46 % POLITICAL LIFE-I 



that, when this was read, the family allowed that the lat- 

 ter had the better of the argument. I cannot help thinking 

 that my grandfather must have agreed with them, tacitly, 

 if not openly. He loved the Hampshire Hills of Massa- 

 chusetts, from which he came. Year after year he took 

 long journeys to visit them, and Webster's magnificent 

 reference to the "Old Bay State " must have aroused his 

 sympathy and pride. 



Fortunately, at that election, as at so many others since, 

 the good sense of the nation promptly accepted the result, 

 and after its short carnival of political passion, dismissed 

 the whole subject ; the minority simply leaving the respon- 

 sibility of public affairs to the majority, and all betaking 

 themselves again to their accustomed vocations. 



I do not remember, during the first seven years of my 

 life, ever hearing any mention of political questions. The 

 only thing I heard during that period which brings back a 

 chapter in American politics, was when, at the age of five 

 years, I attended an infant school and took part in a sort 

 of catechism, all the children rising and replying to the 

 teacher ? s questions. Among these were the following : 



Q. Who is President of the United States! 



A. Martin Van Buren. 



Q. Who is governor of the State of New York! 



A. William L. Marcy. 



This is to me somewhat puzzling, for I was four years 

 old when Martin Van Buren was elected, and my father 

 was his very earnest opponent, yet, though I recall easily 

 various things which occurred at that age and even earlier, 

 I have no remembrance of any general election before 

 1840, and my only recollection of the first New York 

 statesman elected to the Presidency is this mention of his 

 name, in a child 's catechism. 



My recollections of American politics begin, then, with 

 the famous campaign of 1840, and of that they are vivid. 

 Our family had, in 1839, removed to Syracuse, which, al- 

 though now a city of about one hundred and twenty thou- 

 sand inhabitants, was then a village of fewer than six 



