Book Description

Excerpt from The Life of Clinton Bowen Fisk: With a Brief Sketch of John A. Brooks Writing the life of a living man has its embarrassments. I realized this fact when the publishers asked me to prepare a biography of General Fisk; I realize it yet more keenly as now I send these final though first pages to press. Yet, if my task has been rather a difficult and embarrassing one, it has been at the same time agreeable - to the biographer; and its ample compensation has come through the nearer acquaintance made with a ripe character, the satisfaction found in close study of manly motives and unselfish acts, and the reward of a strong friendship, grown to full stature through these months of more intimate contact and more perfect trust. I have not sought in the following chapters to be rhetorical, analytical, philosophical, or elaborate. My one purpose has been to tell, in simple, unadorned fashion, the story of a typical American career, reaching from the log-house of a pioneer to high places of honor, from the struggles of a boyhood unblest by helpful surroundings to the rounded successes of a manhood richly helpful to Church and State. It should be a source of inspiration to all men, that lives like this are possible in our country; and all men may learn a lesson from the fact that this life has its true sources of nobleness and power in humble Christian faith, in devoted consecration to good works, and in sincere loyalty to the principles of right, and temperance, and truth. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.