To write in the spirit of candor of men he has known, and of great
events in which he has himself borne no inconspicuous part, has
been thought not an unworthy task for the closing years of more
than one of the most eminent of our public men. It may be that
the labor thus imposed has oftentimes enabled the once active
participant in great affairs submissively "to entertain the lag
end of his life with quiet hours."
Following the example of such at a great distance and along a
humbler path, I have attempted to write something of events of
which I have been a witness, and of some of the principal actors
therein during the last third of a century.
My book in the main is something of men I have personally known;
the occasional mention of statesmen of the past seems justified by
matters at the time under discussion.
With the hope that it may not be wholly without interest to some
into whose hands it may fall, I now submit this slight contribution
to the political literature of these passing days.
A. E. S.
BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS,
_August 1, 1909._