have been impossible to have a more agreeable
colleague.

We had been neighbors in Springfield, and when General Palmer was
elected to the Senate, he felt quite free to write to me. I retain
the letter and quote it here:

"Springfield, _March 14, 1891_.

"Hon. S. M. Cullom,
"Washington, D. C.

"My dear Sir:--

"I am just in receipt of your kind favor of the eleventh inst.,
and thank you for its friendly and neighborly expressions. More
than once since my election, Mrs. Palmer has expressed the hope
that when she meets Mrs. Cullom at Washington, or here, they may
continue to enjoy the friendly relations that have so long existed
between them, to which I add the expression of my own wish that in
the future, as in the past, we may be to each other good neighbors
and good friends.

"I do not know what the usage is in such cases, but I suppose I
might forward my credentials at an early date to the Secretary of
the Senate, who is, I believe, my old army friend, Gen. Anson G.
McCook. If such is the proper course I would be glad to do so
through you, if agreeable to you. I will depend upon you also for
such information as your experience will enable you to furnish me.
I will be glad to know about what time you will probably leave
Washington.

"I am, very respectfully,
"John M. Palmer."

While General Sherman and General Palmer were not particularly
friendly, General Palmer was always ready to forgive and forget
and do the agreeable thing.

On the occasion of a celebration in Springfield, where there was
a very large crowd, General Sherman was present, and, with General
Oglesby and General Palmer, occupied a seat on the platform.
Looking over the crowd, General Palmer recognized General McClernand
in the audience. McClernand and Sherman were not friends, McClernand
being bitterly inimical to Sherman. General Palmer, thinking only
of doing an agreeable act, at one pushed his way through the crowd
to where General McClernand was seated and invited him to come onto
the platform. It was only after a great deal of urging that he
consented to go, but he finally said, "I will go, _pro forma_."
He did go "_pro forma,_" and paid his respects to General Sherman,
but remained only a short time.

General Palmer retired from the Senate at the end of his term, the
Legislature of Illinois being Republican.

I recollect that I went home from Washington to Springfield, and
on arriving there was informed that Gen