PREFACE. I have often wondered why so many books are written some of them of scarcely any interest, I being the judge. And yet month after month new publications are advertised, and I suppose the books are sold, as according to a mercantile phrase "the supply is commensurate with the demand." If I be asked why I have written, the following must be the answer :--I was ill. It seemed to me that my family would soon be left unprovided for, and I-infidel, that would not realise the fact that "God Provides," was despondent. But a friend who had better sense than I, advised me to write. His advice was good; for the recollections of days gone by, and the increasing interest I took in the work I had begun—so absorbed my attention that I soon left thinking of my illness—and I recovered. This is my apology. May I hope that some at least of those who read |