who stepped aside that his pilot might escape from his sinking ship;
there is Lawrence, whose last words are still ringing down the years;
there is Nathan Hale, immortalized by his lofty bearing beneath the
scaffold; there is Robert Gould Shaw, who led a forlorn hope at the head
of a despised race;--even to name them is to review those great events
in American history which bring proud tears to the eyes of every lover
of his country.

Of all this we shall tell, as simply as may be, giving the story of our
country's history and development in terms of its great men. So far as
possible, the text has been kept free of dates, because great men are of
all time, and, compared with the deeds themselves, their dates are of
minor importance. But a summary at the end of each chapter gives, for
purposes of convenient reference, the principal dates in the lives of
the men whose achievements are considered in it.

* * * * *

In the preparation of these thumb-nail sketches, the present writer
makes no pretense of original investigation. He has taken his material
wherever he could find it, making sure only that it was accurate, and
his sole purpose has been to give, in as few words as possible, a
correct impression of the man and what he did. From the facts as given,
however, he has drawn his own conclusions, with some of which, no doubt,
many people will disagree. But he has tried to paint the men truly, in a
few strokes, as they appeared to him, without seeking to conceal their
weaknesses, but at the same time without magnifying them--remembering
always that they were men, subject to mistakes and errors, to be honored
for such true vision as they possessed; remarkable, many of them, for
heroism and high devotion, and worthy a lasting place in the grateful