1862, as I have said, the firm of Lee and Shepard was started in
business, with no other capital save that of brain and muscle. The two
partners had long and favorably known one another. While strangely
dissimilar in tastes, they yet exhibited many points in common. At the
start, both were financially poor men; they possessed no funds, but, by
virtue of their well known integrity and ability to succeed, could
readily command the little which they required to begin life anew. Mr.
Shepard, as well as Mr. Lee, had made himself indispensable to every
firm with which he had been connected. Each had a wide circle of
friends, and each was trusted by his friends. Both men had been generous
in prosperity, and their good deeds, though known only to their intimate
friends and the objects of their benevolence, were not trumpeted for
worldly admiration. Both enjoyed a wide acquaintanceship with authors,
and with books, with dealers, and with the public, and both had strong
likes and dislikes, which made them as radical in politics as they were
in personal affairs. In the firm, each has always had his own duties to
perform, on the wise plan of a fitting division of labor. Yet while each
partner seems exclusively to occupy his own field, independent of and
unrestricted by the other, it rarely happens that there are any
cross-purposes between them. The wheels of progress move on with
unswerving and unerring progress; the law of compensation which is
dominant in the establishment is always working aright.

Strangers who are for the first time brought in contract with these men,
whether socially or on matters of business, invariably detect the strong
points of conservatism which each exhibits. Mr. Lee gives one the
impression of being a well-read man, as, in fact, he is. The faculty
which he possesses of curiously gleaning the salient bits of knowledge
out of current thought and expression, is something remarkable. The
by-paths of literature are peculiarly his stamping-ground; and yet, upon
almost every subject of important character, he will chat for hours
intelligently and interestingly.

Mr. Shepard shows many of the same qualities. His brain is exceedingly
fertile of ideas, his memory perfectly marvelous, his language pointed,
easy-flowing and abounding in wit and humor. He exhibits singular
quickness at repartee; he is fond of a joke, and will give and take with
the keenest sense of enjoyment. His familiarity with standard literatur