Free eBooks - Biography & Autobiography - Presidents & Heads of State
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PREFACE
These Recollections grew out of a long deferred purpose to publish a selection of my speeches on public questions, but in collecting them it became manifest that they should be accompanied or preceded by a statement of the circumstances that attended their delivery. The attempt to furnish such a statement led to a review of the chief events of my public life, which covers the period extending from ... more...
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WARREN GAMALIEL HARDING
Every time we elect a new President we learn what a various creature is the Typical American.
When Mr. Roosevelt was in the White House the Typical American was gay, robustious, full of the joy of living, an expansive spirit from the frontier, a picaresque twentieth century middle class Cavalier. He hit the line hard and did not flinch. And his laugh shook the skies.
Came Wilson. ... more...
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THE PLAY-HOUSE CALLED OTTAWA.
Do not imagine that I spend much time at once in Ottawa. I have never liked the kind of play-house that politicians have made on that glorious plateau in a valley of wonderland with a river of dreams rolling past to the sea. Where under heaven is any other Capital so favoured by the great scenic artist? On what promontory do parliamentary towers and gables so colossally arise to ... more...
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WHEN I was very, very little, I hated history more than all my other lessons put together, because I had to learn it out of a horrid little book, called somebody's "Outlines of English History"; and it seemed to be all the names of the kings and the dates of battles, and, believing it to be nothing else, I hated it accordingly.
I hope you do not think anything so foolish, because, really, history is a story, ... more...
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PREFACE
This monograph could not have been written—in the intimate sense—if the Dowager Countess Russell had not extended a confidence which, I trust, has in no direction been abused. Lady Russell has not only granted me access to her journal and papers as well as the early note-books of her husband, but in many conversations has added the advantage of her own reminiscences.
I am also ... more...
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GEORGE WASH-ING-TON.
Way down in Vir-gin-i-a, near a small creek, called Bridg-es Creek, there is a shaft of white stone;—on it is the name of George Wash-ing-ton and the date of his birth: Feb-ru-ar-y 22d, 1732.
On this spot once stood the big brick house in which George Wash-ing-ton was born; it was built in 1657 by John Wash-ing-ton; his grand-son, Au-gus-tine, was the fa-ther of the lit-tle boy who ... more...
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ANCESTRY.
Line of Descent—Family Tradition—Indian Fighters—Grandfather Rutherford—Chloe Smith Hayes—Father and Mother—Characteristics—Tributes to a Sister—General Character of Ancestors.
George Hayes, of Scotland, came to America by the way of England, and settled at Windsor, in the Colony of Connecticut, in 1682. He married, in 1683, Abigail Dibble, who ... more...
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Irving, Washington
Irving, Washington
Essayist and historian, born in New York, son of William Irving who had emigrated from Scotland. He was in his youth delicate, and his education was somewhat desultory, but his father had a fine library, of which he had the run, and he was an omnivorous reader. In 1799 he entered a law office, but a threatening of consumption led to his going, in 1804, on a European tour in search of health. On his return in 1806 he was admitted to the Bar. He did not, however, prosecute law, but joined his brothers in business as a sleeping partner, while he devoted himself to literature.
In 1807 he conducted Salmagundi, an amusing miscellany, and in 1809 appeared A History of ...
In 1807 he conducted Salmagundi, an amusing miscellany, and in 1809 appeared A History of ...
CHAPTER I.
GENEALOGY OF THE WASHINGTON FAMILY.
The Washington family is of an ancient English stock, the genealogy of which has been traced up to the century immediately succeeding the Conquest. At that time it was in possession of landed estates and manorial privileges in the county of Durham, such as were enjoyed only by those, or their descendants, who had come over from Normandy with the Conqueror, or ... more...
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CHAPTER I.
THE FAR WEST.
The United States Sixty Years ago—The "Queen City" of the West—The Rush for New Lands—Marvellous Growth of American Cities.
Go to Liverpool or Glasgow, and embark on one of the great ocean steamers, which are constantly crossing the Atlantic. Sail westwards for about a week, and you will reach the eastern shores of the New World.
If you land at New York, you ... more...
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CHAPTER I
THE VIRGINIA MADISONS
James Madison was born on March 16, 1751, at Port Conway, Virginia; he died at Montpellier, in that State, on June 28, 1836. Mr. John Quincy Adams, recalling, perhaps, the death of his own father and of Jefferson on the same Fourth of July, and that of Monroe on a subsequent anniversary of that day, may possibly have seen a generous propriety in finding some equally ... more...
