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In the preparation of these thumb-nail sketches, the present writer makes no pretense of original investigation.  He has taken his material wherever he could find it, making sure only that it was accurate, and his sole purpose has been to give, in as few words as possible, a correct impression of the man and what he did.  From the facts as given, however, he has drawn his own conclusions, with some of which, no doubt, many people will disagree.  But he has tried to paint the men truly, in a few strokes, as they appeared to him, without seeking to conceal their weaknesses, but at the same time without magnifying them—­remembering always that they were men, subject to mistakes and errors, to be honored for such true vision as they possessed; remarkable, many of them, for heroism and high devotion, and worthy a lasting place in the grateful memory of their country.

The passage of years has a way of diminishing the stature of men thought great, and often of increasing that of men thought little.  Few American statesmen, for example, loom as large to-day as they appeared to their contemporaries.  Looking back at them, we perceive that, for the most part, they wasted their days in fighting wind-mills, or in doing things which had afterwards to be undone.  Only through the vista of the years do we get a true perspective, just as only from a distance can we see which peaks of the mountain-range loom highest.  But even the mist of years cannot dim essential heroism and nobility of achievement.  Indeed, it enhances them; the voyage of Columbus seems to us a far greater thing than his contemporaries thought it; Washington is for us a more venerable figure than he was for the new-born Union; and Lincoln is just coming into his own as a leader among men.

Every boy and girl ought to try to gain as true and clear an idea as possible of their country’s history, and of the men who made that history.  It is a pleasant study, and grows more and more fascinating as one proceeds with it.  The great pleasure in reading is to understand every word, and so to catch the writer’s thought completely.  Knowledge always gives pleasure in just that way—­by a wider understanding.  Indeed, that is the principal aim of education:  to enable the individual to get the most out of life by broadening his horizon, so that he sees more and understands more than he could do if he remained ignorant.  And since you are an American, you will need especially to understand your country.  You will be quite unable to grasp the meaning of the references to her story which are made every day in conversation, in newspapers, in books and magazines, unless you know that story; and you will also be unable properly to fulfil your duties as a citizen of this Republic unless you know it.