JOSEPH H. CHOATE

The death of a man who has lived a long and complete life, fulfilling with honor the task he was set to do, has in it something of climax which robs the inevitable end of much of its sorrow. Yet even such consolation may avail little in considering the death of Joseph H. Choate.

The test of a man's greatness is not in the crowds which cheer him while he lives; nor in that newspaper prominence whereby the famous are alternately lauded and reviled. The test of his greatness is in the feeling of irreparable loss which comes over those whom he has served during life.

Choate lived to know the great English-speaking nations bound more closely together in amity than ever before since they have endured as separate powers. He saw his nation gathering her strength to join to the strength of England in the battle of the age. He took part in the formation of that union which was the consummation of his hopes. Perhaps it would not have been worth much more for him to have remained yet a year or a decade seeing the success in achievement of those whom he had helped to unite in spirit. He must have known before he died that such an entente could not fail of any goal it might undertake, however lofty, however distant.

Two nations remember him with reverence. That is the highest fulfillment of life.