Parties from the gay throngs at Newport, friends from Bristol and Providence, the farmers of the vicinage, and distinguished persons from different parts of the country were equally welcome at "Edghill Farm," and the genial host always seemed happy when a party of friends were congregated around his large table, or before his spacious fire-place. General Burnside is well described by his lifelong friend, the Rev. Augustus Woodbury, as a good talker, who had clear and decided opinions to express on both the political and religious questions of the day that were agitating the public mind. He did not deal much in the petty gossip of the day; but there was always an under-current of seriousness, even when the conversation turned upon light and playful themes. It was evident that he had thought much upon the more important subjects of life. He gave up the use of tobacco when comparatively a young man, because he said he would not be a slave to any habit. For the last five or six years of his life he drank no wine nor liquors, and, in fact, had come to practice total abstinence from intoxicating drinks, although he did not deny the use of these to his guests. He would not make his own conscience the judge of what was right or proper to others.

Col. William Goddard, who served on General Burnside's staff during the war, and who was his cherished personal friend, said of him in a memoir written for the military order of the Loyal Legion: "His hospitality was proverbial. Under his roof presidents and heads of departments shared with his old companions in arms, and with troops of congenial friends, a hospitality at once. simple and profuse, and all were welcomed with the same cordial and attractive grace. His manners were unaffected and genial, and his conversation was singularly attrac

tive.

He loved anecdote, and often indulged in lighthearted sportiveness, but pervading all his social intercourse, even with familiar friends, was the sense of the dignity of life, and the moral elevation of a character which could never confound the distinctions of right and wrong."

At Providence, and in the vicinity of " Edghill Farm,” General Burnside was esteemed by all classes, and he enjoyed a personal popularity which it falls to the lot of but few men to have among their neighbors. His was a nature that was keenly alive to kindly acts. Those who were able to do him a favor were sure to have in return acts of kindness bestowed upon them with a lavish hand by him. He was a man of his word, frank and manly in his intercourse with all, never promising anything he was not able to perform, and never failing to perform that which he undertook. Liberal in his impulses and generous in his feelings, his kindly nature prompted him to a consistent performance of acts of kindness towards all with whom he had daily intercourse. In his contributions to the benevolent and charitable enterprises of the day, he was ever ready and liberal, and he was always ready to aid those veterans who had perilled their lives that the Republic might live; having come up from the ranks of the people, he sympathized with them, understood their views and feelings, and was ever ready to promote their interests.

As a politician in the highest sense of the word, General Burnside was eminently successful. He did not possess dazzling attainments without native good sense; nor splendid oratory without wisdom or judgment; nor elegance of manners without sincerity of purpose; but, instead of those, he united in a very eminent degree those rare qualifications of a sound common sense, practical and use

ful to a public man, which are the result of firmness of purpose, with accuracy of judgment, and strong natural talents. Planning a coming election as he would have prepared for a battle, he selected his aides-de-camp to carry out his plans, and by careful management and attention to every minor detail, insured success. Inspiring his political associates with a consciousness of strength, a spirit of energetic determination, and a conviction of right, he found it an easy task to stimulate their exertion until victory was secured.

As a husband, son-in-law, and brother, General Burnside presented a character truly noble, and proved that his heart was in the right place. When elected to the United States Senate he was in his fifty-first year; but there are few men who, at that age, are so free from disease, and who enjoy the same mental and physical energy. His was a constitution of great elasticity and vigor, capable of much endurance, and of active bodily and mental exertion; although his life had been a very active one, and his energies had been taxed very heavily, he possessed all the physical and mental energy of a young man.

CHAPTER XXXI.

TAKES HIS SEAT IN THE SENATE THE OLD AND NEW SENATORS -DECORATION DAY AT ANTIETAM NATIONAL CEMETERY PATRIOTIC ADDRESS ON DECORATION DAY-SPEECH AT THE COMMENCEMENT DINNER OF BROWN UNIVERSITY-BANQUET OF THE LOYAL LEGION AT BOSTON -GENERAL GRANT AT "EDGHILL FARM."

G

ENERAL BURNSIDE took his seat in the United States Senate on Friday, the 5th of March, 1875. It was a called session, the Forty-third Congress having terminated its existence on the previous day. The oath was administered to the new Senators by Vice-President Henry Wilson, and it was a noteworthy fact that it was taken at the same time by Hannibal Hamlin and Andrew Johnson, who had been Vice-Presidents under Abraham Lincoln.

Among the old Senators were General Burnside's colleague, Mr. Anthony, the pater senatus, with cordial. words of welcome for all new-comers; Mr. Conkling, a powerful intellectual gladiator, able to learnedly expound the law or to engage in running debate with sarcasm and force Mr. Edmunds, observant and learned in the law; Mr. Bayard, called the type of a Roman of the Augus

tinian age; General Ransom, of North Carolina, who had heroically fought for the lost cause, and now sought to promote the welfare of his constituents; Mr. Morton, one of the friends of Burnside's early youth, who had subsequently been war-governor of Indiana, and who was a stalwart pillar of the Republican temple; Mr. Sherman, a trained and able statesman, who seemed in political life like a thorough-bred race-horse harnessed to a dirt-cart; and General Logan, his dark eyes glistening as though he were about to lead his old army corps into action.

Among the new Senators were Mr. B. K. Bruce, a Mississippian, with courtly manners and fair education, whose colored skin showed his African descent; Mr. Dawes, who had just been transplanted from the lower house, where he had had great experience; Mr. Jones of Florida, one of the few Senators who have been deprived by birth of any chance of becoming President, and whose usefulness as a legislator has thereby been greatly increased: Mr. Maxey of Texas, General Burnside's old West Point comrade, who had served gallantly in the Confederate army; Mr. William Pinkney Whyte, an accomplished and courteous member of the Baltimore Bar; and four oldfashioned Jeffersonian Democrats-Messrs. Eaton of Connecticut, Kernan of New York, Thurman of Ohio, and McDonald of Indiana, all of whom had unexpectedly again come to the political front. General Burnside was appointed on three important committees, viz.: Military Affairs, of which General Logan was chairman; Commerce, of which Mr. Conkling was chairman; and Education and Labor, of which Mr. Patterson was chairman.

The Senate, in the called session, ratified the reciprocity treaty with the Hawaiian Islands, and confirmed the nominations of a number of members of the preceding Congress