It is no small-author vanity that induces me to publish this stray
leaf of natural history. I lay it before our young folks, not for
their admiration, but for their criticism. Let each reader take
his lead-pencil and remorselessly correct the orthography, the
capitalization, and the punctuation of the essay. I shall not feel hurt
at seeing my treatise cut all to pieces; though I think highly of the
production, not on account of its literary excellence, which I candidly
admit is not overpowering, but because it was written years and years
ago about Gypsy, by a little fellow who, when I strive to recall him,
appears to me like a reduced ghost of my present self.
I am confident that any reader who has ever had pets, birds or animals,
will forgive me for this brief digression.