Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-03-22

his father, Rev. II. II. Green,
d. d., to write an autobiogra-
ply of his life, to be preserved
as a matter of record among
his children and grandchildren.
While it was written with no
intention of being made public,
yet his life has been filled with
- such varied experiences, dating
y from his birth in England, boy
hood, soldier, clergyman, legis-
klator ETC., that we find much
which we believe will be read
ith interest by the public, and g
ye will therefore from time to
zine as space permits publish
sections of this autobiography,
should it prove of sufficient in
terest to continued
= s"
y, CONTINUED from last week.
During the month of September
of that year in company with sew
eral other young men, l became a
regular attendant at the Methodist
Episcopal Sunday School. One Sum-
day soon after the school opened, l
chanced to turn my head toward the
door at the moment young lady
/ had never seen before, was enter
ing the room. Turning to my near
est classmate | said will, who is
that girl?" What girl?" he in
quired. ''Why, that one who has
just come in "O," he replied,
"her name is Bennett, Mary Ben
I nett" But who is she, where does
she liver" l asked. Her people
live in the country, out near Dewitt,
somewhere, l believe, and she is
attending school at the seminary"
We'll, WILL" / calmly said. Let
me tell you something, if | ever get
married that girl will be my wife"
He turned toward me in astonish-
( ment and assuming a rather pitiful
look, as though he suspected ] bad
suddenly been attacked with a weak
ening of the brain or some other
misfortune equally as bad, slowly
said, as though speaking to himself:
'Well, declare, can it be as bad
as that?" Then turning to the
others, he continued: Say, boys,
Green has just been hit awful hard,
he is done for, sure as you live"
Explanations foil ,wed, whereupon
it was agreed among them that it
was all up with me, and indeed they
. were not far out of the way as sub
sequent events proved. | had no
opportunity to meet Miss Bennett
for some time after that, but the
arrow remained where the little God
had so discreetly lodged it, and
when the opportunity did come I
was prepared to make the most of
it.
= One Sunday evening, soon after
her people had moved to town, |
saw her again at the church. She
was a member of the choir and that
evening had left her hymn book at
= home. AS soon as this was known
I requested permission to get it for
ther, as a younger sister upon whom
tshe was depending to bring it failed
ITO do so. Permission was gracious
fly granted, and the hymn book was
secured and received with many
sblushes of modesty on her part and
hnuch satisfaction on my own. That
Incident led to an acquaintance upon
= which my heart had been set from
.e moment l saw her first In the
Sunday School
CHAPTER TX.
! The summer and fall of 1860
were made memorable by the i'm
portant political campaign which
resulted in the election of Abraham
Lincoln to the presidency of the
United States. For several years
5 preceding the election of Mr.. Lin
!, coin the country had been in con-
fstant ferment.. The political pot
\ was kept boiling over the fires, OF
an intense partisanship. the like OF
, which has never been equaled in
the United States.
Max O'Rell, the distinguished
Frenchman, who visited this coun-
try at that period declared that the
sole amusement of the Americans
was politics. He was not far out
Of the way either, for politics was
the very breath of life; every man
was a politician. They talked poll
tics in the morning, they thought
lpolitics through the day and they
drank politics and fought politics
around the corner grocery at night
The newspapers in those days were
political papers; eliminate politics
from them and little would have
been left. The preacher was sys