The author of this book is my neighbor. He was a Confederate, and I a Union soldier. Virginia born, he worked hard in youth. A country lawyer, a member of the Senate of West Virginia, Representative in Congress, and Circuit Judge, his life has been one of activity and achievement. Blessed with a face and manner which disarm suspicion, inspire confidence and good will, he makes new friends, and retains old ones.

Judge Johnston (having through life practiced the virtues of a good Baptist), is, therefore, morally sound to the core. He has succeeded, not by luck or chance, but because of what he is. Withal, he has cultivated the faculty for hard work; in fact, through life he has liked nothing so well as hard work.

A vast good nature, running easily into jocular talk, with interesting stories, in which he excels, he is able to meet every kind of man in every rank of society, catching with unerring instinct the temper of every individual and company where he is.

He is thoroughly American, and though having traveled extensively in Europe and the East, he is not spoiled with aping foreigners, nor "rattled" by their frivolous accomplishments. He is likewise an experienced writer, being the author of the history of "Middle New River Settlements, and Contiguous Territory," in Virginia and West Virginia, a work of great value, which cost the author years of persistent research.

This volume, "The Story of a Confederate Boy," is written from the heart, with all his might, and all his honesty, and is characterized throughout by fertility, sympathy, and magnanimity, in recording his own personal experiences, and what he saw.

C. E. CLINE.

Portland, Oregon.