people, each working industriously. Mrs. Hendricks, assisting with a garden, after the fashion of the period, established a horticultural reputation not yet forgotten in Shelbyville."

An old neighbor has remarked: "Tom Hendricks and I were boys together. Though we have seldom voted the same ticket, I will say what no citizen of Shelbyville can deny. Both as boy and man he was honest, an excellent neighbor, and he never forgets to be a gentleman. You will find the same testimony from the chairman of the Republican Central Committee of this county and the editor of the Republican paper. We are not all Democrats here, by any means, but we are all united in universal respect for Tom Hendricks; and I have thought that he never could have achieved such success in a political way but for his wife. She is generous, wise and discreet. The man born to get on in the world always marries that kind of woman, it appears."

On the 16th of January, 1848, a son was born-the only child. He received the name of Morgan. He was a beautiful boy, the pride of his parents and the joy of the home. It is sad that his sweet life was cut short in its early bloom. The portrait of the child which hangs in the family library is full of babyish grace and spiritual beauty. To the last he lived in the heart of Mr. Hendricks, who noted his birth-day and the anniversary of death in 1851, and who often repeated the baby utterances of his darling child.

To the profession of law Mr. Hendricks was devoted through life, and in it he enjoyed an eminent rank. Judge Walter Q. Gresham, on taking the chair of a meeting of the State Bar after Mr. Hendricks's death, paid a merited tribute to the departed lawyer, which is here produced:

Although Mr. Hendricks occupied many high stations in the State and nation, finally the second highest in

the gift of the people, all of which he filled with distinguished ability, he never lost his fondness for his chosen profession. His triumphs at the bar were, perhaps, fully as satisfactory as his triumphs in the conflicts of politics. I will not on this occasion speak of his public service further than to say that intellectually, he was the peer of the ablest men of his time, and that he never used official position for private gain-that even in the minds of his political adversaries no stain attaches to his private or official integrity. In capacity for rapid absorption of a case, arrangement of facts in their proper relation, and application of principles to facts, Mr. Hendricks greatly excelled. While he justly stood in the front rank of the profession, perhaps his real sphere was that of the advocate. In this line he had no superiors, perhaps no equals. As a trial lawyer he was self-reliant and courageous, and when a case took a sudden and unexpected turn, and defeat seemed almost inevitable, he exhibited rare skill and great reserve power. It was on such occasions that he appeared to best advantage. His style of speaking was admirable; while he was earnest—at times vehement he was always graceful and dignified, and therefore pleasing and persuasive. His equanimity and uniform courtesy to the court and bar, in defeat as well as victory, was worthy of all praise, and in this and other respects younger men, members of this bar-a bar in moral tone and elevation second to none, so far as I know-will do well to make him a model for imitation. His amiable, cheery, genial good nature made him a most agreeable companion, and won for him the sympathy and regard of those who were so fortunate as to meet him in social intercourse.">

Judge David Turpie at the same time spoke eloquently of the absent member, beautifully analyzing his characteristics as an advocate, saying in conclusion:

"In illustration he was sparing; in diction, choice, accurate; upon occasion ornate and elegant; fluent without superfluity. In pronunciation a purist, clear, precise, with an ear of most delicate fancy. In the collocation, or arrangement, of words in the clause or sentence, not so capable-as apt to close an important sentence with one of the smallest of English prepositions as with a term whose quantities might give to both the voice and the ear a cadence of repose. For mere humor he found not often a place though happy when so used; for invective or denunciation, very seldom. The most malignant miscreant in the record was treated by him usually as one who had but fallen into some mistake or error.

"His deportment toward his brethren of the bar, the jury, his auditors, and especially toward the officer presiding, was the model of courtesy and complaisance. As an advocate he must take high rank in the first class, a class not numerous. He was especially able in adaptation. Fact was closely fitted to fact, and the whole structure of circumstance dovetailed into the law of the case. The parts matched like mosaics in the most highly finished mechanism. To this was united a suave plausibility and a subtle economy which made much-the mostof little when little fell to his side. He had a copious command of familiar terms and expressions, even upon abstruse topics, which became his interpreters to the jury, and this kind of interpretation had for itself the choicest medium, a voice which Persuasion herself had attuned to the very touch.

"His imagination was strong, active, vivid ; not lawless, but sedulously tempered to the theme he dealt with. None knew better than he when to use it, when to forbear. His best field lay in those causes involving life, personal freedom, the vindication of character, and in those questions concerning human conduct of either public, private or corporate nature, which beset the ever

shifting line depending upon what is styled discretion or construction. Here the rule is not to be found in statutes, text-books-only in the mind, heart and conscience of those who sit in judgment or in the hints contained in those grand depositories of the law, spoken and unspoken, the constitutional orders and ordinances of the United States.

"It was his fortune many times to face hatred most deadly, prejudice unsparing, the unreasoning odium and fury of the time-fruits of the great military and civil convulsions which characterized the war. In such conjuncture no difficulty disconcerted him, no peril appalled. He will be remembered as an earnest defender of popular rights, of civil and political liberty as defined by law-as a leader for a quarter of a century, steadfast and discreet, of the constitutional majorities of the North and West, which he found in weakness and which he left in power.

"His name will be the synonym of professional honor, courage and fidelity. He was a member of the national bar, for many years of the bar of this city and county, and for a yet longer period of the bar of the State. He is one of those who will always continue to be a member here. His association with us can never be lost. His membership has passed beyond the contingency of employment, of verdict, judgment or appeal. His name and presence will here have an assured perpetuity in his blameless life, his eloquent labors, his lofty example, so worthy yet so difficult of all imitation.”

CHAPTER VI.

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

In 1848 Mr. Hendricks was nominated for the lower House of the General Assembly. He did not seek the honor, but was selected for his ability as a speaker, the Democrats being desirous of seeing the Whig candidate for the State Senate, Martin M. Ray, well matched upon the stump. The latter has been mentioned as a somewhat experienced political speaker. Mr. Hendricks was not yet twenty-nine years of age. His reputation as a speaker and debater rested wholly upon his efforts as an attorney, for he had never made a political speech in his life. He set out upon a thorough canvass of the county, determined that the issues should be fully presented to the voters.

It was the Presidential year in which General Cass and General Taylor were candidates for the highest national honor, and the results of the war with Mexico, just closed, were to be settled. State matters, however, were discussed at some length, and received a fair share of attention. Mr. Hendricks was frank and ingenuous in his arguments, concealing nothing and saying only what he heartily believed to be true. He was exasperated at the course taken by his immediate competitor, Captain Nathan Earlywine, who was not very scrupulous as to the truth of his assertions, and was recklessly personal in his remarks.

A notable occasion was a political gathering at a place