head  of  heavy  black  hair  !  The  following  spring  I  came
to  Boston.  The  date  of  niy  return  was  that  of  Anni-
versary Week.  I  called  on  the  Rev.  Mr.  (now  Dr.)
A.  A.  Miner,  at  his  house  on  Green  Street.  Entering
the  parlor,  as  I  did  before  Mr.  Miner  appeared,  I  saw
sitting  there  a  large  man,  quite  bald,  with  a  round,
massive  head,  light  ej'es,  very  light  complexion,  stal-
wart of  frame,  —  evidently  a  man  of  both  mental  and
physical  strength.  He  at  once  called  me  by  name,  —
which  he  must  have  overheard  at  the  door,  —  adding :
"  I  heard  of  }tou  some  years  since.  Did  you  not  preach
a  few  months  in  Ellsworth  and  Bucksport  ?  I  see  you
do  not  know  me."  He  was  about  to  relieve  mv  curi-
osity  when  Mr.  Miner,  entering  the  room,  introduced
me  to  "  Rev.  Ebenezer  Fisher."  I  was  surprised  be-
3^ond  measure.  Never  had  I  formed  a  "  first  impres-
sion "  more  utterly  falsified  on  acquaintance.  But  the
first  interview  gave  me  an  impression  which  thirty  years
of  subsequent  familiarity  have  confirmed  and  deepened,
—  that  of  strength  of  intellect  with  weight  of  character.
The  incidents  collated  in  these  pages  must  in  their
aggregate  significance  enable  each  reader  to  form  a
judgment  of  the  character  of  Ebenezer  Fisher.  But  it
belongs  to  the  biographer  to  add  to  the  estimate  given
by  others  his  own  conception  of  the  distinguishing  traits
of  the  man.  This  I  have  already  done  in  a  fractional
and  disconnected  way,  in  the  comments  added  at  vari-
ous connections  in  the  preceding  pages.  Briefly  let  me
attempt  a  consistent  and  symmetrical  whole.
