Excerpt from Greenwood Leaves: A Collection of Sketches and Letters

In hanging underneath your name, half playfully, half affectionately, this rude wreath of woven leaves, I am conscious of having two distinct ends in view. In the first place, I mean this Dedication to be a sort of an indicator of the tone and character of my volume. As earnestly as I desire to speak my uninspired, unpolished, but most sincere words to the many, I would not be accused of obtaining readers under false pretences. I would not put forth a volume, purporting to be merely a collection of light romances and gossiping letters, wherein are avowed certain moral sentiments, on which there exists a wide and warm difference of opinion, - wherein grave political questions are treated freely, if not irreverently, and 'the weightier matters of the law' discussed, it may be thought, somewhat lawlessly. Then let your name, my friend, as it stands here, say to whoever looks upon this page, that in those that follow, he must expect sometimes to meet the expression of the sentiments, the principles, the vital truths so long advocated by your brilliant and fearless pen, and by a brave and faithful life, more eloquent than any written word. Yes, let your name, if it will, act as a noli me tangere warning to the tender conservative, the fastidious and exclusive lover of romance and poetry, the nervous shrinker from moral agitation and political discussion.

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