Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. In the foregoing invitation the reader will find my best excuse for publishing this collection of writings. With the exception of a very few, the signers have known me and my history since childhood. The poems included in the volume, with the exception of perhaps a dozen, were composed between the ages of ten and twenty.