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PREFACE.
I timidly present this little volume to the public with a full knowledge of its many faults. Indeed, I sometimes feel greatly frightened at my own temerity, and wonder how I would feel should an able critic deign to censure me as I deserve; but, if fortune should place my work in the hands of some clever judge, e'en though his criticism might seem harsh and unmerciful, I should feel that his judgments would benefit me in the future.
Never would I have allowed these imperfect productions to appear in print had I not been advised repeatedly by my many friends, especially one whose kind aid and disinterested friendship I shall never forget, to place this volume before the public.
I have implicitly obeyed them because I am aware that “intense timidity and subtle self-criticism” retard success equally as much as arrogance and conceit.
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