Published in 1870 | 272 pages | PDF reader required
INTRODUCTION
One bright morning last May, as I was idly sleeping at the foot of a grand mountain, the voice of a revered instructor said: "Arise! Go up to the very top; survey the ways of wisdom; observe the needs of the world; be healthful and hopeful, and perform thy work."
After journeying through a mass of chilly clouds, which clung to the steep sides of the mountain, I gained the glorious summit. With serene joy and grateful admiration, I gazed upon the magnifieence of the hear-ens, and upon the loveliness of the earth, which were unfolded and displayed in every direction. And observing no human being near me, and feeling myself alone in the lofty solitudes of the mountain, I turned toward mankind, and said: "O world! here am I, after a slow and toilsome progress, far away from you, yet ready to work for you. What will you accept from me?"
And suddenly there appeared in the beautiful landscape, not far from the foot of the mountain, A FOUNTAIN! It was exceedingly beautiful in its strength and simplicity. The sparkling water was flowing and jetting incessantly. And the waters of that Fountain seemed to be compounded of the needs and wants and wishes of multitudes, yea, hundreds of thousands, of warm, living human hearts!
And in the beautiful light above the fount, a friendly voice said : "Write a book, with thoughts for men and pictures for children, which the young as well as the matured can peruse with pleasure and profit." After a silence, the voice added: "Truth, Love, Peace, Mercy, Wisdom, Labor, Education, Religion, Admonition, Hope-these streams, with occasional jets and clear intimations of new meanings, must flow from the FOUNTAIN. To this end employ little things. With pure affections and familiar illustrations you must appeal to the understanding and the heart. To improve the human mind, and to aid and enliven the world's mothers and fathers and educators, you must amuse while you instruct."
Accordingly, in obedience to the voice of wisdom, I proceeded to. "write," and the present volume is the result.
Employing every aid at my command, I hare attempted, with the utmost sincerity of motive, to relieve the grave profundities and the dazzling magnitude of the Harmonial Ideas, by the introduction of pleasing simplicities which may attract and instruct persons of every age and in all states of feeling. And all deficiencies, as well as the omission of many deeply important subjects, must be attributed to the fact that this volume is designed to be simply the first of a short series of like import. In this book there is no effort to sound the very deep in the treatment of any question. The wish to attract and enlighten young persons—in short, to reach the entire family group—is paramount to the desire to impart original ideas to established thinkers.
"I have often thought," remarks a scholarly writer, "if the minds of men were laid open, we should see but little difference between that of a wise man, and that of a fool There are infinite reteries, numberless estraragances, and a succession of ranities, which pass through each." Of grown-up men and women, and of little children and our young folks, the same reflection seems to be not less applicable. Whaterer is truly attractire, pleasing, and instructive to one is likely to be equally entertaining and profitable to the other. It has thus far been observed that, among the hundreds of thousands of elderly persons who drink deeply and constantly at the Harmonial Fountains, not more than a few score of young people read and enjoy our publications and principles.
"If the flowings of this Fountain shall hare the effect to attract and instruct young persons, while slacking the honest thirst of the grave and thoughtful, and if the teachings of this initial volume shall in some degree assist parents and tutors in the rearing and just education of children, the Author will deem his industry amply rewarded. And be will interpret the general acceptance of this work to mean that additional books in this series are called for.
A. J. DAVIS.
NEW YORK, September 20, 1870.
