COPYRIGHT, 1897 BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS Entered at Stationers' Hall, London The Knickerbocker Press, New York PREFACE. N preparing this life of my mother, my aim has been to avoid elaboration and give a picture of her as she was,-direct, plain of speech, unconscious of self, sympathetic, unusually wise in her day and generation, without guile, no respecter of persons but seeing the good in all, just and generous, a staff on which to lean, and a safe adviser and friend; so that those who knew her in life may recognize the portrait, and strangers find in her an illustration of the text, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." The simplicity of her home bringing-up, and the many trials she passed through in her journey through life, added to the qualities inherited from her noble father, made her what she was. Always cheerful, always helpful, her thought was for others, and for herself she never wanted what she did not have. She had strong opinions, which she never hesitated to express on occasion, and she was equally ready to tolerate them in others. It is to be regretted that so many of her letters have been lost and destroyed. Scarcely one remains of those addressed to her daughter Julia, after war days; all which were written to her brother John and his family are missing; and I VOL. I. |