If elected I shall at the close of the term lay down the honors of the office with the same cheerfulness with which I now accept the nomination." I expected to go back to my home and my profession at the end of one term.

My law practice was rapidly increasing.
Professional charges in those days were exceedingly moderate as compared with the scale of prices now, and I had inherited the habit of charging low fees from my partner and friend, Emory Washburn.

If I had the same class of clients now that I had then, I could at the present scale of charges for professional service easily be earning more than fifty thousand dollars a year, and I could earn it without going to my office in the evening, and also take a good vacation every summer.
My life from that time has been devoted altogether to the public service.

I have, what is commonly expected of men who represent Massachusetts in the Senate, delivered a good many literary and historical addresses, and have taken part in political campaigns, and have occasionally eked out a scanty salary by some professional work in the vacations.

But I think I may fairly claim that I have done my share of the work of the Senate and of the House to the best of my ability.
Senator Edmunds when he left the Senate was kind enough to compliment me by saying that the whole work of the Senate was done by six men, of whom I was one.