<58 OCEAN TO OCEAN ON HORSEBACK, 



I may add that, as this was the first occasion of any 

 importance on which I had been expected to appear be- 

 fore a public assemblage, I was strongly recommended 

 to deliver my initial lecture before a smaller and 

 less critical audience than I was likely to confront in 

 Boston, and thus prepare myself for a later appearance 

 in the literary capital ; but I reasoned from the stand- 

 point of a soldier that, as lecturing w'as a new experi- 

 ence to me, my military training dictated that if I 

 could carry the strongest position in the line I need 

 have but little, if any, concern for the weaker ones, and 

 hence resolved to deliver my first lecture at Tremont 

 Temple. I was introduced by Captain Theodore L. 

 Kelly, commander of Post 15, Department of Mas- 

 sachusetts, G. A. R., and was honored by the presence 

 on the platform of representatives from nearly all of 

 the Posts of Boston and adjacent cities. In presenting 

 me to my audience Captain Kelly spoke in the follow- 

 ing terms : 



" Ladies and Gentlemen : It gives me pleasure to have 

 the honor of introducing to you one who, by his services 

 in the field and by the works of his pen, is entitled to your 

 consideration, and the confidence of all comrades of the 

 ' Grand Army of the Republic. ' I desire to say that he 

 comes well accredited, furnished with the proper vouchers and 

 documents, and highly endorsed and recommended by the 

 ofiicers of the Department of the State of New York. 

 Though young in years, his life has been one of varied and 

 exciting experience. Born in the wilds of St. Lawrence 

 County, New York, his education was drawn from the great 

 book of Nature; and from his surroundings he early imbibed 

 a love of liberty. His early associations naturally invested 

 him with a fondness for adventure and excitement and when 

 the call of war was heard he at once responded, and enlisted in 

 the Harris Light Cavalry, with which corps he passed through 



