A few weeks ago, I wrote about a woman who gave up a career as a singer in order to become a baseball umpire. As part of that story, I argued that all lives are important and that many of them are extremely interesting.

If that is so, I will never run out of ideas for this column! With that in mind, this week I am going to tell you about a man named Lew Wallace.

He was born in 1827 and died in early 1905 at the age of 77; he was from Indiana. Wallace was successful in several endeavors during his lifetime. He first became a lawyer, serving as a prosecutor for the state.

In 1856 he was elected...