Book Description

It is never pleasant to have to make apologies; and yet there are some circumstances under which an apology is a duty, and therefore, whether pleasant or not, should be tendered cheerfully. The present is a case in point. The work should have been published earlier and would have been possible. The truth is that the "Guide to Streets, &c.," was a novel experiment, and the compiler—having nobody's experience to guide him—through the task an easier one than it turned out to be. It was at first imagined that the matter for this "Guide" could be obtained simultaneously with the information for the Directory itself. The attempt proved the mistake. It was found that to do both well they must be done distinctly and independently. Hence chiefly came the delay, to say nothing of the fact that for many "local habitations" it was very difficult to find the "name." In yards and courts, not a few, and some out-of-the-way streets even, not one of the inhabitants could give his whereabouts a designation! The task, however, has been achieved at last; and it is trusted that on the whole, the public will think that it has been achieved well.