ve and let live. Although I was destined
to share less than five years of his life, there was in the whole of it
no chapter or incident with which he did not acquaint me. He was not a
man of theory. No one could live near him without awe of his genius.

We returned to Washington after this spring lecturing tour, where the
Doctor resumed his preaching twice on Sunday, and his mid-week lecture,
till June. Then, according to Dr. Talmage's custom, we went to Saratoga
for a few weeks before the crowds came for the season. The Doctor found
the Saratoga Springs beneficial and made it a rule to go there for a
time each summer. On July 3, 1898, we started for the Pacific coast on
what Dr. Talmage called a summer vacation. On his desk there was always
a great number of invitations to preach and lecture awaiting his
acknowledgment or refusal. The greatest problem of the last years of his
life was how to find time for all the things he was asked to do and
wanted to do. In vain I tried to make him conform to the usual plans of
a summer outing. He asked me if he might take a "few lectures" on our
route to California, and he did, but he always managed to slip in a few
extra ones without my knowledge. When I would protest about these
additional engagements he would say that the people wanted to hear him,
that they were new people he had never seen, which meant more to him
than anything else; then, of course, I had to yield my judgment.

It had been Dr. Talmage's original plan to go to Europe during this
first summer of our marriage, but the outbreak of the Spanish war made
him afraid he might not be able to get back in time for his church work
in October. Although ostensibly this was a vacation trip, it was so only
in the spirit and gaiety of the Doctor's moods. Three times a week Dr.
Talmage lectured, and preached once, sometimes twice, every Sunday. From
Cincinnati westward to Denver, we zigzagged over the country, keeping in
constant pursuit of the Doctor's engagements. No argument on our part
could alter these working plans which my husband had made before we left
Washington. He was so happy, however, in the midst of his energies, that
we forgot the exertion of his labours.

The three places where, by agreeable lapses, Dr. Talmage really enjoyed
a rest, were Colorado Springs, the Yellowstone Park, and Coronado Beach
in California. Aside from these points, we were travelling incessantly
in the Doctor's reflected glory, which was ou