The very youngest ought to know how much there is to endure in existence; it will teach them thankfulness in their own more fortunate lot, and meekness in bearing their own lighter burthens. In the other tales I have rather sought to show how exertion, under difficult circumstances, is rewarded by success. Young and old, rich and poor, have their troubles; and all experience will bear me out in the assertion, that patience, fortitude, and affection, are ever strong in obtaining the mastery over them. Early lessons of cheerful endurance cannot be better taught than by example.
Wordsworth truly says "that, with the young, poetry is a passion." My aim in the poems scattered through these pages has been to make one taste cultivate another, and to render the flowers scattered around our daily path, and the loveliness of nature, yet dearer because associated with the early affections and with snatches of song. To connect the external object with the internal emotion is the sweetest privilege of poetry.
I can now only entreat a continuance of that favour which has so long excited my hope, and still more, my gratitude.
