Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1919-04-04
PREFACE.

al
The light In the Clearing shone upon
many things and mostly upon those
which. above oil others. have imprisoned
and perpetuated the Spirit of America
and which. Just now. seem to me to be
worthy Of attention. believe that spirit
to be the very candle OF the Lord which.
Ia this dark and windy night of time, has
fiickered SO that the souls OF the faithful
have been afraid. But let us be of good
cheer. Il is shining brighter as / write
and, under God believe 1t shall. by and
by, be seen and loved OF all men,
One self-contained, Homeric figure. Of
the remote countryside In which was
born, had the true Spirit OF Democracy
and shed its light abroad In the senate OF
the United States and the capitol at Al
bauy. He carried the Candle of the Lord.
1t led him to q height OF seif-forgetful-
ness achieved by only two others-Wash-
ington and Lincoln Yet Irhave been sur
prised by the profound and general tg-
rorance of this generation regarding the
career of Silas Wright.
The distinguished senator who served
at his side for many years, Thomas II.
Benton of Missouri. has this to say of
Eilas Wright in his Thirty Years'sy lew:
HE refused cabinet appointments I'M
der his fast friend Van Buren, and under
Polk. whom he may be said TO have
of the Supreme court of the United
States: he rejected instantly the nominal
ton in 1874 for vice president: he refused
10 be put in nomination for the presi-
dency. He spent that time In declining
office which others did in winning 1t. The
offices ne did accept. 1t might well be
said, were thrust upon him. He was born
great aud above office and upwillingly DE-
Gcended to it, %'As~@ ~
-..~h A. .x,o,, - ,,rov,o n ~ fI,a roo H
TO meet the great commoner In these
pages FlN
There were those who accused Mr..
Wright OF being O spokesman, the. only
>7arrant for which claim would seem to
be his remark In a letter: when our
enemies accuse US of feeding our friends
instead Of them never let them lie in tell
fng the story"
He was, III fact, human being. through
and through, but so upright that they
used to say of him that he was ''as hon
est as any man under heaven or in 1t.
| For my knowledge of the color and
spirit OF the time am indebted ton long
course OF reading in its books, newspa-
perS and periodicals, notably the North
American Review. the United States Mag
azine and Democratic Review. the New
York Mirror. the Knickerbocker. the st.
I.awrence Republican, Benton's Thirty
Years View Bancroft's Life of Martin
Wan Buren,. histories of Wright and his
time by Hammond and Jenkins. and to
many manuscript letters Of the distin-
guished commoner in the New<Yerk pub
Tic library and In the possession of Mr..
Samuel Wright OF Weybrfdge Vermont.
TO any who may think that they dis
cover portraits in these pages desires 70
say that all the characters-savetso only
Silas Wright and President Van Buren,
end Barton Baynes-are purely imagin-
airy. However, there were Grimshews
and Purvises and Blnkses and Aunt Deels
and Uncle Peabodys in almost every rus
tic neighbcrhood those days, and regret
to add that Rowing Kate was on many
roads The case of Amos Grimshaw 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.. La Ives OF
rstsdam.
4 THE AUTHOR.