CHAPTER XV.
THE NATIONAL HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN 1869 The House, when I entered it, contained many very able men.
Some of them remained long enough in public life to fill a large and prominent place in the history of the country.

Others retired early.

I will mention only a few.
I do not think his countrymen have estimated Nathaniel P.
Banks at his true value.

When he left office at the ripe age of seventy-five a public service ended surpassed in variety and usefulness by that of few citizens of Massachusetts since the days of John Adams.

He bore a great part in a great history.
Men who saw him in his later life, a feeble, kindly old man, with only the remains of his stately courtesy, had little conception of the figure of manly strength and dignity which he presented when he presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1853, or took the oath of office as Governor in 1858.