J. ST. LOE STRACHEY.
PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION
It is with great pleasure that I accept Major Putnam's suggestion that I
should write a special preface to the American edition of my
autobiography. Major Putnam, I, and the _Spectator_, are a
triumvirate of old friends, and I should not be likely to refuse a
request made by him, even if its fulfilment was a much less agreeable
task than that of addressing an American audience.
I was born with a mind which might well be described as _Anima
naturaliter Americana_. I have always loved America and the
Americans, and, though I cannot expect them to feel for me as I feel for
them, I cherish the belief that, at any rate, they do not dislike me
instinctively. That many of them regard me as somewhat wild and
injudicious in my praise of their country I am well aware. They hold
that I often praise America not only too much, but that I praise her for
the wrong things,--praise, indeed, where I ought to censure, and so
"spoil" their countrymen. Well, if that is a true bill, all I can say is
that it is too late to expect me to mend my ways.
During my boyhood people here understood America much less than they do
now.
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