TO
CHAUNCEY BROOKS, Esq.
This volume is dedicated by its author, as an humble testimony of the personal esteem he has entertained for him through a long series of years, and as, in some measure, a memorial of the proud position that gentleman to-day occupies in the city of Baltimore. Time in its cycles works many changes. Some men are unable to stem the current of adverse fortune, and pass away with naught left to embalm their memories, save the sad thought that their efforts were honest but unavailing; while others live to see the realization of their hopes and the glorious fruition that accompanies a well-spent and successful life. To the latter class Mr. Brooks belongs, and it seems peculiarly appropriate that a volume professing to give a sketch of Baltimore, with a succinct recital of the vast resources she at present possesses, should be dedicated to one who is so thoroughly identified with her history through a period of more than fifty years. Mr. Brooks, at a ripe old age, can look with pleasure upon gigantic corporations, great business enterprises, and mechanical forces, the birth of which he favored, and whose feeble infancy he strengthened by timely, judicious and unostentatious aid. That He who knoweth the good deeds of men may bountifully lengthen out his life, and that his future may be as peaceful and serene as his past has been useful and honored, is the prayer of the
