The author of this book offers it to the public without apology. The
reviewers of his previous work of this character have presumed, on
inductive grounds, that he must be a young man from the most westerly
part of the Western States, to whom many things might be pardoned as
due to the exuberant animal spirits of youth. They were good enough to
express the thought that when the author grew up and became educated
there might be hope for his intellect. This expectation is of no avail.
All that education could do in this case has been tried and has failed.
As a Professor of Political Economy in a great university, the author
admits that he ought to know better. But he will feel amply repaid for
his humiliation if there are any to whom this little book may bring
some passing amusement in hours of idleness, or some brief respite when
the sadness of the heart or the sufferings of the body forbid the
perusal of worthier things.