The Captain's horse, which he had named "Paul Revere," was a noble creature, black as jet, of good pedigree, and possessing, in no slight measure, the sterling qualities of endurance, pace, and fidelity, albeit occasionally somewhat restive and wilful.
On leaving the "Revere," the party referred to in the above notice proceeded to Bunker Hill, gazed reverentially at the monument commemorating the famous battle, and then headed for Brighton. The short journey had been rendered comfortless by a continuous downfall of rain, and when the friends halted at the Cattle-Fair Hotel for dinner, they were all more or less drenched to the skin.
Much cordial interest was manifested in the work the captain had undertaken and the motives that actuated him; and at length, taking leave of his friendly escort, he pushed forward through Worcester, Springfield, Pittsfield, Nassau, and on to Albany, covering a distance of two hundred miles. At Beckett he found "Paul's" back becoming sore, and as a good rider is always humane to his horse, he removed the saddle, washed the abrasion with cold water, and before resuming his journey put a blanket under the saddle-cloth, which kindly care afforded "Paul" considerable relief. At Pittsfield, Glazier delivered his fourth lecture in the Academy of Music, being introduced to his audience by Captain Brewster, Commander of the Pittsfield Post, "Grand Army of the Republic."
His journey from Pittsfield was by the Boston and Albany Turnpike, over the Pittsfield Mountain, passing the residence of Honorable Samuel J. Tilden, then Governor of New York, and a candidate for the Presidency. Starting from Nassau at eleven o'clock, he reached the old Barringer Homestead soon after. It was with this family that he had spent his first night in Rensselaer County, sixteen years before, when looking for a school to teach, and he could not resist the temptation to stop a few minutes at Brockway's, where he had boarded the first week after entering the school at Schodack Centre as a teacher. At the hotel he found Mrs. Lewis, the landlady, awaiting his approach, as she had been told he would pass that way. He also halted for a moment at his old school-house, where he found Miss Libby Brockway, one of the youngest of his old scholars, teaching the school. "Thoughts of Rip Van Winkle," he says, "flitted across my imagination as I contrasted the past with the present."
On the eighteenth of May Captain Glazier reached the fine old city of Albany, capital of his native State, and in the evening of the same day delivered his fifth lecture at Tweddle Hall.
Thrilling memories awaited him in Albany. Here, in 1859, he entered the State Normal School. It was here his patriotism was aroused by intelligence of the firing upon Fort Sumter, and he at once formed the resolution to enter the army in defence of the Union; and it was in Albany that the first edition of his first book saw the light through the press of Joel Munsell, in the autumn of 1865. Here, it may be said, his career in life commenced, when, leaving his country home in Northern New York, he entered the Normal School.
The erection of a Soldiers' Home having been recently projected, Glazier called on the adjutant-general at the State House, in relation to his lecturing in the interest of the fund for that purpose. Colonel Taylor, assistant adjutant-general, whom he had known for some years, presented him to General Townsend, and he was recommended to see and consult with Captain John Palmer, Past Grand Commander of the State, G. A. R.
Nothing can better prove the disinterested motives and objects of Willard Glazier in undertaking his long and tedious journey on horseback, than the numerous voluntary offerings he made to certain military organizations whose claims so forcibly presented themselves to him. This was simply characteristic of him. He has never valued money but for the practical uses to which it may be applied in the amelioration of the condition of others. Simple in his habits, and unostentatious in his mode of life—indulging in no luxuries—he has managed by sheer hard work to accumulate a fair fortune, which is of value to him only so far as he can do good with it—first to those having the strongest domestic claims upon him, and secondly, to his comrades of the camp and the battle-field.
The following letters will explain themselves: