VI. Platform Experiences 233

VII. The Defeat of The Nation's Dragon 273

VIII. If I Could Live Life Over 307





I

AMONG THE MASSES, OR TRAITS OF CHARACTER.


Whatever criticism I choose to make on human character, I hope to
soften the criticism with the "milk of human kindness." As rude rough
rocks on mountain peaks wear button-hole bouquets so there are
intervening traits in the rudest human character, which, if the clouds
could only part, would show out in redeeming beauty.

To begin with, I believe prejudice to be one of the most unreasonable
traits in character. It is said: "One of the most difficult things in
science is to invent a lense that will not distort the object it
reflects; the least deviation in the lines of the mirror will destroy
the beauty of a star." How unreliable then must be the distorting
lense of human prejudice.

I had a bit of experience during the Civil War which gave me something
of that whole-heartedness necessary to the service of my kind. In the