REFLECTION.
Thus ended my statician and I drew a long breath. Said I,
no one will ever read what you have said. The world hates
statistics. I wrote a book once—“The Franco-Prussian War”—
it was a better book than I ever expect to write again; but
statistics killed it. Carleton says “people were frightened at
my array of figures and fled from it in dismay.” The book ought
to have sold 50,000 copies and made me a fortune, but, as it was.
I only made a little money and some glory. Few people laugh
at the multiplication table. Horace Greeley is the only man
who positively enjoys statistics. So I dedicate all those figures
to H. G.
