E-text prepared by David Clarke, Martin Pettit,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
()
from digital material generously made available by
Internet Archive/American Libraries
(http://www.archive.org/details/americana)

[Pg i]

IF, YES, AND PERHAPS.

FOUR POSSIBILITIES AND SIX
EXAGGERATIONS,

WITH SOME BITS OF FACT.

BY

EDWARD E. HALE.

BOSTON:
FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO.,

SUCCESSORS TO TICKNOR AND FIELDS.
1869.

[Pg ii]

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
TICKNOR AND FIELDS,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

University Press: Welch, Bigelow, & Co.,
Cambridge.

[Pg iii]

DEDICATION.

I dedicate this book to the youngest of my friends, now two hours old.Fun, fact, and fancy,—may his fresh life mix the three in their justproportions.

Milton, June 6, 1868.

[Pg v]

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

The title to this book has met with general opprobrium, except in a fewquarters, where it was fortunately regarded as beneath contempt. ColonelIngham even exacted an explanation by telegraph from the Editor, when helearned from the Governor-General of Northern Siberia what the titlewas. This explanation the Editor gave in the following note. It is,however, impossible to change the title, as he proposes. For reasonsknown to all statesmen, it is out of the question to swap horses incrossing a river; and all publishers know that it is equally impossibleto change titles under those circumstances.

Boston, October 17, 1868.

My dear Colonel Ingham:—

I have your note complaining of the sensational title, "somewhataffected," as you think, which I gave to our little story-book. Ofcourse I am sorry you do not like the name; but, while you strike,I beg you to hear.

I readily acceded to your original title, and called the book inmanuscript as you bade me,—

"A Few Short Sketches taken from Ancient History, Modern Travel,and the Realm of Imagination, Illustrative[Pg vi] of the Poetry of theBible, the History of Christianity, the Manners of the Times, andthe Politics of the Present and Past Generations."

This title would, I admit, meet the views of most of our presentcritics. But I abandoned it on my own responsibility,—you beingthen beyond the telegraph, at the mouth of the Oby River,—becauseit occurred to me, that, under the catalogue rules of

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