attracted 
 attention upon all subjects that interested him. Doubtless, with 
 longer service here, he would have been found valuable in discussion 
 as well as in consultation. 
 
 That my colleague should have been cut off ere it was the noon 
 of life with him; when life promised so much of enjoyment and use 
 fulness; when his hopes were so high and the endearments of that 
 now stricken and desolate little family were so great, is incomprehen 
 sible. Reason reels at the blow; all the resources of philosophy and 
 speculation give no solution of the mysterious Providence, and we 
 are reminded that we are here simply the executors of another s will; 
 that the disposition of nations and of individuals alike is not in finite 
 hands. "For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to 
 face." Now, and whenever we recall our lamented brother, we will 
 say the best we can say of any : 
 
 He has done the work of a true man. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Never rode to the wrong s redressing 
 
 A worthier paladin. 
 Shall he not hear the blessing, 
 
 "Good and faithful enter in ? " 
 
 ADDRESS OF 
 
 J3LAKE, OF J^EW JERSEY. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER : Twice within my brief term of service in this House 
 has the seat at my right hand been vacant. Two of our fellow-mem 
 bers who sat there have been taken from us by death. First, Clark 
 of Iowa, then FARR of New Hampshire. Both of them were " good 
 men and true " ; both of them the faithful servants of the people ; both 
 of them my friends. 
 
 It is of Mr. FARR only that I am to speak at this time. My liking 
 for him was of no sudden growth. Until he came to this seat I knew 
 
36 ADDRESS OF MR. BLAKE ON THE 
 
 not even his name. And then so soon was it after the loss of poor 
 Clark I was in no mood to greet him or any other with ardor, while 
 FARR himself, as if he read my thoughts, was shy and formal. Thus 
 were we for a while kept apart. The courtesies of our daily inter 
 course, however, gradually drew us together, and acquaintance rip 
 ened into friendship. When we separated, at the close of the last 
 session, it was with words of mutual regret. During the vacation we 
 exchanged letters and made plans, which now, alas ! are never to be 
 realized. I had heard that he was feeble in health, but I did not 
 foresee the end that was so near. To-day he lies buried in one of 
 the beautiful valleys which he loved, among the granite hills, and 
 the snows of winter are heaped high above his newly-made grave. 
 
 It was not easy to become familiar with Mr. FARR. He did not 
 "wear his heart upon his sleeve." He sought no intimacies. Stran 
 gers did not understand him. Nor did he respond quickly to their 
 advances. There was to them and to them alone an exterior of 
 reserve; or, sometimes, a plainness of speech which repelled. And 
 a few may here say that he was wanting in sympathy. But these 
 knew him not. His inner self was hidden from them. To those fa 
 vored ones who, having gained the key, passed within the portal, he 
 was frank and genial, full of sensibility, tender and loving, abundant 
 in deeds of kindness and good-will. 
 
 Little by little did he tell me the story of his life; of his boyhood; 
 of his efforts to obtain education; his patience and self-denial; his 
 arduous military service; his happy marriage; his successes as a law 
 yer; his participation in civil affairs; and, finally, of his election to 
 Congress. The whole was told with great simplicity. There was no 
 boasting; no seeking for praise. Not a word about his distinguished 
 bravery upon the field of battle. All that have I learned from other 
 lips than his own. As he drew the picture for me, he had merely 
 tried to do his duty and to do it well. In his eyes there was noth 
 ing of merit in doing that which is required of all men alike. But 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 
 
 37 
 
 the record of this short life so pure, so useful is at once a lesson 
 and a legacy for those whom he has left behind. 
 
 The few flaws in Mr. FARR S character were of manner rather than 
 of the heart. Let us speak of his better qualities. He was modest, 
 almost timid, and yet bold when there was occasion for boldness. 
 Humble, yet proud of his strength when there was a wrong to be re 
 dressed or the weak and friendless were to be upborne. Zealous in 
 behalf of a client or a cause, and yet zeal and honor went ever side 
 by side with equal steps. Having a mind so broad that he could 
 not be technical, he was direct always in speech and purpose. Like 
 the Sultan Akbar, he believed that " no man was ever lost in a straight 
 road." Hence was he without craft and without deceit. He hated 
 a lie, and for the liar he had scorn. His early struggles had made 
 him practical. Common sense held the scales in which he weighed 
 all things; and honesty of the old-fashioned kind left him rich only 
 in the esteem and confidence of his fellow-men. 
 
 When he came into this body it was with the determination to be 
 useful. He did not wish to be conspicuous. No member was more 
 regular in attendance. No one more watchful of the proceedings. 
 No one more studious of the methods of legislation. None more 
 industrious in the committee-room. None more conscientious every 
 where. None firmer than he in resistance to any scheme which 
 seemed to be unwise or unwholesome. Thoroughly in earnest about 
 every matter, whether great or small. Devoted to his constituents, 
 being their representative in fact as well as in name. A partisan, 
 and intense in loyalty to his party; at the same time so true to his 
 country as to be in a measure independent of parties and party dis 
 cipline. Clear and positive in his views upon all political questions 
 and strong in their expression, nevertheless without rancor or bitter 
 ness toward those whom he believed to be honestly opposed to them. 
 
 It was not strange, then, that_ the people who sent him here were 
 prompt to recognize his ability and his fidelity. Nor strange that in 
 
38 ADDRESS OF MR. SHERWIN ON THE 
 
 the recent election they insisted upon his return for further service to 
 the place which he had filled so well. Could he have been spared 
 for a few years longer, I am persuaded that other and higher honors 
 would have opened to him. And I know that he would have been 
 found worthy of them all. It is idle, however, to speculate upon that 
 which is impossible. His earth work is finished. He comes to us no 
 more. But there are some in this presence to-day by whom he will 
 not be forgotten. In our hearts his memory like the sweet-scented 
 branches of the pine tree and the hemlock which stand as sentinels 
 around his grave shall be green and fragrant forever. 
 
 ADDRESS OF M.R. J$HERW1N, OF JLLINOIS. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER: I was unacquainted with the deceased member from 
 New Hampshire until I met him here at the extra session of this Con 
 gress. The badge he wore his empty sleeve first drew my attention 
 toward him, and the formal introduction which followed ripened into 
 an acquaintance during the last session of Congress especially, sitting 
 as he did so near me, which led me to respect, admire, and trust him. 
 Coming as we did from wide-severed portions of the Republic, he 
 from the shadows of Mount Washington in the valley of the Con 
 necticut, and I from the level prairies of Illinois, we yet joined 
 hands in this Hall, one in hope and one in purpose and desire to do 
 that which should redound to the prosperity, the glory, the power of 
 the nation. 
 
 I knew nothing of his life at home. I did know that he had 
 given one of his limbs to his country, and had loyally lavished his 
 strength and the energy of his youth for four long years that the 
 nation might endure an undivided republic forevermore. I can 
 fancy that Major FARR, a student at Dartmouth, the honored alma 
 mater of many accomplished and illustrious jurists, statesmen, ora 
 tors, and scholars, when the late unhappy conflict was impending 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS \V. FARR. 39 
 
 may have repeated the immortal words of New Hampshire s and 
 Dartmouth s greatest son in the peroration to his second speech on 
 Foote s resolution, expressing the very passion of liberty and union 
 and converting the nation s fears for both into a prophecy, afterward 
 to be gloriously fulfilled; and that those words, now classic, while 
 upon the lips of Webster were but an unquenchable aspiration, were, 
 under the exigent demands of that time, at once transmuted by him 
 into a lofty purpose, which seized upon and impelled him to heroic 
 deeds. Changing the majestic eloquence of the Senate into sublim- 
 est action, he helped to place the feet of the nation upon the immov 
 able granite of Union, one and indivisible. 
 
 He showed in all my intercourse with him here that he was moved 
 by a constant sense of duty to himself, his constituents, and his 
 country. He was unflagging in the performance of his duties, and 
 untiring in all the routine work which is cast upon a member of Con 
 gress. And while attending faithfully to the uninteresting, common, 
 and exacting demands made upon him daily, he was constantly 
 studying the intricate methods of legislation and familiarizing him 
 self with the course of Congressional business, that he might be 
 fitted to grapple in the future with those greater and more important 
 questions of state which are only opened to those men of experience 
 acquired within these walls. 
 
 He had a mind of singular directness, which went at once to the 
 marrow of a question. He was sometimes impatient at the delays 
 of public business and longed to cut off or suppress all extraneous 
 considerations when debating public questions and proceed directly 
 to its consummation. Yet he was careful and cautious in all essen 
 tials. 
 
 It is not necessary for me to say that he was animated by a patri 
 otism as broad as the banner which embraces the whole land in its 
 folds, and as bright as are its stars. His love of country was a pas 
 sion with him. His best thoughts and purposes were given to it, 
 
40 ADDRESS OF MR. SHERWIN ON THE 
 
 
 
 even as he had before given of his body and his blood, freely and 
 without stint. An imputation upon its honor was like a personal 
 affront to him. His country was not New Hampshire, but the 
 Union, indivisible and grand. While he loved the granite hills upon 
 which he was born and reared, and they were his home, those hills 
 were comprehended in the all-embracing circuit of the Republic. 
 He was simple and unaffected in his manners, and easily approached 
 by every one. Those who knew him could not but be charmed by 
 the frankness of his address, the intelligence of his conversation, and 
 the kindliness of temper which shone over all. A stranger even would 
 have recognized in him a man of stern integrity and purity of life. 
 
 This man, whose life had been full of heroic experiences and stren 
 uous living, who had set his ideals high above the ordinary levels of 
 the world and was possessed of the vigor to successfully pursue them, 
 had been selected by the people who knew him best to represent 
 them in the council chambers of the nation before he had attained to 
 the prime of his manhood. 
 
 He had acquitted himself so well in his high trusts that he had 
 been the second time chosen by them as their Representative, but 
 hardly had the news of his last success reached us before the wires 
 brought the painful announcement that he was no more. Ambition 
 was laid at rest. Death stepped noiselessly between him and the 
 goal he had set himself. That career, which had so lately opened 
 to him its bright promise of usefulness, for which he had girded him 
 self, but which he had as yet hardly begun to run, was suddenly 
 closed, and we stand by his vacant seat pondering upon the frail 
 tenure by which man is held to the concerns of life. We cannot 
 comprehend the wisdom which has removed him so early from the 
 work of life which he was so well fitted to perform; but we can un 
 derstand and do know that he has left with us the record of a man 
 modest yet firm ; one who loved the true and the good, and was 
 ready to work for them; a wise legislator, a patriot, an honest man. 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 
 
 ADDRESS OF M.R. RAY, OF NEW J-IAMPSHIRE. 
 
 MR. SPEAKER: After what has already been so worthily said of 
 the life and public services of my late predecessor, but little remains 
 for me to add. I feel unwilling, however, to let this occasion pass 
 without paying my humble tribute to the worth of EVARTS W. FARR. 
 
 Residing near him, it was my privilege to know him intimately for 
 twenty years and upward. As a civilian, he laid no claim to leader 
 ship, as that term is commonly understood, but he was, nevertheless, 
 a thoroughly excellent and public-spirited citizen, possessed of good 
 judgment and sound common sense. 
 
 From personal observation ever since he came to man s estate, I 
 can safely aver that in every position of public trust or private con 
 fidence in which he was placed he was reliable, faithful, and efficient. 
 
 Who does the best his circumstance allows, 
 Does well, acts nobly; angels could no more. 
 
 I concur fully in the accurate compend of his biography which 
 has been so eloquently given by my colleagues, and will not, there 
 fore, take the time of the House in its repetition. The people of his 
 
 
 
 district, appreciating the creditable manner in which he had acquitted 
 himself, both in military and civil life, had elected him as a member 
 of the present Congress by a decisive majority, and honorable mem 
 bers associated with him upon committees, and all who enjoyed his 
 acquaintance, can testify how worthily that honor as well as that of 
 his re-election to the Forty-seventh Congress was bestowed by his 
 constituents. Few men have made more friends during so brief an 
 allotment of life, and none have left behind them fewer enemies. 
 
 Upon this occasion I can do little more than to express the senti 
 ments of kindly regard with which my long acquaintance with Major 
 FARR had inspired me, leaving to others, who have to-day so well 
 fulfilled the task, to speak of those features of his career which en- 
 
 6 FR 
 
42 ADDRESS OF MR. RAY. 
 
 deared him to the people of New Hampshire, and which will endear 
 his memory to them forever. 
 
 We listen now to the formal announcement of his death that we 
 may, by this public demonstration, show our respect for the high 
 office which he held, and our appreciation of his patriotism as shown 
 on the battle-field, and his faithfulness as displayed in civil life. 
 These resolutions cannot augment the fame of the deceased, but 
 they will show that the Republic can be grateful to those who have 
 served her well, and that men of all parties can appreciate the 
 qualities which illustrated and adorned his life. 
 
 The lesson of his well-spent life and untimely death cannot fail us, 
 for the former is ever before us as an example, the latter as a warn 
 ing. The spectacle of one cut down in the prime of his manhood, 
 in the very midst of a useful and meritorious career, is one that may 
 well make us pause in the hurry and bustle of our daily duties, to 
 consider whether life is worth all the wear and tear and worry that 
 we undergo for worldly purposes alone, and it brings to mind, with 
 overwhelming force, the truth that it is not all of life to live. The 
 pure, patriotic, and noble life of our deceased friend remains only a 
 memory, but it is a memory which descends to his family and kin 
 dred and friends as a priceless inheritance, an imperishable legacy of 
 honor. 
 
 With mingled feelings of sadness and satisfaction I move the adop 
 tion of these resolutions : sadness at the occurrence which gave rise 
 to their introduction, satisfaction because of the opportunity afforded 
 me to forward what I consider most appropriate action on the part 
 of this House in commemoration of an event which has brought 
 sorrow to so many hearts and an impressive lesson to us all. 
 
 The SPEAKER. The question is on the adoption of the resolutions 
 submitted by the gentleman from New Hampshire- 
 
 The resolutions were unanimously adopted; and then, in obe 
 dience thereto, the House adjourned. 
 
PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 
 
 DECEMBER 8, 1880. 
 
 A message from the House of Representatives by Mr. GEORGE M. 
 ADAMS, its clerk, communicated intelligence of the death of Hon. 
 EVARTS W. FARR, late a Representative from the State of New 
 Hampshire and member-elect to the Forty-seventh Congress from 
 that State. 
 
 FEBRUARY 8, 1881. 
 
 A message was received from the House of Representatives by 
 Mr. THEODORE F. KING, one of its clerks, communicating to the 
 Senate the intelligence of the death of Hon. EVARTS W. FARR, late 
 a Representative from the State of New Hampshire, and transmit 
 ting the resolutions of the House thereon. 
 
 Mr. ROLLINS. I move that the business of the Senate be suspended, 
 and call for the reading of the resolutions of the House of Repre 
 sentatives announcing the death of Mr. FARR, late a member of the 
 House from the State of New Hampshire. 
 
 The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire asks 
 that the pending order be suspended for the purpose he has named. 
 Is there objection ? The Chair hears none ; and the resolutions of 
 the House of Representatives will be read. 
 
 The Chief Clerk read as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That this House has heard with profound sorrow the 
 announcement of the death of Hon. EVARTS W. FARR, late a Rep 
 resentative from the State of New Hampshire. 
 
 Resolved, That in token of regard for the memory of the lamented 
 deceased the members of this House do wear the usual badge of 
 mourning for thirty days. 
 
 Resolved, That the Clerk of this House do communicate these res 
 olutions to the Senate of the United States. 
 
 43 
 
44 ADDRESS OF MR. ROLLINS ON THE 
 
 Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the 
 deceased this House do now adjourn. 
 
 Mr. ROLLINS. Mr. President, I move that the resolutions which 
 I send to the Chair be adopted by the Senate. 
 
 The PRESIDING OFFICER. The resolutions will be read. 
 
 The Chief Clerk read the resolutions of Mr. ROLLINS, as follows: 
 
 Resolved, That the Senate has received with profound sensibility 
 the sad announcement of the death of Hon. EVARTS W. FARR, late 
 a member of the House of Representatives from the State of New 
 Hampshire. 
 
 Resolved, That as a mark of respect for the memory of Mr. FARR, 
 the members of the Senate will wear the usual badge of mourning 
 for thirty days. 
 
 Resolved, That the sympathies of the members of the Senate be 
 tendered to the family of the deceased in this bereavement, and that 
 the Secretary of the Senate transmit to them a copy of these resolu 
 tions. 
 
 ADDRESS OF M.R. ROLLINS, OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT: It is now almost a quarter of a century since a 
 member of the delegation from the State of New Hampshire has 
 been called upon to announce the death of a colleague in either 
 branch of Congress. Since the adoption of the Constitution four 
 Senators from New Hampshire have died during their terms of 
 office: Nicholas Oilman, in 1814; Charles G. Atherton, in 1853; 
 Moses Norris, jr., in 1855; and James Bell, in 1857; although out of 
 the thirty-five Senators who have represented the State prior to the 
 present incumbents but six are now living. 
 
 In the other branch for the first time a vacancy has occurred by 
 the death of Major E. W. FARR, the youngest member of our delega 
 tion, in the prime of his manhood, and but a few days after the peo- 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 45 
 
 pie of his district had indorsed his ability and worth by a re-election. 
 In the midst of life we are in death. The great leveler invades all 
 ranks and conditions of life, paying no regard to age or sex, strength 
 or weakness. 
 
 In this case the blow fell with little warning and but a brief illness, 
 and it is a significant admonition to us to be always ready to meet 
 that last call to enter upon the new state which awaits us beyond 
 the confines of this earthly existence, and there solve the mystery 
 which during all time our human intelligence has not been able satis 
 factorily to penetrate, except that we are fain to accept the faith that 
 death is but the portal to a new existence, and that if a man die he 
 shall live again. The survivors may mourn their loss more griev 
 ously when it comes without warning, but it is well with the departed. 
 My acquaintance with Major FARR began in the early days of the 
 great struggle for the preservation of the Union, in April, 1861, when 
 the first call to arms was responded to with so much alacrity, not only 
 by our late and lamented friend, but by so many others in the North. 
 From that time until the day when the sad intelligence of his death 
 was communicated to me by telegraph from his quiet home among 
 the mountains, I watched with interest his career, both in the Army 
 and in civil life, and our friendship was never for one moment inter 
 rupted. In his death I mourn the loss of a true, long-tried, and 
 esteemed friend. 
 
 Major FARR was born in Littleton, New Hampshire, October 10, 
 1840. At the early age of twelve, with that independence so char 
 acteristic in later years, he struck out for himself, and, by that rugged 
 toil which is not unfamiliar to many New England boys, began to 
 earn his own support and provide means to secure an education. In 
 the fall of 1856 he entered upon his preparatory course for college 
 at the academy at Thetford, Vermont, leaving that with valedictory 
 honors in 1859 for Dartmouth College. His collegiate course was 
 interrupted by the call to arms, and in April, 1861, his name appears 
 
46 ADDRESS OF MR. ROLLINS ON THE 
 
 first in his native town and among the first in the State enrolled 
 among the volunteers. Subsequently he was appointed a lieutenant 
 in the Second New Hampshire Regiment. 
 
 During the first year he was prostrated by disease and sent to the 
 hospital in this city, but an indomitable will and strong constitution 
 carried him through, and as soon as he recovered his strength he 
 returned to his regiment. January i, 1862, he received his commis 
 sion as captain, and on the 5th of May following, in the battle of 
 Williamsburgh, during a drenching rain, his right arm was shattered 
 by a minie ball while he was in the act of firing. With character 
 istic coolness he picked up his revolver with his left hand and passed 
 to the rear, where he remained forty-eight hours in a dilapidated 
 building without doors or windows, in his wet clothing ; he was then 
 conveyed to Fortress Monroe and was sent home, where he arrived 
 in fifteen days after receiving the wound which deprived him of his 
 arm. Impatient of this enforced retirement, in six weeks he returned 
 to the front. Soon after he was appointed major of the Eleventh 
 New Hampshire Regiment, and as such participated in the battle 
 of Fredericksburgh, December 13, 1862. With his regiment he was 
 under General Grant at the siege of Vicksburgh. Later he was 
 detailed as judge-advocate on court-martial duty at Cincinnati and 
 Washington, and after the close of the war studied law and was 
 admitted to the bar in 1867. He was assistant assessor of internal 
 revenue, and subsequently assessor, which office be held until 1873, 
 when the office was abolished. 
 
 As a soldier he was chivalrous and brave, bearing a record with 
 out blemish, ever present when duty called. As an officer, cool and 
 courageous in danger, strict in discipline, but by his general kindness 
 endeared to all his men, winning the highest estimation of all who 
 knew him and the confidence of his seniors in command. As a law 
 yer, he won a good position, and was known as a safe counselor, 
 earning the confidence of his clients and the community. As a poli- 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 47 
 
 tician, he was frank and outspoken, leaving no doubt as to his posi 
 tion, and, while a stalwart Republican, possessed many warm friends 
 among his political opponents. 
 
 In 1876 he was elected a member of the governor s council from 
 his district; he was twice appointed prosecuting attorney for his 
 county, resigning that position to take his seat in the present Con 
 gress, to which he was elected in 1878. At the recent election (No 
 vember, 1880) he was re-elected to the Forty-seventh Congress in 
 one of the most hotly contested campaigns known in his district, 
 which is a very close one, thus showing the estimation in which he 
 was held by his constituents. 
 
 As a member of the House of Representatives he proved himself 
 industrious and efficient; as in the Army, he was never absent from 
 his post of duty except from imperative necessity. 
 
 It is said that a prophet is not without honor save in his own coun 
 try, but the following tribute will show how Major FARR was appre 
 ciated in his own community, and this tribute will be indorsed by 
 every member of that community: 
 
 To speak of him as a man is to fully know him as a citizen and neighbor, a hus 
 band and father, an associate and friend. As a citizen he was just, kind, and pub 
 lic-spirited ; as a husband and father ardent and constant in his affections and ever 
 tenderly devoted; as a friend and associate there was no one more loyal, liberal, 
 and unselfish; quick to resent an injury, he was placable and ready to forgive. 
 If he ever unknowingly wronged another (knowingly he could not have done it), 
 his magnanimity in redressing it was prompt, noble, and conspicuous. As a pub 
 lic man his integrity and honor were never questioned; incorruptible and sincere, 
 he was ever ready alike to defend a friend and the friendless. Once his confidence 
 was won, nothing but dishonor could sever the tie that bound him to his fellow- 
 man. Can it be wondered that his people loved and trusted such exemplary man 
 hood ? 
 
 Warm-hearted, sincere, and generous to a fault, he possessed a 
 genuine magnetism which attracted and held all who approached him. 
 
 Entering the Army while not yet twenty-one, with a vigorous and 
 robust constitution, he left it four years later deprived of his right 
 
48 ADDRESS OF MR. BLAIR ON THE 
 
 arm and with the seeds of disease about him which rendered him 
 unable to recuperate from the sudden attack, coming as it did just 
 at the end of an arduous and exhausting campaign. His loss is not 
 alone a sad bereavement to his aged father and mother, to his wife 
 and young children, but to the community in which he lived and 
 was honored, and to the State which he represented. Struck down 
 in the pride of his manhood, he has left a void which will be hard 
 to fill. To those who were near and dear to him, to his friends and 
 neighbors, and to his State we extend our hearty sympathy, not un 
 mindful that this Congress is also called upon to deplore another 
 break in its family circle and another chair made vacant by his un 
 timely death. 
 
 ADDRESS OF yVlR. ^LAIR, OF JSfEW 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT: There is no solitude like that which envelops a 
 public man amid the multiplied and exacting activities which environ 
 him in the Capitol of his country. I have never felt so utterly alone 
 as when most absorbed in my duties here. The continuous woods, 
 vast, dark, and silent, are full of tender companionship, and the spirit 
 of nature speaks with many-voiced and varied tones to him who 
 seeks her wild and secret home. But here one seems to be projected 
 as it were into a kaleidoscopic and tumultuous scene where, though 
 all may be light, beauty, and variety, yet when analyzed the elements 
 of the fascinating vision are mere gloss and glitter without one ray 
 of heat or throb of sympathy. 
 
 Every public man is all alone in a certain and substantial sense. 
 His connections are with his distant constituency; and only with 
 them through the post, the telegraph, and other avenues of commu 
 nication does he really live. Now and then there is a break through 
 the environment of affairs, and for a little while in cheerful or mourn 
 ful but always heartfelt communion with a congenial soul there is a 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 49 
 
 
 
 brief return of the old-time sense of hearty feeling and of that un 
 restrained personal and independent self-assertion which belongs of 
 right to the private citizen. Yet how soon the opening closes and 
 the tempest of affairs obscures the whole heavens once more. 
 
 We talk and laugh and discuss. We are cheerful and polite it 
 may be bland and entertaining. We sit side by side; but we are still 
 as far apart as the localities from which we come. There is ever the 
 touch of the hand, the glance of the eye, the friendly tone, and the 
 ready effort to oblige; yet after all the real life of the public man is 
 between himself and those who created him by their choice. He be 
 longs to them. He is of them in the truest and most absorbing 
 sense, and not of those with whom he daily meets on this conspicu 
 ous scene. But there be those like the stars which illumine the 
 neglected spaces of night, who, by their select and electric qualities, 
 change the chilly formalities of public association into the warmth 
 and sympathy of private life. These rare spirits are the golden links 
 which connect us and somewhat cure our isolation. They give out 
 not light alone but heat as well, and while they illume all things, they 
 also warm and weld us together. 
 
 But alas! Death, blind, cruel, and insatiable, will tear even them 
 away with no more compunction than when he extorts the spirit of 
 the beast which goeth downward. He 
 
 Loves a shining mark, a signal blow, 
 A blow which, while it executes, alarms 
 And startles thousands with a single fall. 
 
 Of such a man, my personal friend for twenty years, my associate 
 and companion in private and in public life, just stricken down in all 
 the royal strength of forty years, while his sun was high and rising 
 higher on the pathway, it might well have been to the very zenith of 
 place and power, just as he had achieved a personal and political 
 triumph such as comes to but few men even in the longest career, it is 
 my difficult but willing duty for a few moments to speak to you to-day. 
 
 7 FR 
 
50 ADDRESS OF MR. BLAIR ON THE 
 
 Major EVARTS W. FARR, a member of the Forty-sixth House of 
 Representatives and a member-elect of the Forty-seventh, from the 
 third Congressional district of New Hampshire, died at his home in 
 Littleton, in that State, on the 3oth day of November last, aged forty 
 years. He was born in the same place on the roth day of October, 
 1840, of one of the largest and most influential families in our State. 
 His father, who survives the gifted son, filled many conspicuous posi 
 tions in public life, and through a long course of great activity and 
 usefulness to his fellow-men, he was ever the same intelligent, up 
 right, and efficient gentleman, who, for thirty years at least, has been 
 known throughout New Hampshire as " Honest John Farr, of Lit 
 tleton." 
 
 The mother was in every way worthy of the father of her boy; and 
 to one who knew them all, it is sufficient eulogy to say that they 
 were worthy each of the other. No young man was ever "better 
 born," in the highest sense, than Major FARR, and his career has re 
 flected great honor upon the family name. 
 
 Young FARR was of an active and independent spirit from the be 
 ginning. When twelve years of age he assumed the burden of his 
 own support and education. He secured the advantages of the com 
 mon schools in his native town, and after a preparatory course at the 
 academy located in Thetford, Vermont, then under the direction of 
 Professor Hiram Orcutt, and one of the best institutions in New 
 England, he entered Dartmouth College with the class which gradu 
 ated in 1863. He was pursuing his studies there with assiduity and 
 great promise when the country called her sons to rebaptize in their 
 blood the sacred principles of liberty and to re-establish upon im 
 movable foundations the integrity and perpetuity of her Constitu 
 tion and her laws. He was then twenty years old, of stalwart but 
 graceful form, with a countenance full of animation, force, and beauty. 
 
 That face was the mirror of all within. I well remember a long 
 conversation with him while attending court in Haverhill, where he 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 51 
 
 chanced to be in the early spring of 1861, just as the mutterings of 
 war became unmistakable to us in our mountain homes. We were 
 then beginning life; I had just entered upon the practice of the 
 law. He designed to pursue that profession as soon as his course of 
 study and preparation would permit. Our conversation lasted nearly 
 through the live-long night, and I desire to bear witness to the mem 
 ory of my dead friend, that never did man determine to put aside, if 
 need be, the promise of an apparently unsullied future for the untried 
 hardships of the camp and field, with a more vivid sense of what he 
 was to sacrifice and suffer, or with a loftier patriotism and deeper 
 devotion to a stern sense of duty than did EVARTS W. FARR. And 
 when a little later the summons echoed from the walls of beleaguered 
 and then of fallen Sumter all over the astonished North, he strode 
 among the earliest to the field of death and of glory with motives as 
 pure and free from sectional hate, with as knightly and exalted devo 
 tion to the ideas of country, liberty, and the good of mankind as 
 ever beat in the bosom of Sidney, or as animated the fathers at 
 Yorktown, Cowpens, or Bunker Hill. 
 
 He served in some of the hardest-fought actions with great bravery 
 and brilliancy, and throughout the war, losing an arm at Williams- 
 burgh, and receiving the fatal seeds of death in his constitution from 
 exposure in the swamps of the Peninsula, which ripened year by 
 year until a casual cold fastened upon his waning powers and killed 
 him as easily as though he had been a little child. On his return to 
 civil life he studied law, and being admitted to the bar, he practiced 
 the profession unremittingly and with good success from 1867 until his 
 election to the Forty-sixth Congress. He was twice appointed prose 
 cuting attorney for his native county, and held that office when called 
 to service in the halls of national legislation. During this period also 
 he was chosen to be a member of the governor s council, after a most 
 vigorous canvass, from a strongly democratic district, in which but-for 
 his great personal popularity success would have been impossible. 
 
52 ADDRESS OF MR. BLAIR ON THE 
 
 As a lawyer Major FARR was highly successful. His attainments 
 for one of his years and opportunities were good. His comprehen 
 sion of the fundamental principles of law was clear and strong. He 
 had an unfailing fund of good sense, which is worth more to a law 
 yer than knowledge of every case of every court ever reported when 
 not combined with that unfailing touchstone of truth. He knew 
 what the jury thought and could guide them in his own channels of 
 reasoning to the conclusions in which he believed himself. He had 
 little power to make the worse appear the better reason unless he was 
 honestly wrong, and he always presented his cause with a conscien 
 tious conviction that he was right. He had a native love of justice 
 and abhorrence of wrong. He was a tower of strength to the inno 
 cent and to the cause he believed to be just, but to none other. He 
 was an honor to the bar, and by his high character and conduct he 
 fully paid that difficult debt which every lawyer owes to his profession. 
 
 Having fought to preserve his country, he should be excused for 
 manifesting that interest in preserving the results of the national vic 
 tory which made him a close observer of events and gave to his mind 
 a bias for public life. His intelligence, his patriotism, and popular 
 manners for years had attracted the attention of the people, and it had 
 long been evident that at an early period he would be summoned to 
 the higher political honors of his State. This expectation was real 
 ized by his election in a very close district to the other House. 
 
 Every one who has experienced them knows the almost insur 
 mountable difficulties which lie in the way of a new member of a 
 great legislative body, especially if he belongs to the minority. A 
 new member of the majority has comparatively plain sailing in an 
 open sea. But short as has been his connection with the House, 
 only through one regular session, Major FARR had become well 
 known and was very highly esteemed by his fellow-members, both 
 for his ability and worth. He was attentive to every duty, and he 
 understood what belonged to it and how to perform it. He was an 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EVARTS W. FARR. 53 
 
 elegant speaker, very ready in debate and grew stronger every day. 
 I observed this during the late campaign particularly, and believe 
 that had he lived and continued in Congress long enough to do jus 
 tice to himself and constituents, he would have served his country 
 with great efficiency to the pride of his innumerable friends and of 
 the State. As it was, the promise given of that which might have 
 been sharpens a disappointment most grievous to be borne, even if 
 the full fruition of accomplishment could lend to those who knew and 
 loved him its most consoling power. 
 
 His stricken widow and the children of their love bewail in mute 
 and helpless grief a bereavement which lacks none of the terrors of 
 untimely death, of blasted hopes, and of sweetest joys, snatched 
 away in the very hour of supreme realization. To this brave and 
 worthy woman, left to battle and struggle alone with her burden of 
 woe through unusual obstacles, and to these fatherless little ones, 
 some of whom can hardly know their loss, a grateful country will 
 not fail to extend the warmest sympathy and most grateful remem 
 brance. 
 
 But I do waste the time in bewailing his loss. His last deed on 
 earth is done. His record is complete. No blot is there. It is pure 
 as the white pages of the Book of Life. It is like a copy drawn by 
 angel hands for the imitation of those who remain behind. To have 
 prolonged his stay would seem to have been best for us were he not 
 one of the dead who yet speak with power drawn from the realiza 
 tions of more wQrlds than one. His glory will not fade nor will he 
 be forgotten until the history of his State is obliterated. There may 
 have been stronger men, but he was strong; there may have been 
 better men, but I have not known them. 
 
 New Hampshire is not ashamed of her other sons. She points to 
 them as her jewels. But of none can she more truly say that he was 
 a knight "without fear and without reproach" than of poor dead 
 FARR, now embalmed in the immortal glory of his own life, and 
 
54 ADDRESS OF MR. BLAIR. 
 
 awaiting the reveille of the resurrection on the peaceful banks of the 
 wild Ammonoosuck, while the shadows of Mount Washington lie 
 tenderly on his grave. There is nothing more but to turn slowly and 
 sadly to the exacting realities of life, and by imitation of his bright 
 example to prepare for the inevitable hour. 
 
 The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is as to agreeing to the 
 resolutions. 
 
 The resolutions were agreed to unanimously. 
 
 Mr. CONKLING. Mr. President, as a further mark of respect to the 
 memory of the deceased, I move that the Senate do now adjourn. 
 
 The motion- was agreed to, and the Senate adjourned. 
 

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