"
At a memorial meeting of Sumner's friends in 1874, Phillips concluded
his remarks with the same expression that Cicero used in regard to
Homer:--"There was no one like Sumner." He was not a mellow-toned orator
of peace and conciliation, but soul-stirring, and one could detect the
distant flash of a sword-blade in his periods.
In private life, he was the most delightful of men. Good orators always
have the finest manners, for it is from them that we learn the art of
behavior; but Wendell Phillips never brought the great man of the world
to the drawing-room or dining-table, but was so perfectly a gentleman
that he seemed almost like a prince who had abdicated his hereditary
possessions. He did not seem to have been bred to good manners, but born
to them, so natural and unconstrained was everything he said and did.
Never self-conscious and never self-forgetful; where consideration was
needed he was sure to be at hand. He was at once dignified and
deferential, even to children and servants, whom he was sure to remember
in the homes where he visited, and usually had a kind word for them at
the right moment. I do not think he could have treated even the meanest
of women with disrespect.
He never talked too long or too brilliantly, but seemed to be on the
watch to give everyone present a fair chance. His presence in a room was
stimulating, and made people brighter than their ordinary wont.
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