And so it is that to such as will honestly study William Jennings Bryan’s career, and learn the lesson that it teaches, must come hope and inspiration and promise of the dawn. For whether he ever hold high political office or not; whether or not, in the crucible of time, his political faith prove true or prove fallacious; his life still teaches that courage and plain honesty may win for a public man such following and support, such exalted place in the hearts of his countrymen, as has never yet rewarded the tricks and wiles of even the most brilliant of opportunists. EARLY LIFE William Bryan, the great-grandfather of the presidential nominee, the first of the Bryans known to the present generation, lived in Culpepper county, Va. In his family there were three children. One of these, John Bryan, was the grandfather of William Jennings Bryan. In 1807 John married Nancy Lillard. To this couple ten children were born. One of these was Silas L. Bryan, the father of William Jennings Bryan. He was born in Sperryville, Culpepper county, Va., in 1822. In 1834 he came west, working his way through the public schools, finally entering McKendree College, at Lebanon, Ill., and graduating with honors in 1849. After graduating, he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began his practice in Salem, Marion county, Ill. In 1852 he was married to Mariah Elizabeth Jennings. In 1860, he was elected to the circuit bench, where he served twelve years. In 1872 he was nominated for Congress on the Democratic ticket, receiving the endorsement of the Greenback party. He died March 30, 1880, and was buried in the cemetery of his much beloved town, Salem. The union of Silas Bryan and Mariah Jennings was blessed on March 19, 1860, by the birth of William Jennings Bryan, twice the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. When William Jennings Bryan was six years old, his parents moved to their farm in the vicinity of Salem. Until he was ten years of age his parents taught him at home, hoping thus to mould his young mind to better advantage. At ten years of age William entered the public schools of Salem. There he attended until he was fifteen, when he entered Whipple Academy, Jacksonville, Ill., in the fall of 1875. Two years later he entered Illinois College, and with this step a new life began.