youngest son, the late Hon. Edward C. Mar shall, wrote of his father's appointment as Chief Justice: "In the year 1825 I paid a visit to Mr. Adams, in Quincy. He gave me a most cordial welcome, and, grasping my hands, told me that his gift of John Marshall to the people of the United States was the proudest act of his life. Some years after, in conversation with my father, he told me that the appointment was a great surprise to him, but afforded him the highest grati fication, as, with his tastes, he preferred to be Chief Justice to being President." My grandmother, his daughter-in-law, once said to me: "The descriptions of his dress are greatly exaggerated; he was regardless of style and fashions, but all those who knew him best and saw him daily testified to the extreme neatness of his attire." One of my aunts, a granddaughter of his, wrote me: "You ask me to tell you some thing of your great-grandfather. From my father I learned veneration for him as a simple-hearted, good man; true, just and honorable. He knew, from others I would hear my grandfather was a great man. Of this my father never spoke. My mother has often told me that numerous of the anecdotes of him were without foundation, especially those indicating his slovenliness. He was extremely neat, but careless as to the style of his dress, and always looked oldfashioned, I suppose." The gentleness of his manner, his unvary ing politeness, attracted all. On one occa sion he was riding down Main Street in Richmond, and, as was his custom when on horse-back, held in his hand a long, keen switch. A gentleman standing on the cor ner said to a friend : " What a long switch the Chief Justice carries." "Is it possible that is Judge Marshall?" replied the other. "I will ask him what he carries such a long switch for," and he actually stopped the old man to ask him the question. With the greatest politeness the Chief Justice answer ed: "To cut my horse with," and bowing,
rode on. The gentleman was so chagrined at his own impertinent conduct and the quiet, dignified politeness of the Judge that he wrote him an humble apology. The Chief Justice kept these switches, long, keen birch, in a certain place in his hall. He cut them him self at his farm, a few miles from the city. His wife was for many years an invalid, and therefore saw very few people except the members of her immediate family, and her sisters; but for the loss of her health she would have been an ornament to society, for she was a beautiful, cultured woman. That she had a strong character is shown by the influence she had with her husband. He deeply felt that influence, and her death was a blow from which he never recovered. Of his virtues in private life too much cannot be said. From the day of the failure of his wife's health to the moment of her death, embracing a period of twenty years, he ceased not to lavish upon her the tendcrest care and devoted attention which a kind and loving heart could prompt, or willing hands bestow. His manly strength supported her in her great suffering. A nephew, the late Hon. Martin P. Mar shall of Kentucky, who made his home for some time with him, spoke in terms of the warmest admiration. Daily intercourse with him had taught him to love and revere him. He dwelt particularly upon the simplicity and beauty of his private life; he said : "He was a model of what a husband should be to the wife of his bosom, in respect to the love which he should cherish for her, the tenderness with which he should watch over her and nurse her in failing health, and the fondness with which he should think of her when death has taken her from his arms." He would frequently rise in the night to drive animals from the vicinity of his home, that by their noise were annoying his wife, who was very nervous and required absolute quiet, and he would not stop until he had driven them some distance. My father, the late Dr. Burwell Marshall,
