HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
MONDAY, February 24, 1873.The House met at two o'clock P. M. The prayers by William S. Wood, Superintendent of the Young Men's Christian Association of this city. page: 198[View Page 198] The Speaker directed the reading of the journal, and accordingly the journal of Friday was read by the Clerk and approved by the House.
MEMORY OF PATRICK HENRY LEE
Mr. Edwards, of Vigo, (Mr. Rudder in the chair).
Mr. Speaker, it is my sad duty to announce the death of my colleague, the Hon. Patrick Henry Lee, a Representative in this General Assembly from the county of Vigo, which occurred at the residence of his brother, in the city of Terre Haute, on Saturday, the 22d instant. Mr. Lee served among us during a few days at the beginning of the late special session, but, being stricken by disease, was compelled to obtain an indefinite leave of absence, and, under advice of his physicians, sought the more genial climate of the youth. He spent the winter at Aiken, South Carolina, in the vain hope of receiving some relief from his ailments, but finding none be returned to his home a week ago to-day
- "To die amid kindred,
- Ending life where it began."
My lamented colleague was with us so short a time, and was suffering to such an extent with his malady, and withal a gentleman of such modest demeanor and reticence, that you had no opportunity to estimate his ability, probity or excellence of character. He was a man of much more than ordinary natural talent, of studious and thoughtful habits, of good purposes and acts, and had before him a very promising future. He received his academical education at Indiana Asbury University, where he passed with credit most of the courses of that institution. Subsequently he entered upon the study of the law, but before he could complete his professional training he was compelled by illness and other circumstances to desist from and abandon ail plans for entering on the practice of his profession. During the last summer, although in feeble health, he yielded to the solicitations of friends, and accepted a nomination for the legislature, hoping that he would receive physical improvement from the exercise and excitement of the campaign. He made a close, careful and manly canvas of his county, but the labors he under-took in connection, therewith proved too great for his health, and he took his seat in the House in a most feeble bodily condition. If Mr. Lee had been permitted to have taken part in your labors he would have proved himself an active, intelligent and useful member, and have acquitted himself well of his legislative duties. His fine practical sense, courtesy of manner, and high moral rectitude, must have endeared him to you all. But such was not to be his fortune. The fatal disease had marked hsm for a speedy victim, and had well nigh sapped the foundation of his life ere he met with you. He was true in all the relations of life; a faithful and unostentatious Christian and met death with great tranquility and courage. He leaves behind him a name untarnished and a memory which will, long be cherished among all who knew him. Mr. Lee was the son of the late Dr. Henry D. Lee, a worthy and esteemed citizen of Vigo county, who died in 1871. His immediate relatives, to whom he was so much endeared in their affliction, have the sympathy of the constituency whom he was elected to represent. He leaves a devoted mother, four brothers, and five sisters, with other relatives of the highest respectability and influence, with whom he was a favorite. Mr. Lee was born in Vigo county, April 17, 1845. His obsequies occur to-day. His remains will be followed to their last resting place, on the homestead where he was born, by a large and sorrowing concourse of relatives, friends and neighbors. The fact that his death occurred since the last adjournment, has alone prevented the making of arrangements on the part of this House, for a participation in his funeral rites. In view of this sad event, the only one of the kind which has occurred in this body; cutting off in the morning of his manhood, "from the places that knew him on earth, to know him no more forever," one of high hopes and aspirations, and these commended by merit. Connected as I was with the late incidents of his pure and upright life, it is proper that I should offer for adoption the following resolutions:
Resolved, That the House has heard with profound regret of the death of the Hon. Patrick Henry Lee, a Representative from the county of Vigo, which occurred at the city of Terre Haute on Saturday, the 23d instant; that in respect for his memory this hall be suitably draped in mourning during the remainder of the session; that each member wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days; that the Senate be informed hereof for concurrence, and that the General Assembly do now adjourn for to-day.
Resolved, That a certified copy of these proceedings be transmitted to the mother of the deceased.
Mr. Johnson said: Mr. Speaker - Mr. Lee was a stranger, in part, to almost every member of this body, except the few who sat in his immediate vicinity. Perhaps I knew him about as well as any member, his seat being immediately at my right. I speak now from the seat he occupied in this hall at the beginning of the special session. I had the pleasure, perhaps, of more constant intercourse with him than any other member, except the gentleman who occupied the seat on my right. I concur in the remarks of the gentleman from Vigo (Mr. Edwards) in regard to the character of the deceased member, both in an intellectual and moral point of view. There are various styles and stamps of intellectual force. One man has force, but has, perhaps, neither depth nor soundness, but each is cast in his own peculiar mould. That was a peculiar, but excellent, mould in which nature cast Patrick Henry Lee. In my brief acquaintance with him, observing him as other members on this floor, and listening to his conversation, I had an opportunity to observe him closer than most others; and I observed one peculiar trait in his intellectual character: It was the remarkable clearness of mental vision with which he viewed every particular question that came before the House. Though he was in very bad health till he left us, which was in a short time after he took his seat, but in drawing his inferences and stating his conclusions, there was not a man in the House that could express himself in words of greater power or force, or beauty; so that I formed the opinion of him that upon any question requiring a clear, comprehensive, incisive judgment, I would as soon risk him as any one on any question that might be before the House. He would comment in such a way that one single sentence or suggestion would seem a volume. Although there might be nothing peculiarly powerful or grand in his expression, yet it was always clear - it was like looking at a pebble at the bottom of a stream of pure water; it was just like that. When he expressed an idea, it was so clearly expressed that you could see right through his language into his mind. Sitting right here and talking in the ordinary way, he would seem to be wholly unconscious - and I have no doubt I was many times - of how much benefit one could derive from the simplest remarks he would drop, which would express so muchso grasping and clear were the views he would take. I feel, sir, that the members on this floor do not know what they have lost in the death of Mr. Lee, except, perhaps, the few that had their place near him in this hall, I feel that the State of Indiana has lost a great man. I feel that I am justified in saying, if he had lived into the years of his manhood, that all the people would have felt there was a great man in Mr. Lee. There was another peculiarity standing out in bold re- page: 199[View Page 199] lief in his character, and that was the childlike simplicity and purity and sincerity of manner which he sustained and supported during the time that he sat with us here; whilst everything he said was as clear as the sunbeam and as pure as the sunlight itself, not the slightest intimation was ever heard from him departing from the strictest Christian morality. He was not only a gentleman, but superior far to that - he was a Christian gentleman - the noblest, the highest type of manhood. The gentleman from Vigo has referred to the example of his life, bright, and beautiful, and vigorous, and ingenuous. I ven-to say that he is not mistaken in the character. I know he is not! From the short acquaintance I had with him, I am able to see straight back to boyhood, and trace him from boyhood up to manhood. He must have been known and recognized as an amiable, incorrupt and upright boy, youth, and man. It could not have been otherwise. And in leaving us, we may have this to say of him, that in the path that was marked out by him - which was without guile - he stepped surely and safely in the way of virtue. He has left behind him, perhaps not wealth, not wide-spread fame, but that which is far nobler and grander than all these - an honorable name and a Christian, record, graven in the hearts of all his friends, and well remembered by his associates here as one of the most beautiful pictures on the walls of memory.
Mr. Clark said those who are acquainted with the religious society of Friends, with which I am identified, know also that we as a people never wear any of the badges of mourning; therefore, I hope that, if we do not wear it on this occasion, it will not be taken as disrespectful.
Mr. Smith said: Perhaps I know the deceased member better than any other gentleman on this floor, except the gentleman from Vigo, (Mr. Edwards.) It is with pleasure that I can look back upon the period of my acquaintance with him, which began at College at Greencastle; which associated us as members of the same literary society, and which so impressed my college life that I can safely avouch for all that has been said of him here: and I can say further, that I believe if he had been blessed with good health, he would have performed a distinguished part in the history of the State, and I can but think that he must have so lived as to die having as little to regret as any man. I well remember his first coming to the college, young and inexperienced; his rising rapidly in the estimation of teachers and students; the vigorous and successful prosecution of his studies, and the enviable distinction with which he left the school. And, because I am fully justified in doing so, I wish to add here my own hearty concurrence in all that has been said of this deceased member of the House of Representatives.
On the motion of Mr. Gifford, the concurrent resolution was adopted unanimously and solemnly by the rising vote.
And then according to this order (the Clerk having acquainted the Senate of its passage, and the Senate having responded by message announcing its adoption by that branch of the General Assembly) the House adjourned.
