Few men have more or warmer friends than Col. George. A man of positive opinions, frankly and honestly declared, he commands the sincere respect of those with whom he comes in contact in all the relations of life, private, social, public, and professional. Formidable as an opponent, he is nevertheless fair and honorable, as he is true and faithful as a friend and ally. He is a prominent member of the Masonic order, having attained the rank of sovereign grand inspector-general of the 33d degree, and a member of the "Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of the Northern Jurisdiction of the United States." This brief sketch can perhaps be no more appropriately concluded than in the following language of the gentleman (Sidney Webster, Esq.,) heretofore quoted: "Years of incessant toil, while they have diminished somewhat the energetic temperament and the exuberant animal spirits of Col. George's youth, and have naturally softened his once blunt and almost brusque manner in debate, have not diminished the real force and strength of his genuine character, for character is just what Col. George has always had. As the ripples of his experience spread over a wider and wider area, he may have less and less confidence in the infallibility of any man's opinions, and less belief in the importance to society of any one man's action; but Col. George has reached and passed his half century with his mental faculties and his moral faculties improving and strengthening, year by year. New Hampshire has to-day very few among her living sons better equipped to do triumphant battle for her in the high places of the world." [Illustration: Wm G Means] WILLIAM GORDON MEANS. WILLIAM GORDON MEANS, for sixteen years clerk and paymaster of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, and afterwards treasurer of the Manchester Locomotive-Works, was born at Amherst, Hillsborough county, April 27, 1815. He is of the third generation in descent from Col. Robert Means, who came to New Hampshire from Stewartstown, Ireland, in 1766, and commenced business at Merrimack, with Dea. Jacob McGaw, who emigrated to this country about the same year. This partnership, which had prospered, was dissolved when Amherst became the shire town, and Col. Means opened a store there, in which he prosecuted a successful business. A man of great energy, he was prominent in the affairs of the town; elected its representative at the general court three times, also a member of the senate three years, and councilor for Hillsborough county, his name is identified with the most important measures of that period.