Page:Traits and Trials.pdf/5



volume is of a different order from those of mine which the public have hitherto received with such indulgence. I trust that it will win an equally kind reception. My few words of preface must be rather addressed to those who direct my present class of readers, than to the readers themselves. My object has been rather to interest than to amuse; to excite the imagination through the softening medium of the feelings. Sympathy is the surest destruction of selfishness. Children, like the grown person, grow the better for participation in the sufferings where their own only share is pity. They are also the better for the generous impulse which leads them to rejoice in the hope and happiness of others, though themselves have nothing in common with the objects of their emotion. Such is the aim of my principal narratives. In the first, I endeavour to soften the heart by a kindly regret for unmerited sorrow.