This, however, was
not abnormal; for, even to the day of his death, he was a devoted
disciple, sitting at the feet of every true Gamaliel.
An intense lover of truth, and a like hater of shams, he analyzed
mercilessly; not for the sake of opposing, but in search of kernels
and the source of things. If he found the tree was bearing, or
destined to bear evil fruit, he would do his utmost that there should
be left of it neither root nor branch. Accepting good in every
presented form, if he suspected evil in the garb of good, there was no
waiting for a more opportune time than the then present, for such
stripping and exposure as his vigorous logic, sarcasm, wit, pathos,
and personal presence could produce. Humble, and exceedingly retiring
in ordinary, when the truth was assailed, or wolves in sheeps'
clothing appeared, he became a lion, fierce and towering; and woe
betake the man or system that then became the object of his righteous
wrath. Such torrents of invective as fell from his tongue; such
flashes as gleamed from his gray eagle-eyes; such scorn as glowed in
his thin, pallid lips, made every one tremble--an avalanche that swept
all before it.
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