VOL XV.
No. 9.
BOSTON.
SEPTEMHER, 1903
RUFUS CHOATE. BY JOSEPH B. MOORS. RUFUS CHOATE, the most brilliant and perhaps the most learned man of his time, lived only fifty-nine years. It is sad to feel that this man, whose marked individ uality made him so prominent in his day, is now comparatively little known to the pres ent generation. Indeed, one is often im pressed by the completeness with which the great men of each generation fade from the memory of generations which follow. In these few pages it will, however, be impossi ble to bring Rufus Choate before you more than in a brief and rather fragmentary way, but I shall try to give you a picture of the man with a few incidents of his life gathered from various sources, largely from persons still living who knew him well. In the preparation of this paper I have en joyed meeting and feel under great obliga tions to some of his friends and contempora ries now in advanced life who have given me the opportunity to jot down from their lips their pleasant memories of Mr. Choate. He is said to have been a man of great personal beauty in his youth. Wh;pple says of him: "Even in his younger days he was an Apollo with a slouch; still he was the most beautiful young man I ever saw." Later in life his friends say of him that no one could ever come into his presence with out being impressed by it. He used himself to say of his own photographs: "They are ugly as the devil but very like me." Some one once said thit he was originally in tended for an inhabitant of Jupiter, but the
Earth caught him in its passage and hauled him in. His head was finely formed and was cov ered with a profusion of dark, wavy hair, through which he would run his slender white fingers when talking or speaking. His face was rendered gaunt and haggard by his intense manner and by his long hours of labor both by day and by night. His dark, deep-set eyes gave him an unusual expres sion never to be forgotten by those of us who were accustomed to see him. Although the lines and furrows in his face grew deeper and more marked after he was fifty years of age, they never made him look like an old man. Just as Napoleon was said to be able to withdraw the lustre from his eyes at will, so Mr. Choate seemed to have the power when intensely interested of withdrawing all color from his cheeks. Although he was always neat, Mr. ChoaUshowed his disregard for his personal appear ance by wearing several top coats of different colors at one time. These coats he would often remove one by one after rising to speak in court. During the cold season he also appeared in the street with his neck encased in a red silk handkerchief. He usually walked with his head bent forward, apparent ly unconscious of what was going on around him. He was a person of much sweetness and kindness of manner and one who treated others, particularly the younger men of his profession with whom he was brought in
