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practical and self-possessed, to have the reputation of being ‘half crazy,’ even among those who are prone to regard everything as insane that is out of the common course.
Neither do I think he was accustomed to ‘let himself down too much;’ for according to my radical ideas, a man cannot ‘let himself down,’ who ‘associates only with those whose moral characters are unimpeachable.’
It is true that he was pleasant and playful in conversation with all classes of people; but he was remarkably free from any tinge of vulgarity.
It is true, also, that he was totally and entirely unconscious of any such thing as distinctions of rank.
I have been acquainted with many theoretical democrats, and with not a few who tried to be democratic, from kind feelings and principles of justice; but Friend Hopper and Francis Jackson of Boston are the only two men I ever met, who were born democrats; who could not help it, if they tried; and who would not know how to try; so completely did they, by nature, ignore all artificial distinctions.
Of course, I do not use the word democrat in its limited party sense, but to express their perfect unconsciousness that any man was considered to be above them, or any man beneath them.
If Friend Hopper encountered his wood-sawyer, after a considerable absence, he would shake hands warmly, and give him a cordial welcome.
If the English Prince had called upon him,
Boston, J. P. Jewett and Company; Cleveland, Ohio: Jewett, Proctor and Worthington; London; Low and Company, 1854.
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