Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1919-01-09
PREFACE

CCsDystsAs, 1877. living Doehsilss,

The Light IN the Clearing shons upon
many things and mostly upon those
which. above al others. have impessioned
and perpetuatsd ~ 0Dtit Of America
ana which, Just NJ. osaa 70 me to b
worthy OF attention. ! 6elssve that cpirit
in this dark and windy night Of time. has
I. fiicksrsd % that the souls Of the faithful
have been afraid. But let NJ b Of good
cheer. Il 10 shining brighter ~ write
and. under God. believe II shall. BY and
by, BE- seen and loved OF al men.
One sslf-contains6 Homssic nsure. OF
the remote coUntly-GlAs In which ] was
and shed IL light a1f0ad In tAo senate OF
the United States ard The eapitol At Al
bany. He earrssA ths Candle Of the Lord.
It led him to . height Of sslf-forSstful-
ness achieved By only two others-Wash-
in9ton and Lincoln Yse I have been sur
prissd By the psofDunl and general t.
norancs Of this sensfatjea regarding the
career Of Silas Wright
The distinguished senator who served
ut his side for many pears. Thomas H.
Benton Of lisDoufi. has thi1 70 say Of
silas Wright n his Thirty Ysars' View:
He refused cabinet appointments un-
der his fast friend Van Buren, and under
Polk, whom he may - nd TO have
elected. He fsfussd seat On the beneh
OF the Supreme eoaIs Of the United
states: he rejectsd instantly ths nomina-
ton in 1874 for vtos prssidsat; he refused
to BE- put In nomination for the pfesi-
deney. He spsnt that time IN declining
Office which oHhsss d1d in winning It. The
Offices he did oeospk It might veil Be
said, wseO thrust upon him. He vas born
great and abovo ofnes and unwillingiy de-
scended 20 Il"
somuch By Wv a preparing The reader
to meet the sssas commoner IN these
There were those Who accused Mr..
Wright Of being . SpdllsmaA. the only
warrant for which clatn would seem to
be his remark In Q letter: when cur
enemies accuse % Of feeding our friends
instead Of thsm never It then lie In tell
Ing the story.
and through. but % upright that they
used to say Of him that he was ''as hon
est - any man under heaven or IN IT,"
For my knowledge Of tho color and
spirit Of the time an indebted to long
course Of reading In it, books. nswspa-
pers and periodicals.. notably the North
American Review. the United States Nag
asins and Democratic Review. the New
York Minor. the Knickerbockef. the st.
Lawrence Republican. Bsnton's Thirty
Years View. Bancfofts Lie Of Martin
Van Buren,. histories Of Wright ana his
time BY Hammond and Jenkins. and to
many manuscript letters Of the d1stin.
guished commoner In tho New York pub
lie library and In the possession OF Mr..
Samuel Wright Of Weybridse. Vermont.
To any who nay think that they dis
cover portraits in these pages desire to
: say dat al the e,aeactses- save only
siias Wright and Prssi6snt Van Buren,
and Barton Baynes-afs purely imas1n-
ary. However, there :. were 0rimshaws
and Purvises, and Binksas and Aunt Deals
and Uncle Peabodys in almost every rus
tic neighborhood those days. and regret
to add that RovinE Kate vas on many
roads. The case OF Amos 0rimshaW bears
a striking resemblance to that Of young
Bickford, executed long ago In Malone.
for the particulars Of which case am
indebted to my friend, Mr.. H. I. Ives Of
.Potsdam.
THE AUTHOR.