Dr.Bailey was a proud and sensitive man, and felt the failure of his son so keenly that he forbade his return home.

There were no telegraphs in those days to disseminate news rapidly, no railroads west of the Alleghanies, and but few east; and above all, there were no reporters prying into other people's private affairs.

Consequently it did not become generally known that there was a vacancy at West Point from our district until I was appointed.

I presume Mrs.Bailey confided to my mother the fact that Bartlett had been dismissed, and that the doctor had forbidden his son's return home.
The Honorable Thomas L.Hamer, one of the ablest men Ohio ever produced, was our member of Congress at the time, and had the right of nomination.
He and my father had been members of the same debating society (where they were generally pitted on opposite sides), and intimate personal friends from their early manhood up to a few years before.

In politics they differed.