concession to his family, his
friends, and an admiring public.

So many people all over the world have paid homage to his personality,
and to his remarkable influence, that it seemed evident not only to us
but to many others, that his own recollections would give abiding
pleasure. I remember when we were travelling to Washington after our
marriage, many men of prominence, who were on the Congressional Limited,
said to Dr. Talmage: "Doctor, why don't you write your memoirs? They
would be especially interesting because you have bridged two centuries
in your life." Then, turning to me, they urged me to use my influence
over him. Later on I did so, placing over his desk as a reminder, in big
letters, the one word--"Autobiography."

His celebrity was something so unique, and so widespread, that it is
difficult to write of it under the spell which still surrounds his
memory. Many still remember seeing and feeling almost with awe the
tremendous grasp of success which Dr. Talmage had all his life. A
reminiscence of my girlhood will be pardoned: My father was his great
admirer many years before I ever met the Doctor. Whenever I went with my
father from my home in Pittsburg on a visit to New York, I was taken
over to Brooklyn every Sunday morning, unwillingly I must confess, to
hear Dr. Talmage. At that time there were other things which I found
more pleasant, for I had many young friends to visit and to entertain.
However, my father's wishes were always uppermost with me, and his
admiration of the great preacher inspired me also with reverence. The
Doctor soon became one of the great men of my life.

Dr. Talmage was among the builders of his century--a watchman of his
period. He was a man of philanthropy and enterprise. His popularity was
world-wide; his extraordinary power was exerted over people of all
classes and conditions of life. His broad human intellectuality, his
constant good humour, his indomitable energy, threw a glamour about him.
His happy laughter, which attested the deep peace of his heart, rang
everywhere, through his home, in social meetings with his friends, in
casual encounters even with strangers.

[Illustration: DR. AND MRS. T. DE WITT TALMAGE.]

No one who ever knew the Doctor thought of him as an old man. He himself
almost believed that he would live for ever. "Barring an accident," he
often said, "I shall live for ever." The frankness and buoyancy of his
spirit were like youth: were the enchantment