Excerpt from John Godfrey's Fortunes; Related by Himself: A Story of American Life MY dear graham, I owe it to your kindness that the mechanical labor Of putting this book into words has been so greatly reduced as almost to become a pleasure. Hence you were much in my thoughts while I wrote, and I do not ask your permission to associate your name with the completed work. I have found, from experience, that whatever the pre liminary explanations an author may choose to give, they are practically useless. Those persons who insist - against my own express declaration - that Hannah Thurston was intended as a picture of the Reformers of this country, will be sure to make the discovery that this book represents the literary guild. Those, also, -who imagine that they recognized the author in Maxwell Woodbury, will not fail to recognize him in John Godfrey, although there is no resemblance between the two characters. Finally, those sensitive readers who protest against any represem tation Of American Life, which is not an unmitigated glorification Of the same, will repeat their dissatisfaction, and insist that a single work should contain every feature Of that complex national being, which a thousand volumes could not exhaust. I will only say (to you, who will believe me) of this book, that, like its predecessor, it is the result Of Observa tion. Not what ought to be, or might be, is the proper province Of fiction, but what is. And so, throwing upon John Godfrey's head all the consequences Of this declara tion I send him forth to try new fortunes. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.