Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 15.djvu/283

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RECOLLECTIONS OF E. L. APPLEGATE 263

profoundly regretted by the companions of his young manhood, for they realized that the great mental powers with which nature had endowed him had been frittered away or injudi- ciously used; that a career which resulted in such meager fruitage and ended in eclipse might have been renowned for its usefulness and long remembered for its great achieve- ments.

"Of all the sad words of tongue and pen The saddest are these it might have been."

But notwithstanding all of his shortcomings his old friends loved him to the end, and cherish his memory as tenderly as if he had fulfilled the promises of his youth, and when departing this life, had passed through the portals of glory into everlast- ing fame.