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PREFACE.
MY DEAR CHILDREN:
In compliance with your wishes, I here present you with a volume of verses, written by me at different periods of my life.
You may perceive that the pieces contained in it are not arranged in the order of the times at which they were composed; for, not only would it be impossible for me now to make such an arrangement with precision, but it was thought best that the serious should be intermingled with the gay, and the shorter with the longer compositions.
