My Life's Battles

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. Figures which tell us of the circulation of books show that works of Fiction are always at the top of the list. Libraries are crammed with them, yet there are many volumes which deal plainly with the daily lives of ordinary people not less enthralling than an exciting novel.

The life incidents described in this book show that truth is quite as strange as fiction when truth covers the uninterrupted activities of a robust and fearless agitator, impelled to his task by the highest and most unselfish motives.

A sketch of Will Thorne is a picture of adventure, hardships, romance and grim determination to leave the world a little better than he found it. These pages exhibit the spirit of the Rebel, and reveal a little of the great honesty, caution and practical wisdom which Thorne's intimate friends have known him always to possess in a very high degree.

This is a book of ceaseless movement and, in many places, of exciting action. Poets seldom weave their verses out of the material of the workers' daily lives. Sailors and soldiers deserve their praise, and the colour and glory of their service have called them into many a song and story. Yet in the regular work of the ordinary toiler there is much fitting but unused material upon which the poet or dramatist could easily draw.

There is enough dramatic incident in the first half-dozen pages of this little volume to make a moving and exciting play. But it might not be pleasant for every one to witness.