al progress of the race; the decline of political and religious
enmities, the growth of good-will and mutual understanding between
nations, the waning of popular superstition, the spread of civic ideas,
the recognition of the mutual obligations of classes, the advancement of
woman to dignity in the household and efficiency in the state. All this
our century has seen and approved. To the ages following it will hand on
an inestimable legacy, an imperishable record.

While my heart exults at these grandeurs of which I have seen and known
something, my contribution to their history can be but of fragmentary
and fitful interest. On the world's great scene, each of us can only
play his little part, often with poor comprehension of the mighty drama
which is going on around him. If any one of us undertakes to set this
down, he should do it with the utmost truth and simplicity; not as if
Seneca or Tacitus or St. Paul were speaking, but as he himself, plain
Hodge or Dominie or Mrs. Grundy, is moved to speak. He should not borrow
from others the sentiments which he ought to have entertained, but
relate truthfully how matters appeared to him, as they and he went on.
Thus much I can promise to do in these pages, and no more.

I was born on May 27, 1819, in the city of New York, in Marketfield
Street, near the Battery. My father was of Rhode Island birth and
descent. One of his grandmothers was the beautiful Catharine Ray to whom
are addressed some of Benjamin Franklin's published letters. His father
attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the war of the Revolution,
being himself the son of Governor Samuel Ward, of Rhode Island,[1]
married to a daughter of Governor Greene, of the same state. My mother
was grandniece to General Francis Marion, of Huguenot descent, known in
the Revolution as the Swamp-fox of southern campaigns. Her father was
Benjamin Clarke Cutler, whose first ancestor in this country was John De
Mesmekir, of Holland.

[Footnote 1: Governor Samuel Ward refused to enforce the Stamp Act, and
also did valuable service as a member of the First and Second
Continental Congresses. He frequently served as chairman of the
Committee of the Whole, during the secret sessions of Congress. His
death, in the spring of 1776, is said to have been due in large measure
to the fatigue caused by his incessant labors in behalf of his country.
Although he did not live to sign the Declaration of Independence, he was
one of the first men