FROM A NEW ENGLAND HILLSIDE. 117 



from the wise and shrewd bishop who can 

 drive in double harness in perfect amicable- 

 ness such curiously mismated clerical 

 steeds, and over the vibrating wire came 

 the voice of our good friend who gives me 

 the privilege that I have enjoyed to-day. 

 It was a noteworthy company, and testified, 

 as it has been testified in many ways, to the 

 strong and vital influence which he of whom 

 I write, whether in the field of political 

 conflict, upon the rostrum, at the desk, in 

 the Easy Chair, or by the fireside, has exer 

 cised upon the best of his generation. 



As I turn over these pages, I strike upon 

 passages which bring up vividly picture 

 after picture. As this, in a letter written 

 on the 20th of April, 1861 : &quot; This day in 

 New York has been beyond description, 

 and remember, if we lose Washington to 

 night or to-morrow, as we probably shall, 

 we have taken New York. 1 1 Do you real 

 ize that in that crisis it really seemed that 

 Washington must go, and that it is most 

 singular that it did not ? It was completely 

 at the mercy of the southern troops. In 

 April, 1892, while a party of us were on 

 our way to Baltimore, our friend the gen 

 eral not the general of whom I spoke a 

 moment ago told us the story of how he 



