PREFACE
I HAVE frequently been solicited by relatives and friends to write a brief history of my past life, but never felt seriously inclined to do so until the year 1858, when I was requested by my friends in the West to furnish a series of articles in relation to my past life, for a religious paper entitled, “The Youth’s Instructor,” published at Battle Creek, Mich. In compliance with their wishes, fifty-one numbers were issued and published in said paper, ending in May,1863.AJB 7.1
As these numbers are about exhausted, we again comply with the request of friends to furnish them, with additional numbers, for publication in book form.AJB 7.2
Joseph Bates.
Monterey, Mich., May 1, 1868.