No. 817 Maine Street, Quincy, Illinois.
1893.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1893, by
H. D. CATLIN,
in the office of Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
PREFACE.
(TO PART FIRST.)
The native genius inherent in man has ever been inspired and brought into use by Divine Providence, seemingly, to gratify and encourage man's ambitions to excel and progress in all of the many avenues opened in nature, in art and in science for the development of the same. This genius, guided by the "Law of Progress," knows "no such word as fail;" and it is only a question of time when success will reward the effort.
Man was born with a native love for amusements and pastime recreations, and hence the adage, "All work and no play made Jack a dull boy." All great and durable enterprises have had their beginning with the ordinary ignorance of the ordinary man. And when the right time should come, Providence has always transferred "nature's gift" to the more advanced and better educated man to accomplish and make perfect the work of genius. It is a truth in fact that "necessity is the mother of invention," and that "ignorance is the mother of genius;" and to both man may recognize his "birth-right"—so to speak—to the honors due, for the most, if not all, of the many enterprises which have rewarded his labors in many of the past centuries of the Christian era.