6



INTRODUCTION.



the literature of the day. Evil is made to look the ugly,
hateful thing it is; truth and goodness shine in their own
clear, sweet light.
  This is a book for all the family. A good book for a boy is
a good book for a man. Boys and girls alike enjoy the best
things in this line. The families that will enjoy the read-
ing of these chapters sitting together around the fireside
have a luxury in store for them. Such family readings
ought to be more common among us; every book like this,
that will foster such a practice in our homes, should meet
with a welcome doubly warm. The touches of adventure
will interest all alike, while the wise aphorism aptly dropped
at the right place, and the occasional touch of philosophy
or polemics, will enlarge the mental horizon of the youth-
ful reader to whom is opened the new wide world of
thought.
  The golden thread of providential guidance runs through
every line of this autobiography. A present God is rec-
ognized by the writer as directing him in all his ways; and
as we follow him from chapter to chapter, the pages are
illuminated with the soft and holy light that beams from
our Immanuel's face.
  I am glad that my good friend has done this good work
before he leaves us. It will live after he is gone, and speak
with profit to thousands who never heard his living voice.
NAIEViLLz, August, 1885