Page:An authentic narrative of the extraordinary career of James Allen, the female husband.djvu/12



discovery of so strange a circumstance as that of a female, under the semblance of a man, having married another female, with whom she subsequently resided for the period of twenty-one years, has very naturally excited an unusual ferment in the gossiping world; and what is equally as natural, given rise to numberless conjectures, surmises, and doubts. With a view to allay such feelings, to correct the manifold misrepresentations on this most extraordinary subject, and to gratify public curiosity as far as possibly can be done by a plain, correct and authentic narrative, is the object of this publication.

It is a generally received axiom that a woman cannot keep a secret; but this, like many other popular sayings, is manifestly wrong in principle and fact, as the sequel of this narrative will, we presume, satisfactorily prove; and proud indeed shall we feel, if we can by any means be the humble instruments of rescuing from such slander, however insignificant, the fairest and most interesting portion of the creation, who are too frequently and wantonly aspersed by beings not possessing a tithe of their natural virtues. Females are proverbially termed the weaker vessels; and the charge