ge of the recent letter of acceptance upon the subject of this
great reform was publicly proclaimed by the Republican candidate for the
presidency.

In 1872, when the Presidency was not in his thoughts, he advocated with
great force the doctrines which Independent Republicans especially
commend him for maintaining to-day. These opinions it would then be
foolishly needless to say are honest; they are deep-rooted convictions
of long growth.

The elections went heavily against the Republicans in Hamilton county,
in 1872. Mr. Eggleston, the sitting member of Congress from the First
District, was beaten three thousand five hundred and sixty-nine votes;
and General Hayes was defeated by General H. B. Banning, whose majority
was one thousand five hundred and two. Compared with the result in the
First District, Hayes ran a thousand votes ahead of his ticket. He had
performed his duty and was satisfied.

A few months later he was offered, by the President, the office of
Assistant Treasurer of the United States, at Cincinnati, which
appointment he respectfully declined.

The years 1873 and 1874 were employed by General Hayes in making and
adorning a future home for himself and his family, near Fremont. He
planted over a thousand trees, and filled his grounds with vines,
shrubs, and flowers.

In January, 1874, his patron uncle and life-long friend Sardis Birchard
died, leaving his favorite nephew heir to a considerable estate. It
elevates our estimate of human nature to find that this heir-apparent,
or rather heir inevitable to a handsome fortune, diminished the amount
he would naturally inherit by persuading his uncle to make bequests,
amounting to seventy-five thousand dollars, to the citizens of Fremont
for a Public Park and a Free Public Library. It is not necessary to add,
that this unselfish course of action makes known character, nor to say
what kind of a character it makes known.

The Republican State Convention, which assembled at Columbus, June 2,
1875, nominated General Hayes a third time for the office of Governor.
He received the news of the nomination while playing base ball with his
children at their home in Fremont. The circumstances of this nomination
were extraordinary, and the honor it implied exceptional. The facts, in
brief, were these: The Hon. William Allen having been put in nomination
by the Democrats, for the office of Governor, in 1873, mainly through
the influence of his nephew, Senator Thurman,