The foreword is not infrequently the last word. The author finds, perhaps, on his hands, after completing his book, a residue of unassorted facts, and, possibly, of piquant suggestions, and these he gathers up and scatters about what professes to be the threshold of his volume, much in the same way in which our fishermen of the New Jersey coast — when they are chumming for bluefish ?ing about their bait promiscuously in order to lure the fish worth catching to the vicinity of the catchers. To an indictment of this character the writer of this book might plead guilty — with reservations. The larger part of this prefatory chapter was written in advance of the book. As to any attempt at piquancy, the writer should be in advance shriven of guilt — as touching a little work, much of whose material must of necessity consist of such records and paragraphs as Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Joseph and his breth ern. Concerning unassorted facts, the writer con fesses that he has still on hand a considerable supply, and he takes to himself at least this credit — that he has not burdened his readers with them. Not that they are de void oi interest, for they serve in various ways to buttress his thought and statements, but the narrative is su?i ciently complete without them, and so they are withheld. One or two occur to him in writing these lines, and may be merely mentioned.
