which we cannot at our present age know anything save by a process
which is commonly called cram: on all such matters there are abler
writers than ourselves; the men, in fact, from whom we cram. Never
let us hunt after a subject, unless we have something which we feel
urged on to say, it is better to say nothing; who are so ridiculous
as those who talk for the sake of talking, save only those who write
for the sake of writing? But there are subjects which all young men
think about. Who can take a walk in our streets and not think? The
most trivial incident has ramifications, to whose guidance if we
surrender our thoughts, we are oft-times led upon a gold mine
unawares, and no man whether old or young is worse for reading the
ingenuous and unaffected statement of a young man's thoughts. There
are some things in which experience blunts the mental vision, as
well as others in which it sharpens it. The former are best
described by younger men, our province is not to lead public
opinion, is not in fact to ape our seniors, and transport ourselves
from our proper sphere, it is rather to show ourselves as we are, to
throw our thoughts before the public as they rise, without requiring
it to imagine that we are right and others wrong, but hoping for the
forbearance which I must beg the reader to concede to myself, and
trusting to the genuineness and vigour of our design to attract it
may be more than a passing attention.

I am aware that I have digressed from the original purpose of my
essay, but I hope for pardon, if, believing the digression to be of
more value than the original matter, I have not checked my pen, but
let it run on even as my heart directed it.

CELLARIUS.