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Author : Quinlan James E.
Title : Tom Quick the indian slayer and the pioneers of Minisink and Wawarsink
Year : 1851

Link download : Quinlan_James_E_-_Tom_Quick_the_indian_slayer.zip

To the Reader. Many of the following chapters were written for the columns of a newspaper entitled the "Republican Watchman," of which the writer is the junior editor. Notwithstanding their many imperfections, they were received with much favor by the public, and a very general desire was expressed for copies of the work in a form convenient for preservation. To gratify this desire, our little volume is published. Before the reader begins to peruse what follows, the writer wishes to say distinctly and emphatically, that he is not actuated by the hope of entering the ranks of the literati. He knows that this work is no fit model for those who would win the world's applause with the "gray goose quill;" and he does not hope that it will be made a closet companion by the student, or a book of references by the historian. Its aim is humble. It is written for the amusement of a class of people who take an extraordinary interest in the narrations of the "olden time," when their ancestors followed the plough with their rifles slung to their backs, and on retiring to rest at night, first thanked God for preserving them from harm during the day, and then put fresh powder in the pans of their guns to be ready to meet the dangers of the night. The author's business engagements have not permitted him to devote sufficient time in collecting materials for his undertaking to render it complete, and the circumstances under which he has written have been unfavorable to literary excellence or even respectability. To make our work what it ought to be would require as many days as we have devoted hours to it. The critic will readily discover that our little book, though not a fiction, is novel in its character. It is neither a biography, history or legend; but a combination of all three in a series of sketches which possess more or less coherence, and which the author hopes present a tolerably fair picture of border life. While collecting materials for our port folio, we visited many old people, and heard their narrations of the early history of the Delaware region; and we have ransacked all old documents, family records and books within our reach. These we have compared together, and when they conflicted with each other, we have adopted that which appeared to us most probable. That an accurate or complete narrative could in this manner be obtained was not anticipated, however much it may have been desired. "Such as it is," courteous or captious reader, "you have it," and no one will dispute your right to "make the most or least of it," as your good or evil nature may influence you. ...