is remembered also by his schoolfellows as a youth of kindly impulses, sociable in disposition, courteous and companionable, and fond of the outdoor sports of the time.

The war between the states came on and young Daniel, nineteen years of age, went to the front, soon thereafter being elected second lieutenant of Company A, Eleventh Virginia Regiment. Subsequent promotions raised him to the rank of major, on the staff of Gen. Jubal A. Early. His three strenuous years in the army were full of incident and abundantly exciting, and his record was one of gallant conduct and devotion to duty. He received four wounds at different times, the last being the most serious. On the 6th of May, 1864, during the Battle of the Wilderness, he was in the act of leading forward a section of the Confederate force. It was not a duty required of a major of the staff, but he saw a point where it appeared that a mounted officer could be of service, and there he went. On horseback and in front of the soldiers on foot, he was a good mark. A detachment of the enemy seemed to rise up from the ground in the woods just ahead. A volley came, and Major Daniel was unhorsed. A large femoral vein had been opened by the bullet, and there was danger. His own presence of mind and the timely aid of a comrade from the ranks saved him from bleeding to death, but his active service in the army was over. The thigh bone had been shattered, and it is still necessary for him to use. crutches.

one.

After the close of the struggle at arms, Major Daniel found himself in the thick of the battle of life. The environment of wealth that had been his lot in his boyhood had been changed by the blight of war, and he had his own future to make. It required no prophet then to predict that it would be a bright He studied law at the University of Virginia for a year, incidentally carrying off the highest honors for oratory. Returning to Lynchburg, he engaged in the practice of law with his father, the partnership continuing until the death of Judge Daniel seven years later. John Daniel devoted himself earnestly to the labors of his profession, and soon established himself at the bar. His intellectual gifts, his talents as speaker and advocate, and his popularity soon marked him, however, for the political arena. There was urgent call for the brightest and best in those troubled times. In 1869 he

was elected to the state legislature as a member of the House of Delegates, remaining in that body for three years. In 1875, he was elected to the State Senate, was re-elected four years later, and was a state senator when nominated for governor in 1881. In the meantime, he had twice been an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for Congress, the honor being awarded to older men, and in 1877, his name had been presented to the Democratic State convention for governor. There was a deadlock between him and his leading competitor, and a dark horse won. The result of the unsuc

cessful but splendidly fought campaign of 1881 has already been told. In 1884, Major Daniel was nominated and elected to the National House of Representatives from the Sixth District of Virginia. Here he served but one term, his election to the Federal Senate occurring in the meantime. He began his service in that body in 1887.

Major Daniel's rank as a lawyer is high and of long standing. When he was a comparatively young man, in his thirties, he was rated among the leaders at the Virginia bar. His reputation in this regard, extended and strengthened by time and experience, rests upon a solid basis. His thoroughness of equipment and power of concentration are no less marked than his eloquence and skill as an advocate. He does not spare himself in point of hard labor when affairs of moment claim his attention; indeed, his intensity of application at times is extreme. He turns the light from many directions on the subject before him. Not merely the letter of the law, but literature, history, philosophy, any and all of them, furnish tools for his mental laboratory, and he uses them with an ease and deftness of touch that is as fascinating as it is enlightening. In elucidation he is a master, having an instant perception of essentials and the ability to extract from a seeming chaos of facts the relevant and the significant.

Senator Daniel is the author of two law books which are accepted as standards-"Daniel on Negotiable Instruments" and "Daniel on Attachments." Among the honors which have been bestowed upon him is the degree of LL.D., conferred by both Washington and Lee University and the University of Michigan.

Senator Daniel is not a wealthy man. The time and the talents that might have brought him riches have been de

voted in greater part, during many years of his life, to his legislative duties and the political responsibilities which leadership imposes. He applies himself to these as assiduously as the business man does to the affairs of his countingroom. He lives in modest style in Washington during the sessions of Congress, and, during the recesses, at his residence in Campbell county, about a mile from the corporate limits of Lynchburg. Here, on the crest of a hill, surrounded by a fine landscape of fields and woods, mountains and valleys, he has a delightful home, where he lives with his interesting family, comfortably but unostentatiously.

He is a man of exceptionally attractive personality. His manner is of the courtly type, but unaffected, cordial, and friendly withal. He does not hedge himself in. In the more intimate circle, he is genial, responsive, and unreserved. He cherishes his friendships, and they are many.

Without sacrifice of dignity, he is essentially democratic in his mingling with men. The atmosphere of popular applause in which he has lived for a quarter of a century has not unduly elated him, nor caused him to forget that "a man's a man for a' that." And with all his attainments, it may well be believed that not the least important factor in his education has been the free and friendly contact with many kinds of men of his own country in his own day and generation.

Senator Daniel's passport to promotion and success in public life is found in the fullness with which he has measured up to his opportunities; the ability in a constantly expanding sphere of influence and activity, to meet the emergencies, and to fulfill the expectations of the people; always ready, and ready with the best there is in him. Throughout he has been faithful to the fundamental ideas of democracy, and the confidence of the people in the sincerity of his purpose has never been shaken. He is a stanch party man, generally in full harmony with the organization leaders; but his real strength is with the people themselves, independent to a remarkable degree of the ordinary devices of what is called "practical politics." He has already served in the Federal Senate longer than any other member from Virginia in the history of the state, and he will, from all indications, continue there for an indefinite period. Under modern conditions, the term "favorite son" is generally a misnomer; in Daniel's case it may be

applied literally. He has not escaped criticism, of course; no man of convictions can escape it. But personally and politically, he is held in high regard throughout the state. He is thoroughly trusted, after having been in the public eye for thirty odd years. One of the newspaper editorials written at the time Daniel was nominated for the state Senate, a quarter of a century ago, spoke of his exceptional qualifications, his patriotism, his eminence as a lawyer, and predicted for him a "still higher niche in the Temple of Fame" than that of a state senator. The references to Major Daniel were in strong terms of eulogy. There was one word in italics, and that word was "integrity." Twenty-seven years later, it can still be underscored.

Senator Daniel's achievement and the best of his reward are not wholly disclosed by the bare appellation of United States Senator. Nor can they be briefly summed up, since, aside from the conspicuous part he has had in national political conventions and the federal legislative bodies, his hand and voice for two decades and more have been potential in all the prominent councils and policies of the party that controls in his commonwealth. He is the representative Virginian of his time. There is no great political movement but that there is call for him at the front; no state enterprise that does not seek his support; no great civic or patriotic demonstration that is quite complete without his presence. It is a flattering distinction, and rare, and it falls to the lot of a man but once in a while.

P

PERSEVERANCE.

ERSEVERANCE means the steady pursuit of a plan,

whether good or bad; but it would be very unwise to persevere in a plan which conscience or practice had proved to be bad. In actual life, where there are so many different pursuits, and different ways of doing the same thing, it means steadiness in the execution of whatever plan is determined upon. Burgh makes mention of a merchant who, at first setting out, opened and shut his shop every day, for several weeks together, without selling goods to the value of one penny, who, by the force of application for a course of years, rose at last to a handsome fortune. "But I have known," he says, "many who had a variety of opportunities