e of Congress, our member congratulates
himself that during seven years of service he was absent from
his seat but a single day. That all his humble endeavors were
in the interest of the people, of course, goes without saying. He
deprecates in strong terms the extravagance of some members of
Congress in allowing their expenses to exceed their salaries,
and then leaving the capital in debt. That he did nothing of
the kind, but practised economy in all his expenses, it is
hardly necessary to state. He is not, however, entitled to a patent
for the discovery that "the expenses for living at the seat of
Government of the United States are heavy."

Being a widower, conditions were now favorable for a little romance
to be mingled with the dull cares of state. Near the close of his
last term, he says: "I became acquainted with a lady in the District
of Columbia, and we, in consideration of mutual love and affection,
married. The same tie binds us in matrimonial happiness to the
present time." He here admits a fact that might at this later day
subject him to Executive displeasure: "Posterity will have an
unsettled account against us for having _added nothing to the great
reservoir of the human family."_

It may be of interest to know that while in Congress our member
humbly accepted the appointment tendered him by Governor Carlin as
Commissioner to negotiate the Illinois and Michigan Canal bonds.
His earnest desire to have some one else appointed availed nothing,
and in the interest of the great enterprise, upon the success of
which the future of the State seemed to hang, he spent the summer of
1839 in Europe. While his mission abroad was fruitless as to
its immediate object, it is gratifying to know that our commissioner
returned duly impressed with "the immense superiority in every
possible manner of our own country, and all its glorious institutions,
over those of the monarchies of the old world."

It would be idle to suppose that the retirement of the Old Ranger from
Congress was to terminate his career of usefulness to the people.
On the contrary, he says: "In 1846, I was elected a member from
St. Clair County to the General Assembly of the State. The main
object of myself and friends was to obtain a charter for a macadamized
road from Belleville to the Mississippi River, opposite St. Louis."

This all satisfactorily accomplished, and the Legislature adjourned,
"I turned my time and attention to the calm an