OF JOAN OF ARC. BY R. M. EVANS, AUTHOR OF "TRUE TALES OF THE OLDEN TIME," "EVENINGS WITH THE PREFACE. SOME of my young readers may, perhaps, be inclined to accuse me of disappointing the expectations they had formed from my Title Page, and to complain that the story of Joan of Arc forms but a small part of a volume which, they expected to be filled from beginning to end, with her wonderful adventures and harr-breadth escapes. If such complaints should be made, I hope they will not,) I answer, I have not written a line which I did not think would help my young friends to fully comprehend the great need there was of such actions as Joan performed; and that if I had not first clearly explained the state of France, and the causes which reduced that country to the dreadful condition it was in, when Joan appeared at Chinon to rouse up the indolent and despairing monarch, and give fresh energy to his soldiers and subjects, they could not have perfectly understood the amazing value of the Maid's services. I have had another object also in view in all I have written, and that is to encourage my readers to search out for themselves, in the writings of the older historians, the narrative of events which we too often take on trust, in a very altered form, from the works of modern writers. It is true such studies are not for children, but if I can inspire such a taste in them; the future men will thank me. |