It is to be feared this latter thing and the love of right living, for its own sake, were more in their thoughts than the immortal crown that had been the inspiration of their fathers.

Leaving the farm for the more promising life of the big city they were as men born anew, and their second infancy was like that of Hercules.

They had the strength of manhood, the tireless energy of children and some hope of the highest things.
The pageant of the big town--its novelty, its promise, its art, its activity--quickened their highest powers, put them to their best effort.
And in all great enterprises they became the pathfinders, like their fathers in the primeval forest.
This book has grown out of such enforced leisure as one may find in a busy life.

Chapters begun in the publicity of a Pullman car have been finished in the cheerless solitude of a hotel chamber.

Some have had their beginning in a sleepless night and their end in a day of bronchitis.