"The charm which invested the life on the Eighth Circuit in the mind
and fancy of Mr. Lincoln yet lingered there, even in the most
responsible and glorious days of his administration; over and over
again has the great President stolen an hour ... from his life of
anxious care to live over again those bygone exhilarating and halcyon
days ... with Sweet or me."--Henry C. Whitney in his _Life of Lincoln_.
Wilbur Hazelton Smith was born in the town of Mansfield, New York,
March 28, 1860. His early education was obtained from the district
school and he began teaching at the age of sixteen. After completing
an academic course he went to Cornell University from which he was
graduated with the degree of A.B. in 1885.
He at once became a teacher and after a few years started the first
Current Topic paper in the state, _The Educator_. Later he edited a
teachers' paper, _The World's Review_. Perhaps he is best known as
publisher of the _Regents' Review Books_ used in nearly every school
in the United States. His death occurred October 19, 1913.