THE MINISTER OF KILLEARNAN.
PREFATORY NOTE.
THE minister of Killearnan was my father. I could not forget this, while I was writing his memoir. In the only sense in which he was my father, while he lived, I lost him when he died. But the memory of that loss I can bear to recall, as I cherish the hope, that his death was the means of uniting us in bonds that shall never be broken. Doubly knit to him, therefore, now that he is gone, I can by no means keep down the son in my heart, when I write or when I think of him. This accounts for the frequency with which “I” and “my” appear on the following pages. They came unconsciously from my pen, but, when my eye detected them, they seemed so offensive, that I was strongly induced to attempt their removal. But the effort, to hide the son in the writer, requiring the affectation of an indifference that was far from my feeling, both my heart and my conscience revolted against it. And, even if the change were permitted by these, my hand lacked the skill to make the change an improvement.