Rutherford B Hayes and Lucy Webb Hayes lived their lives as though they knew Rutherford would become President of the United States one day. They not only led exemplary lives from beginning to end, but saved an incredible amount of information for the future historian. Lucy saved almost all of her letters since girlhood. Rutherford did likewise, plus kept a regular diary from his youth to his death. This book recounts the story of Lucy Hayes through the words of Lucy herself and those who knew her instead of merely having the events filtered through a historian's paraphrase and summary. Accordingly, there is a fair amount of quotation from Lucy herself, from Rutherford, and from others, in the course of this book.