The New Student's Reference Work/Ingalls, John James

In′galls, John James, an American lawyer, essayist and statesman. He was born at Middleton, Essex County, Mass., Dec. 29, 1833. He graduated at Williams College, studied law, and was admitted to practice in Massachusetts in 1857, and in 1858 went to Kansas. He was elected United States senator from Kansas in 1873, and was again elected in 1879 and in 1885. Ingalls was noted for scholarly attainments and quick and acute perception. He was an eloquent speaker, his power of sarcastic rejoinder being a marked trait. As a writer of essays and a lecturer his diction was elegant and concise, and he excelled in the power of picturesque description. He was the author of the famous single-stanza poem Opportunity. He died at Las Vegas, New Mexico, Aug. 16, 1900.