of danger that was presented, and with his own hands. administered relief to his suffering and uncared-for fellow-beings."

Where is the man-the political opponent, even-who would not eagerly follow the writer, did he allow his pen to dwell in glowing eulogy upon this bright chapter in the life of John Bigler?

It will be seen that, during the best part of his life, Gov. Bigler has been actively engaged in the discharge of public duties. He is strictly a party man. He has the credit of being a very shrewd politician and a keen judge of men. To the fortunes of his party he has ever adhered with unfailing devotion. In the vigor of discipline and the flush of triumph, he has led its columns to new achievements and attainment of great ends; and when misfortune overtook and disaster appalled, he has rallied its scattered legions and dauntlessly flaunted its banner in the face of the foe.

And the party to which he has so steadfastly clung, has ever delighted to do him honor. Twice a member of the Assembly; twice Speaker of that body; twice Governor of the State; a third time a candidate for that office; for four years United States Minister to Chile; again the candidate of his party for Congress; three times an accredited delegate to the National Democratic Convention; he can feel, in the sunset of his natural and political life, that his party has not been unmindful of his labors in its cause. That party yet proudly points to the consistency of his public life, and the qualities which adorn his charac

ter as a man.

Gov. Bigler has always been the acknowledged friend of the poor and laboring classes. He has uniformly striven to elevate them, and ameliorate their condition. His entire public life has been signalized by patient fidelity to their interests and claims. He has not forgotten the past, with its solemn teachings. He is proud of labor, proud of the masses who live by labor, and proud that he himself has been compelled to labor.

Not success, not wealth, not rich estates, not grandeur, nor fame, nor the applause of the world, could make him

forget the humble walks he trod in youth. As was said of "nature's sternest painter, yet the best," "the amenities of the refined society which he enjoys in mature manhood never occupy his imagination so much as the reminiscences of struggle, suffering, passion and disaster with which his youth was familiar.'

EDWARD DICKINSON BAKER.

BY HON. EDWARD STANLY.*

EP

DWARD DICKINSON BAKER was born in London, in 1811. His parents emigrated to the United States, and came to Philadelphia in 1816. They were highly respectable persons, of energy, good sense, and accomplished education. Upon the arrival of his parents in Philadelphia they taught school for a few years, successfully, at a time when that city was probably the most renowned of any in the Union for the excellence of its institutions of learning, and the ability of its distinguished citizens. His early lessons of religion were interwoven by his excellent parents with classical lore, and his taste bent to the purest models, and his precocious genius gratified in its thirst for books. His father had heard and read of our great government, founded by Washington and his compatriots, and regarded it as the noblest work of human wisdom and virtue, the most munificent spectacle of human happiness ever presented to the vision of man. The old man had seen sparks of irrepressible genius in his darling boy, and sought a theatre, upon which, without resting ingloriously under the shadow of a titled name, without "the boast of heraldry," his son could make his mark upon the page of history. To the enduring honor of the old man, be it remembered, that notwithstanding his devotion to learning, he taught his children that labor was honorable; and for awhile our lamented hero worked at the trade of a cabinet-maker. But though to work as St. Paul did with his own hands * For explanatory note, see Preface.