PREFACE. The child of 1884 has one hundred years the advantage of the child of 1784. If he choose to avail himself of the experience of those who have lived before him, he can catch at a glance, and secure in a moment, important discoveries and conclusions which cost his ancestors a lifetime to solve or acquire. Biography is the storehouse of experience. Its chief value is in the helpful information it gives, making the reader stronger, better, wiser, happier, and richer. Hence it is a great satisfaction to an author, who really desires to be of some assistance to his readers, to find a character whose experience contains those helpful qualities in an unusual degree. The writer has here found such a life. The young will profit by its examples of heroism, selfsacrifice, and perseverance; those in middle life will be encouraged and inspired by its record of well-earned success, after years of toil; and the old will find in it comfort and entertainment, as it accounts for their failure or explains their success. ACKNOWLEDGMENT. The thanks of the author are due to many kind friends who have assisted him in collecting the facts for this volume. Among them he remembers with especial gratitude: Rev. James I. Brownson, D.D., of Washington, Pa.; J. A. Whitcomb, Esq., of Washington, D.C.; Mr. Howard Owen, of Augusta, Me.; Mr. Joseph H. Manley, Postmaster at Augusta, Me.; Mr. Walker Blaine, of Washington, D.C.; Mr. W. H. Wertz, of Greenburg, Pa.; Mrs. Krepps, of Brownsville, Pa.; Mr. Josiah S. Hobbs, State Librarian, of Augusta, Me. |