Excerpt from Men and Events of Forty Years: Autobiographical Reminiscences of an Active Career From 1850 to 1890 A full appreciation Of Mr. Grinnell's chapters, in the minds of those who knew him, carries with it a vivid impression Of his remarkable personal qualities. The reverse of tall, Of very solid build, with a short, strong neck and fearless temperament, all his sturdy fighting endowment took the direction Of indomitable energy in enterprise and Of intrepid assertion Of everything right and good; and the always overflowing surplus of his vital energy took the shape of superabounding good nature. His manner was the freest and cheeriest to all persons, on all occasions; his plans and Opinions, of the largest pattern; his disposition, utterly devoid of selfishness and any trace Of meanness; his feeling, so bright and hopeful as to exclude the thought of anything dark in the uni verse, except it might be present injustice to be righted, or want and snfiering to be relieved. Though not a theoretical, he was a practical communist, holding every hour and power and possession ready for the common good. Indeed, he must have struck every thoughtful acquaintance as a rare, even unexampled, phenomenon of exhaustless activity and generosity. Of course, with such a nature he was frank, never stinting expression of his thought and feeling, in any presence whatsoever; and so frank that sometimes, as in this book, his felicitation over all persons, all things, when it included himself might seem like egotism, whereas he most cer tainly held a modest Opinion of himself and his deeds. In fact, he lived outside Of himself in enterprises, in beneficence, and in a singularly worshipful regard toward men justly eminent, as shown by much Of eulogistic tone in this book. 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.