Colonel, on the Staff of the Major General, commanding; he was visitor at Hartford Retreat for the Insane since 1879, and for many years President of the Board of U. S. Pension Examiners. From its inception Dr. Porter was an interested and efficient member of the Bridgeport Hospital Staff, both as active and consulting Surgeon, making an impressive inaugural address at the opening of the new Surgical Ward. He was a member of the Board of Trustees and Ex-chairman of the same. He was one of the founders and at one time President of the Bridgeport Medical Association, in which he took a lively and faithful interest. At the Annual Banquets, a function which he made it a religious duty to attend, his postprandial speeches were the meat of the occasion, racy, instructive, entertaining. Kindly feeling and personal friendship are fostered by the annual passage of the silver Loving Cup, which he presented to the Society. He was President of the Fairfield County Medical Association in 1883, President of the Connecticut Medical Society in 1888-89 when he gave an enlightening address upon "The Cost of Sickness to the Individual and to the State"; member of the Judicial Council of the A. M. A. 1891-1894; Vice-president of the Section on Military Surgery of the Ninth International Medical Congress. At one time or another Dr. Porter was active in membership, usually President, of nearly all the health and public-welfare and scientific organizations of his adopted city, including the Board of Health, Board of Education, Library, Masonic Fraternity (33d degree), Phi Beta Kappa, and other social or fraternal organizations. Being a good shot, fond of the wild, an enthusiastic hunter and fisherman, he naturally affiliated with all the Fish and Game Clubs; was one of the original members of the great Metabatchwan Club in Canada, obtaining from the Canadian Government lease of an extensive and exceptionally fine territory for fish and game. In later years. and until his health became too precarious, he spent a vacation each year in these woods. All in all he was probably more successful as a fisherman and killed more big game, such as buffalo bear, deer, wild-cats, and moose, than falls to the lot of most hunters, and yet to him (and characteristic of his profession)

a life was the most precious thing and the saving and bettering of life the sincerest effort of his life.

Dr. Porter's life was not, however, all given to practice, to sociability or to the chase; he was also a man of letters. His contributions to Medical Literature are both numerous and instructive as well as original. Indeed he seems to have had the spirit of a pioneer and to have had a fad for the original in everything. I believe I have somewhere seen it stated that every professional man should have at least two fads to keep him from rust and ennui. Dr. Porter had at least three; his love for the original in medicine; the pioneer spirit in life; and his fondness for original studies of historical characters and for the originals of interesting and important letters and historical papers. Of the latter, indeed, his refined and modest home on State Street was a treasure-trove, among others I will mention only letters from Lincoln, messages from Indian Chiefs, General Grant, the Actress Laura Keane. Mention has been made of President Lincoln of whose history and life Dr. Porter was particularly fond. From early life he was interested in Washington as a soldier, patriot and man. This enthusiastic interest led him to make his large collection of relics and of books related to and concerning the Father of his Country. It is said that he had more than 500 portraits of Washington, showing him in all the habits and costumes which he was known to have worn. That collection is unique and can not be duplicated; nothing would do for the Doctor, but an "original."

In 1862 Dr. Porter was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Maria Chaffee of Providence, R. I., whom it is fair to believe he had met, loved, wooed, and won whilst he was pursuing his college course at Brown University. For more than fifty years they lived and loved and labored together. Their home life was sweet, courteous and dignified with a gracious hospitality. Mrs. Porter passed into "the other room" in 1915. Accompanying a picture of Mrs. Porter, and regarding which, he wrote to his friend, "My bride as she was in 1862," Dr. Porter quotes the following line, from a poem written by his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Helen Talbot Porter:

"Fear not, O Trembling Soul, thou canst not see

The way of life nor what thy path shall be,

But courage! God hath said to thee and me, 'I will be with thee.'"

Their union was blessed with twelve children, seven daughters and five sons. Of these children but two sons survive them. There are six grandchildren, one of whom, Miss Ethel Dickenson, is studying medicine in Philadelphia.

Dr. Porter was a Christian, not a mystic, not a pietist and unwilling or bound by formula,-"Loving the noble life without a creed, yearning each day to do a noble deed." Nevertheless he had an abiding faith that God rules. In early youth he united with the Baptist Church in New Hampshire; on coming to Bridgeport he transferred his connection to the First Baptist Church of which he remained an active, loyal member for more than fifty years. For many years, during his most active practice, he was Superintendent of the Sunday School.

As the infirmities of disease and of age gathered about Dr. Porter, he "grew old gracefully." As in the vigor of life he loved progress and activity, so in age he loved youth and its ambitions. For many years he made it a practice to call upon and become acquainted with, each professional new-comer, and graciously encourage every young Doctor coming into the city. No man could rise from a conversation with Dr. Porter and not feel a nobler self. Much indebted and gratefully remembering many kindnesses, I do not recall a word, or act, or sign of professional jealousy. He was not one who extolled only the "good old times," of the past. Eternally young he believed in the present and had hopes for the future; to him the best was ever yet to come. As he had been loved, so in his age he loved the young and making his age not a burden but a joy, he could gracefully say to ardent youth:

"As newer comers crowd the Fore,

We drop behind,

We who had labored long and sore,

Time out of mind,

But keen as yet, do not regret,

To drop behind."

Conscious of irremediable weakness and fully aware of the rapidly approaching end, for many months, Dr. Porter "walked with God, as Friend," nor made complaint. In his vest-pocket, after his death, was found a slip of paper on which was written in his own hand, these lines from Van Dyke:

"So though the road wind up the hill or down,
Or rough or smoothe, the journey will be joy,
Still seeking what I sought when but a boy,
New friendship, high adventure, and renown,
I shall grow old, but never lose life's zest,
Because the road's last turn will be the best."

In the Autumn of 1918, he delayed his usual winter visit to the South, for various indefinite reasons, including concern as to his own condition. Finally in hope of easing his respiration, he went with his sister, Mrs. Wm. E. Lincoln, and her husband to Stuart, on the Saint Lurie River, Florida. Here he was surrounded by congenial friends and indulged in his favorite sport, fishing. Speaking of this in one letter, he says, "And some of us are not averse to a game of Bridge." Of this location, with his characteristic grace, he writes, "We are beautifully located, facing a wide expanse of the St. Lurie River, two miles to the other bank, across whose waves the silvery moon, the golden sunset and the bright stars of the Southern night make beautiful the day and night."

However, the uncertain climate of the Sunny South did not bring relief to the over-burdened heart and the declining vitality. He writes, "I feel like going home from Florida to get warm, for it has rained half the time since we reached here." A few days before his death, after a delightfully naive account of his companionable associates and the "delectable" Southern ladies, he writes, "Personally I am having an extremely uncomfortable time, for I am unable to get any good rest, but have to sit uplast night I was not able to -be an old man before I know it at all. I shall soon," and here the letter ends unfinished, incomplete and unsigned. We can readily imagine the thoughts of that brave man, as day by day and night after night he walked on the verge of the eternal and the unknown.

came.

One evening, but a few days after the unfinished letter, death Confined to his room for two or three days, he declined an invitation to come down for an evening at bridge, and partook of a light supper. A physician friend called and was accompanied by Mrs. Lincoln to the Doctor's room, who rose with gracious manner to admit and welcome them. As he resumed his seat a change was noticed. He rested in his sister's arms, and with smiling face, responsive to her affectionate appeal, fell asleep.

A beautiful ending to a noble life. In the land which he had fought to redeem from the curse of racial slavery, and practically surrounded by those, now his friends, once his enemies on hotly contested battlefields for human rights, this brave soldier, this pioneer, this good physician laid himself down to peaceful sleep.

The contemplation of the lives of such men is inspiring. Of such men great states are made, within our noble profession such lives abound; of them it may again and ever will be said:

They are first in War, first in Peace, and first in the hearts of their Countrymen.