In the first place I felt that I was talking to a
man of considerable knowledge and experience in journalistic affairs,
and one whose opinion was worth listening to, and it was in
consequence of what he told me that for the first time I seriously
contemplated putting into effect what I had so frequently hesitated to
do in the past. He assured me I was mistaken in the view I had held,
and that what I could relate would make attractive reading to the
present generation of Europeans, not only in the city, but also in the
mofussil. I finally yielded to persuasion, and throwing back my memory
over the years tried to conjure up visions of Calcutta of the past. A
good deal in the earlier part refers to a period which few, if any,
Europeans at present in this country know of except through the medium
of books. The three articles published in the columns of the
_Statesman_ of the 22nd and 29th July and 5th August were the first
outcome of our conversation. I then left Calcutta for a tour
up-country as stated on page 28, and the work was temporarily
suspended. It was not until the early part of September, when I had
settled down for a season at Naini Tal, that I resumed the threads of
my narrative. It was at first my intention to continue publishing a
series of short articles in the columns of the _Statesman_, but as I
proceeded it gradually dawned upon my mind that I could achieve a
twofold object by compiling my recollections in book form in aid of
the Red Cross Fund. Whether it was due to this new and additional
incentive which may perhaps have had the effect of stimulating my
mental powers I know not, but as I continued to write on, scenes and
events long since forgotten seemed gradually to well up out of the dim
and far distant past and visualize on the tablets of my memory. I was
thus enabled to extend and develop the scope of the work beyond the
limit I had originally contemplated. My one and ardent hope now is
that the book may prove a financial success for the benefit of the
funds of the Society on whose behalf it is published. That some who
perhaps might not care to take a copy simply for its own sake will not
hesitate to do so and thus assist by his or her own personal action in
however small a degree in carrying on the good and noble work which
must awaken in our hearts all the best and finest instincts of our
nature, as well as our warmest and deepest sympathies.

I have to express my great thanks to Lady Carmichael