HUMANUM EST ERRERA
Dear reader, you have no doubt discovered some errors in these sketches. I discovered some myself after it was too late to make corrections. If I were permitted to re-write them there might be fewer errors, but to make them absolutely free from error would require the gift of superhuman power. That this and all other human efforts fall short of perfection is quite in harmony with the nature of things. Even the very text-books used in our schools – and we claim they are the best in the world – contain hundreds of errors. Imperfection is stamped upon the best that one can do; but before passing judgement upon the merits and demerits of these sketches the just critic will consider the unreliability of the only remaining sources whence the necessary information could be obtained. Do this, and we shall depart as friends. Finally, if you have discovered that your branch of the family has not been treated of as fully as some of the other branches, or that your family has been entirely overlooked you will please remember that I have given you over seventy pages more than I promised you, and that the value of the book must be measured by what it contains, and not by what it does not contain. Treasure the good and the true there is in it and overlook the trivial and erroneous, and you will be satisfied and I will never regret having written it.
THE AUTHOR