But, on second thought, on considering the size of the sheet, I found it would require four or five years to print in it all I was likely to write, at the rate of two columns a week.

So I concluded that the easiest and quickest way would be to make a book of my Notes by the Way, and to send back to my old friends and neighbors in that form all the observations and incidents I might make and meet on my walk.
The next thought that suggested itself was this,--that a good many persons in Great Britain might feel some interest in seeing what an American, who had resided so long in this country, might have to say of its sceneries, industries, social life, etc.

Still, in writing out these Notes, although two distinct circles of readers--the English and American--have been present to my mind, I felt constrained to face and address the latter, just as if speaking to them alone.

I have, moreover, adopted the free and easy style of epistolary composition, endeavoring to make each chapter as much like one of the letters I promised my friends and neighbors at home as practicable.

In doing this, the "_I_" has, perhaps, talked far too much to beseem those proprieties which the author of a book should observe.