XV'iii. INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 



fire of 1871, he was able to render an important 

 service to his employers by rescuing from their offices 

 some valuable books and taking them to a place of 

 safety. 



A few years after this, there was founded in 

 Chicago a weekly periodical which, though its course 

 ran but a few brief years, must be remembered as one 

 of the most meritorious and notable journals ever 

 published in that city. This was l The Alliance,' a 

 weekly journal, mildly religious, broadly humanitarian, 

 and more fairly literary than anything in Chicago 

 except the ' Lakeside Monthly,' established on a 

 sort of ministerial cooperative plan by a group of 

 earnest and liberal clergymen, among whom were the 

 Rev. Robert Collyer, the Rev. David Swing, the Rev. 

 H. N. Powers, the Rev. C. D. Helmer, and the Rev. 

 H. W. Thomas ; all strong men and forces for good 

 in their day, and two of them (Drs. Collyer and 

 Thomas) still in ours. Of this brilliant combination 

 of stars, Mr. Ensign became the attempted manager 

 or business agent ; but it was too brilliant to last, and 

 presently it fell apart and Rrofessor Swing and Mr. 

 Ensign acquired full ownership and control of the 

 concern. About this time (1877) I became the lit- 

 erary editor of the ambitious little paper, and then 

 began my acquaintance and friendship with Mr. 



