George H. Williams

Hon. George H. Williams was born in Columbia County, New York, March 26, 1823; educated in the academy on Pompey Hill in Onondaga County; and admitted to practice law in 1844. He then moved to Fort Madison, Iowa; and in 1847, was elected Judge of the First Judicial District. In 1852 he was appointed Chief Justice of Oregon, by President Pierce. In 1864 he was elected United States Senator. Soon after his term in the Senate he was appointed one of the Joint High Commissioners to settle by treaty with Great Britain the Alabama claims and other disputed questions between the two countries. He was the author of the act under which the states lately in rebellion were reconstructedgenerally known as the "Reconstruction Act." In 1871 he accepted from President Grant the appointment of Attorney-General of the United States. Since retiring from that office Judge Williams has been steadily engaged in the practice of law, devoting his spare moments to literary pursuits. Ample entertainment and instruction can be found in the lines of Mr. Williams's "Occasional Addresses," a neatly bound volume of two hundred pages.

PARALLEL BETWEEN SHERMAN AND GRANT.

We are familiar with the story of David and Jonathan; but if their extraordinary friendship was more sentimental, it was not more interesting than the relations of Grant with Sherman. These relations were indeed beautiful. They exalted both men in my estimation. Our country, and all countries, from time immemorial, have been cursed with the rivalries and jealousies of great men. Few people know how much these have to do with the turmoils, wars and bad government of the world. Grant and Sherman were the two great Generals

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of the war. Circumstances conduced to make them rivals for distinction and the honors of their country. There was ample room and provocation enough for jealousy between them; but the common cause in which they drew their swords seems to have rounded their lives into an unbroken harmony.

I have frequently conversed with each about the other. There were no complaints or fault-findings upon these occasions. Grant always spoke kindly of Sherman ; Sherman enjoyed the praises of Grant. It is difficult to compare the military capabilities of two men so different in temperament. Sherman was quick, nervous and impulsive; Grant, thoughtful, deliberate and imperturable. Marching through Georgie suited the dash of Sherman; the siege of Vicksburg, the deep resolve and unyielding tenacity of Grant. Both have written books. Sherman had more snap and sparkle in his style; Grant, more terseness, strength and simplicity. Grant was a man of few words, and no speech-maker; Sherman frequently spoke on public occasions in a fluent and pleasing manner.

Twenty-five years ago the war for the Union ended. Death has been busy with men of that war; but time is erecting a monument to their memories, in states united, that will stand as long as our flag represents the freedom and union of the American people.

Our country has folded to its green bosom and to their earthly rest, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Thomas, Hancock, Logan, and many of their compatriots; but their graves are pilgrim shrines to which future generations will come to commune with the historic dead, and consecrate themselves to the service of their country.

UPON THE VALUE OF GOOD THOUGHTS.

A group of essays taken from an address to the graduating class of the High School in Portland, Oregon, June 23, 1891. They are ink-drops from the busy pen of one who for more than a half century has been constantly employed in giving counsel to people of all ranks and ages.

FAITH.

'According to your faith, be it unto you,' is a revelation and promise from Infinite Wisdom and Power. Faith is the Archimedean lever that moves the world. Faith convoyed Columbus to the discovery of a western hemisphere. Faith spans oceans with telegraphs and continents with railroads. Faith has founded empires and won great victories. Faith is the inspiration of every great invention and every great enterprise; and without faith the dead level of animal life would hardly be disturbed. Faith is defined to be the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen; which is a summary way of describing life in the world of thought brightened by the promise of hope. Faith in God, faith in man, and faith in the good, the true and the beautiful, are elements of exalted and refined pleasures.

GOOD THOUGHTS.

True happiness consists in having your minds occupied with good, just and pure thoughts; and if your minds are filled with such thoughts your bodily surroundings are of no great consequence. This power of controlling the thoughts, especially under adverse circumstances, is not intuitive; nor is it easily acquired. Like other accomplishments of the mind and body, it comes through cultivation and discipline. Our minds, untrained, have a tendency to produce evil thoughts, like the tendency of the untilled earth to produce wild grasses and weeds.

Avarice, envy, jealousy, hatred, malice, discontent and fear, are names given to classify those different conditions of the mind from which proceed a great part of the unhappiness of the human family.

To overcome and put an end to these mental conditions is like the fight of Hercules with the hydra; but in this fight, as in that, perseverance will achieve success. One person is born in poverty, and bound by circumstances beyond his control to a life of obscurity and toil. Another is born in affluence, and inherits distinction and ease. Very often the former is discontented

and depressed with his lot, and his life is poisoned with envy of the latter; when, as a matter of fact, there may not be, and in a majority of cases is not, any good ground for this unhappiness. It is misery made out of nothing but perverted thoughts.

When a poor man, in good health, has all that he needs to eat, to drink and to wear, he has about all a rich man can get out of his wealth, so far as bodily enjoyments are concerned. The air is as fresh and pure, the sunshine as bright and warm, to the poor as to the rich. All the glories of the heavens and all the beauties of the earth are as free to the poor as to the rich. God is no respecter of persons, and all His wondrous works are for the equal good and pleasure of all His children. Moreover, it does not follow that because a man is rich he is happy; for happiness does not depend so much upon external circumstances as upon mental conditions, and it may happen that the mind of the man with millions of money is distracted with care and trouble, while the boy who blacks his boots is happy in the thought of better days to come.

Were it possible to look into the thoughts of those around us, we should find that there is not half as much difference among people, so far as their happiness is concerned, as there seems to be. Alexander wept for other worlds to conquer, but Diogones was contented in his tub. Envious thoughts are extremely foolish, for they neither help the envious nor hurt the envied. They only sting the brain that brings them into being. Our great need is to know how to change injurious and evil thoughts into those that give us pleasure and peace.

WILL POWER.

We must be diligent in the exercise of the will power. Self-examination will show that, as a rule, our wills are allowed to be dormant, while passion, prejudice, or some exciting circumstances evolve and control our thoughts. Disuse makes our wills, like our limbs, weak and inefficient when we desire to use them. You believe that some one has wronged you, in consequence of which you are exicited with angry and revengeful thoughts. To