it has been a pleasure for me to recall, at the kind request of the messrs. harper & brothers, the memories of a lifetime, even though some sad thoughts have mingled with the happy ones. so many bright shapes have risen out of the past at my bidding that the difficulty of selection has been great. beloved faces seem to look out at me and say, “why did you leave me out?” the ghosts of noble deeds, the memories of stirring scenes sweep softly by me, murmuring: “are we not worthy of mention?”

indeed and indeed you are, bright spirits of the past and of the present also, but in my small mosaic all the precious stones would not fit.

for the rest, if the store of my childhood’s early memories seems to be unduly large, it must be whispered that when, some twenty-five years ago, i began to record my reminiscences, a good fairy, my mother, helped me.