Dr. Foster was the editor of the Minnesotian and was quite a power in the Republican party. He wielded a vigorous pen and possessed a very irascible temper. I have often seen him perform some Horace Greeley antics in the composing room of the old Minnesotian. At the time of the execution of John Brown for his attempted raid into Virginia, I remember bringing the Chicago Tribune to the doctor, containing the announcement of the execution. I had arranged the paper so that the doctor could take in the contents of the heading at the first glance. The doctor looked at the headlines a second and then exclaimed, loud enough to be heard a block, "Great God! In the nineteenth century, a man hung for an idea!" At another time the doctor became very much enraged over some news that I had laid before him. In the early 50's Galusha A. Grow, of Pennsylvania, introduced into the house of representatives the first homestead law and the Republican party soon afterward incorporated the idea into their platform as one of their pet measures. After superhuman effort the bill passed the house of representatives, that body being nearly tie politically, and was sent to the senate. The Democratic majority in the senate was not very favorably impressed with the measure, but with the assistance of the late President Johnson, who was senator from Tennessee at that time, the bill passed the senate by a small majority. There was great rejoicing over the event and no one supposed for a moment that the president would veto the measure. When I laid the Chicago Tribune before the excitable doctor containing the announcement of Buchanan's veto the very air was blue with oaths. The doctor took the paper and rushed out into the street waving the paper frantically in the air, cursing the president at every step. * * * * *