University of Virginia Library

PREFACE BY THE EDITOR.

It seems that the old man (“Mozis”)[1] did really believe
that he possessed an enormous sum of money—the
internal evidence leaves no doubt whatever on this point
—and he must have passed many sleepless nights in
imagining what he did with it. He seems, too, to have
labored under the additional delusion that he had been
for a very long time “cooped up,” as he expresses it, in
editorial sanctums and libraries, whereas it is well known
that his actual business was that of a hoop-pole splitter in
the barrel factory of the Columbian Mills. But this confinement
appears to have disagreed with him, and may
have led to the mental torsion that gave birth to the
strange production now published. Hence the passionate
outburst of affection for his foster-mother, Nature, which
would be almost ludicrous did we not remember how the
simple old soul must have pined for the free life in the
woods, to which, as a mauler of rails for Col. Hubard,
of Buckingham, he had been accustomed from his very
boyhood.

The date “1890” in the first foot-note indicates that
the article, written at some uncertain period, was afterwards
revised and annotated at intervals, as the old man's
strength enabled him to indulge in literary occupations—
probably after nightfall, his only leisure time. His precise

age has always been a matter of conjecture, but had
he lived till 1890 he would have been not less than one
hundred and eleven years old. The records of the old
Masonic Lodge at Curdsville prove this.

Due allowance must be made for the discrepancies in
the annotated dates, for the interpolations of various
kinds, and for the garrulity incident to age. These and
the doting fondness of the old man for the Virginia customs,
which he fancied he had placed upon everlasting
foundations, with the further fact that after much reflection
he could not prevail upon himself to spend any of
his money outside of his native State, may well excuse his
wild fancies and incoherences. And our readers no doubt
will the more readily condone his faults in view of the
fact that, in his prime, the well-meaning creature gave
them many a hearty laugh which they have not yet forgotten.

POSTSCRIPT.

People have been so delighted with the extravaganzas
of Moses Adams that they have demanded the publication
of his lucubrations in an enduring book form. It seems
never to have occurred to them that in laughing at
Moses's follies they are laughing at their own. De te
fabula narratur. Those who read between the lines (as
the French say) detect in all Moses's phantasies a lurking
satire on the disposition made by poor old Virginia of her
“fifty millions” on internal improvements. We hope,
when they read again, they will inwardly digest, and profit
by the operation. In the meantime, Moses, no doubt,
chuckles in his sleeve, and is happy in contemplating the
hilarity of his dupes. C. M.

Whig Office, Richmond, Va.