Foreword
Reading edition
By Edwin A. Penick, Bishop of North Carolina
One of the many characteristics for which Bishop Cheshire is remembered by his friends and admirers was his uncompromising adherence to the last letter of truth. An inaccurate or careless remark often brought forth from him a startling correction. His own historical papers were loyal to such facts as patient research could discover. His official documents were models of lucidity and precision. His counsel was penetrating and true and bracing like fresh air in a stuffy room. His conversation, particularly when he was describing the very human traits of men and women he had known, was full of delightful surprises because of his breathtaking forthrightness. He even carried in his pocketbook an exact paper pattern of a huge mountain trout he once caught as documentary evidence of his best fish story.
This characteristic of Bishop Cheshire must have been in the author's mind when he wrote the following pages. I believe that the good Bishop would approve this biography for its restraint and disciplined faithfulness to the record of a true life.
Ravenscroft Raleigh, North Carolina February 10, 1941.