Publisher's Synopsis
A little bit of information from the author will give you an idea of what the book is about....
I HAVE a miscellaneous collection of books numbering 3,500, and I am fond of the quaint and curious in every line. I am very fond of dogs, birds, and all small pets-a passion not approved of by my wife.
My favorite flower is the carnation, and I adore dolls.
My favorite hymn is "Bounding Billows."
My favorites in fiction are Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter," "Don Quixote," and "Pilgrim's Progress."
I greatly love Hans Christian Andersen's Tales, and I am deeply interested in folk-lore and fairy tales. I believe in ghosts, in witches, and in fairies.
I should like to own a big astronomical telescope, and a twenty-four-tune music box.
My heroes in history are Martin Luther, Mme. Lamballe, Abraham Lincoln; my favorite poems are Korner's "Battle Prayer," Wordsworth's "We Are Seven," Newman's "Lead, Kindly Light," Luther's Hymn, Schiller's "The Diver," Horace's "Fons Bandusiae," and Burns' "Cotter's Saturday Night." I dislike Dante and Byron. I should like to have known Jeremiah the prophet, old man Poggio, Horace, Walter Scott, Bonaparte, Hawthorne, Mme. Sontag, Sir John Herschel, Hans Andersen.
My favorite actor is Henry Irving; actress, Mme. Modjeska.
I dislike "Politics," so called.
I should like to have the privilege of voting extended to women.
I am unalterably opposed to capital punishment.
I favor a system of pensions for noble services in literature, art, science, etc. I approve of compulsory education.
If I had my way, I should make the abuse of horses, dogs, and cattle a penal offense; I should abolish all dog laws and dog-catchers, and I would punish severely everybody who caught and caged birds.
I dislike all exercise and play all games very indifferently.
I love to read in bed.
I believe in churches and schools: I hate wars, armies, soldiers, guns, and fireworks. I like music (limited). I have been a great theater-goer. I enjoy the society of doctors and clergymen. My favorite color is red.
I do not care particularly for sculpture or for paintings; I try not to become interested in them, for the reason that if I were to cultivate a taste for them I should presently become hopelessly bankrupt.
I am extravagantly fond of perfumes. I am a poor diner, and I drink no wine or spirits of any kind: I do not smoke tobacco.
I dislike crowds and I abominate functions.
I am six feet in height; am of spare build, weigh 160 pounds, and have shocking taste in dress.
But I like to have well-dressed people about me.
My eyes are blue, my complexion pale, 'my face is shaven, and I incline to baldness.
It is only when I look and see how young and fair and sweet my wife is that I have a good opinion of myself.
I am fond of the companionship of women, and I have no unconquerable prejudice against feminine beauty. I recall with pride that in twenty-two years of active journalism I have always written in reverential praise of womankind.
I favor early marriage.
I do not love all children.
I have tried to analyze my feelings toward, children, and I think I discover that I love them in so far as I can make pets of them.
I believe that, if I live, I shall do my best literary work when I am a grandfather.
I GIVE these facts, confessions, and observations for the information of those who, for one reason or another, are applying constantly to me for biographical data concerning myself.