PREFACE.
Although this book is ostensibly a “boy’s book,” many things which it contains are equally useful to girls; and have been tried by the latter with entirely satisfactory results. In fact, it was to afford amusement and occupation, on rainy Saturdays and during the long vacation, to the children of both sexes in my own family, that the book was first written; and it was only an afterthought which led me to give it to the public.
Everything it contains has been deduced from my own experience or that of some trustworthy friend. While it has been my aim to meet the wants of children of all ages and in every condition of life, I have studiously avoided every subject which might be a source of anxiety to the most careful parent.
It is with the hope that this little work may fulfill its mission in other families where it may be received, as happily as it has done in mine, that I send it on its way.