friends worth mentioning and of
acquaintances, some of whom I must introduce.

Of Horatio Stebbins, the best friend and strongest influence of my life,
I have tried to express my regard in a little book about to be published
by the Houghton Mifflin Company of Boston. It will be procurable from
our San Francisco Unitarian Headquarters. That those who may not see it
may know something of my feeling, I reprint a part of an editorial
written when he died.

HORATIO STEBBINS

The thoughts that cluster around the memory of Horatio Stebbins so fill
the mind that nothing else can be considered until some expression is
made of them, and yet the impossibility of any adequate statement is so
evident that it seems hopeless to begin. The event of his death was not
unexpected. It has been imminent and threatening for years. His
feebleness and the intense suffering of his later days relieve the grief
that must be felt, and there springs by its side gratitude that rest and
peace have come to him. And yet to those who loved him the world seems
not quite the same since he has gone from it. There is an underlying
feeling of something missing, of loss not to be overcome, that must be
borne to the end.

In my early boyhood Horatio Stebbins was "the preacher from
Fitchburg"--original in manner and matter, and impressive even to a boy.
Ten years passed, and our paths met in San Francisco. From the day he
first stood in the historic pulpit as successor of that gifted preacher
and patriot, Starr King, till his removal to Cambridge, few
opportunities for hearing him were neglected by me. His influence was a
great blessing, association with him a delight, his example an
inspiration, and his love the richest of undeserved treasures.

Dr. Stebbins was ever the kindliest of men, and his friendliness and
consideration were not confined to his social equals. Without
condescension, he always had a kind word for the humblest people. He was
as gentlemanly and courteous to a hackdriver as he would be to a college
president. None ever heard him speak severely or impatiently to a
servant. He was considerate by nature, and patient from very largeness.
He never harbored an injury, and by his generosity and apparent
obliviousness or forgetfulness of the unpleasant past he often put to
shame those who had wronged him. He was at times stern, and was always
fearless in uttering what he felt to be the truth, whether it was to
meet with favor or with disapp