ntrigued
for, or crawled into. If elected I shall at the close of
the term lay down the honors of the office with the same cheerfulness
with which I now accept the nomination."

I expected to go back to my home and my profession at the
end of one term. My law practice was rapidly increasing.
Professional charges in those days were exceedingly moderate
as compared with the scale of prices now, and I had inherited
the habit of charging low fees from my partner and friend,
Emory Washburn. If I had the same class of clients now that
I had then, I could at the present scale of charges for professional
service easily be earning more than fifty thousand dollars
a year, and I could earn it without going to my office in
the evening, and also take a good vacation every summer.

My life from that time has been devoted altogether to the
public service. I have, what is commonly expected of men
who represent Massachusetts in the Senate, delivered a good
many literary and historical addresses, and have taken part
in political campaigns, and have occasionally eked out a scanty
salary by some professional work in the vacations. But I
think I may fairly claim that I have done my share of the
work of the Senate and of the House to the best of my ability.
Senator Edmunds when he left the Senate was kind enough to
compliment me by saying that the whole work of the Senate
was done by six men, of whom I was one. I do not suppose
Mr. Edmunds meant the number six to be taken literally. But
he is a gentleman certainly never given to flattery or empty
compliment. So I think I might call him as a witness that,
in his time, so far as hard work is concerned I did my best.
I am not quite so confident that he would testify to the wisdom
of my course on all occasions.

I did not, as I have said, expect when I entered to remain
in public life more than one term. But I became interested
in the bill known as the National Education Bill, and accepted
another election with a view to doing what I could to carry
that through. At the end of the next term I announced my
purpose to withdraw. But there was a very earnest letter
to me signed by the principal men in the district, including
several gentlemen, any one of whom might very naturally have
expected to be my successor, saying it was not for the interest
of the people of the district to make a change.

Two years after I made a formal and peremptory refusal to
be a candidate again, which