Excerpt from Memorial Observances of George Frisbie Hoar

His speeches are models of English composition, kindled into undying life by the pure fire of oratory. He possessed the courage, rare even among statesmen, which can look beyond the confines of party policy and dictation, to the most fundamental ideas of enduring national grandeur and the highest ethical conceptions of the progress of civilization. For more than a third of a century, he has wrought upon every question of far reaching importance discussed in Congress and made an ineffaceable impress upon national legislation.

During this long period of legislative service, he has been him self an important part in the history of national progress. While exemplifying in his own life the highest type of statesmanship, he has been the confidant of presidents and the counselor of statesmen. Living always in the full light of a public servant, no suspicion ever breathed against his absolute integrity, his blameless life, and his character as a Christian. Tried by every test of manhood, he measures to the highest standard.

He was interested in all that tended toward the advancement of humanity and was catholic in all his sympathies. He was the Champion of the oppressed, the friend of the needy, and the helper of those in distress. His last public utterance was in one of the public schools of this city, and of the cause of universal free education he has ever been a devoted advocate. To Clark University, he has contributed largely of his time and wisdom and placed the cause of the farthest advancement of knowledge under lasting obligation. He was a profound student of the history of all ages, but especially that of his own country, which he has illumined by his investigations and writings.

He traced his lineage from the early settlers of New England, through warriors of the Revolution and signers of the Declara tion of Independence and of the Constitution, and he filled in fullest measure the widest Sphere of opportunity and influence Open in his own time to the highest talent in statecraft. Breath ing thus the spirit of Puritan institutions, and living the life of an American statesman, he was the incarnation Of Massachusetts.

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