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AUTHOR'S PREFACE
Let the critics have their fling,
Since it pleases me to sing.
I shall blithely go my way
Heedless of the things they say,
Quite content if word of mine
Makes one truth more brightly shine,
Or can send a genial glow
Through the heart of friend or foe.
For I hold the proverb true,
Be its wisdom old or new,
That "A simple verse may teach
Him whom sermons cannot reach."