Publishers' note.
The portrait of Mrs. Child which is prefixed to this volume, while failing to satisfy some of her nearest relatives and friends, who would have preferred not to have it appear, is yet so much liked by other friends who knew her well that the Publishers do not feel justified in withholding it from the public. Mrs. Child herself was always averse to being photographed, and there is no thoroughly good and satisfactory portrait of her in existence, so that the engraver's task has necessarily been a difficult one, and his success greater than could reasonably have been anticipated.