He was, in fact, a human being, through and through, but so upright that they used to say of him that he was "as honest as any man under heaven or in it"
For my knowledge of the color and spirit of the time I am indebted to a long course of reading in its books, newspapers and periodicals, notably The North American Review, The United States Magazine and Democratic Review, The New York Mirror, The Knickerbocker, The St. Lawrence Republican, Benton's Thirty Years' View, Bancroft's Life of Martin Van Buren, histories of Wright and his time by Hammond and Jenkins, and to many manuscript letters of the distinguished commoner in the New York Public Library and in the possession of Mr. Samuel Wright of Weybridge, Vermont.
To any who may think that they discover portraits in these pages I desire to say that all the characters—save only Silas Wright and President Van Buren and Barton Baynes—are purely imaginary. However, there were Grimshaws and Purvises and Binkses and Aunt Deels and Uncle Peabodys in almost every rustic neighborhood those days, and I regret to add that Roving 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 I am indebted to my friend, Mr. H.L. Ives of Potsdam.
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS
[BOOK ONE]
WHICH IS THE STORY OF THE CANDLE AND COMPASS
| [XV] | [Uncle Peabody's Way and Mine] |
| [XVI] | [I Use My Own Compass at a Fork in the Road] |
| [XVII] | [The Man with the Scythe] |
| [XVIII] | [I Start in a Long Way] |
| [XIX] | [On the Summit] |
| [Epilogue] |