My Life in Many States and in Foreign Lands, Dictated in My Seventy-Fourth Year

George Francis Train. From a recent photograph.
DICTATED IN MY SEVENTY-FOURTH YEAR BY GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1902
Copyright, 1902 By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY Published November, 1902
TO THE CHILDREN AND TO THE CHILDREN'S CHILDREN IN THIS AND IN ALL LANDS WHO LOVE AND BELIEVE IN ME BECAUSE THEY KNOW I LOVE AND BELIEVE IN THEM
I have been silent for thirty years. During that long period I have taken little part in the public life of the world, have written nothing beyond occasional letters and newspaper articles, and have conversed with few persons, except children in parks and streets. I have found children always sympathetic and appreciative. For this reason I have readily entered into their play and their more serious moods; and for this reason, also, have dedicated this book to them and to their children.
For many years I have been a silent recluse, remote from the world in my little corner in the Mills Hotel, thinking and waiting patiently. That I break this silence now, after so many years, is due to the suggestion of a friend who has told me that the world of to-day, as well as the world of to-morrow, will be interested in reading my story. I am assured that many of the things I have accomplished will endure as a memorial of me, and that I ought to give some account of them and of myself.
And so I have tried to compress a story of my life into this book. With modesty, I may say that the whole story could not be told in a single volume. I have tried not to be prolix, keeping in mind while preparing this record of events, all of which I saw, and part of which I was, that there is a limit to the patience of readers.
I beg my readers to remember that this book was spoken, not written, by me. It is my own life-story that I have related. It may not, in every part, agree with the recollections of others; but I am sure that it is as accurate in statement as it is blameless in purpose. If I should fail at any point, this will be due to some wavering of memory, and not to intention. Thanks to my early Methodist training, I have never knowingly told a lie; and I shall not begin at this time of life.