To
The Right Hon. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, G.C.M.G.
Dear Sir Wilfrid Laurier:
Since I first began to write these tales in 1892, I have had it in my mind to dedicate to you the "bundle of life" when it should be complete. It seemed to me—and it seems so still—that to put your name upon the covering of my parcel—as one should say, In care of—when it went forth, was to secure its safe and considerate delivery to that public of the Empire which is so much in your debt.
But with other feelings also, do I dedicate this volume to yourself. For many years your name has stood for a high and noble compromise between the temperaments and the intellectual and social habits of two races, and I am not singular in thinking that you have done more than most other men to make the English and French of the Dominion understand each other better. There are somewhat awkward limits to true understanding as yet, but that sympathetic service which you render to both peoples, with a conscientious striving for impartiality, tempers even the wind of party warfare to the shorn lamb of political opposition.
In a sincere sympathy with French life and character, as exhibited in the democratic yet monarchical province of Quebec, (or Lower Canada, as, historically, I still love to think of it), moved by friendly observation, and seeking to be truthful and impartial, I have
