Great  pressure  was  put  upon  him  to  allow  his  name
to  be  presented  by  his  party  for  a  third  term  of
service.  He  positively  declined  the  honor,  as
contrary  to  a  long  established  precedent.  Though
refusing  to  be  a  candidate  himself,  he  gave  all  the
strength 'of  his  influence  to  the  election  of  his
Republican  successor.  Yielding  to  the  demands
of  the  party,  he  accepted  the  nomination  for  State
Senator  in  1876,  and  was  elected  by  the  largest


30  Garret  Augustus  Hobart

majority  ever  given  up  to  this  time  in  the  district,
a  majority  greater  than  that  given  to  Hayes  for
President  by  one  hundred  per  cent.  He  was  re-
elected in  1879  by  a  still  greater  majority,  and
was  chosen  President  of  the  Senate  in  the  sessions
of  188 1-2.  He  was  the  first  one  in  the  history  of
the  State  to  fill  the  two  offices  of  Speaker  of  the
House  and  President  of  the  Senate.  He  became
Speaker  when  he  was  thirty  years  old,  and  Presi-
dent when  he  was  thirty-seven.  During  the
terms  of  his  service  in  the  Legislature  he  was  placed
on  many  of  its  important  committees,  where  his
work  was  of  great  advantage  to  the  State  in  the
enactment  of  wise  laws  and  in  economy  of
administration.
His  labors  at  this  time  were  necessarily  centred
on  the  work  of  his  profession.  He  was  the  lawyer
rather  than  the  politician.  It  was  true  as  he  said
of  himself  at  that  time:  "I  make  politics  my
recreation. "  While  the  facts  of  this  time  have
a  place  here,  the  estimate  of  his  services  in' these
offices  which  he  filled  will  find  a  place  more  ap-
propriately in  his  political  career,  to  which  the
following  chapter  is  devoted.
