a private citizen, he would be a more happy man."

That he must have been the most miserable of men, during the greater
part of his long life, clearly appears from the following: "There
is no person happy who is in public office, or a candidate for
office."

A more extensive field of usefulness now opened up to the Old Ranger
as he took his seat in Congress. He had many projects in mind for
the benefit of the people--one, the reduction of the price of
the public lands to actual settlers; another, the improvement of
our Western rivers. But like many other members both before and
since his day, he found that "these things were easier to talk
about on the stump than to do." He candidly admits: "This body was
much greater than I had supposed, and I could effect much less than
I had contemplated."

He informs us that he felt like a country boy just from home the
first time, as he entered the hall of the law-makers of the
great Republic. The city of Washington, grand and imposing,
impressed him deeply, but was as the dust in the balance to "the
assemblage of great men at the seat of Government of the United
States, and at the opening of Congress, when a grand and really
imposing spectacle was presented."

His profound admiration for some of his associates upon the broader
theatre of the public service found vent in the following eloquent
words:

"When the Roman Empire reached the highest pinnacle of literary
fame and political power in the reign of Augustus Caesar, the period
was called the Augustan age. There was a period that existed
eminently in the Jackson administration and a few years after that
might be called the Augustan age of Congress. So extraordinary
a constellation of great and distinguished individuals may never
again appear in office at the seat of government."

If apology were needed for the new members' exalted opinion of his
associates, it can readily be found in the fact that among them in
the House were John Quincy Adams, John Bell, Thomas F. Marshall,
Ben Hardin, James K. Polk, Millard Fillmore, and Franklin Pierce.
The first named had been President of the United States, and the
last three were yet to hold that great office. At the same time
"the constellation of great stars" that almost appalled the Illinois
member upon his introduction included, in the Senate, Crittenden, Wright,
Cass, Woodbury, Preston, Buchanan, Grundy, Benton, Clay, Calhoun, and
Webster.

On finally taking leav