Excerpt from A History of the Folks' Concerts: Comprising an Autobiography of the Author, and Sketches of Many Humorous Scenes and Incidents, Which Have Transpired in a Concert-Giving Experience of Twelve Years in America and England It is a great undertaking to write even a small book. Every one has an object in placing himself before the public in print. What my object is, will gradually develop itself at I proceed with my story. I was always ambitious. Not an office within the gift of the American people has been at times above my aspirations. My tastes have varied, - sometimes with the weather, sometimes with my business successes and reverses, - but, generally speaking, had I been nominated.for any political position, I should have thrown aside every consideration of personal reputation, and blindly accepted - for the good of the Republic. But I must say it was never one of my early ambitions to make a book.

The reader will, of course, desire to know when the mortal coil which contains such an ardent and self-sacrificing nature was first flung from the ship of time, and where it dropped. It landed on Cape Cod - the home of brave, sturdy hearts, and sand - perhaps a hundred years ago - perhaps less; at least, long enough ago to enable me to become acquainted with the manners, customs, and personal appearance of those but a generation removed from the Mayflower's precious cargo. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition.

We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.