The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz
Volume One (1829-1852)
Draft Preface
These reminiscences were originally written in German, partly because it seemed to me more natural to give an account of my early days in the language in which, so to speak, they had been lived, and partly because the narrative would in that language be more accessible to many of my old friends and relatives in the fatherland.
The translation into English was kindly undertaken by my friend Mrs. E[leonora] K[innicutt] who devoted to it for a considerable period the leisure hours of a life abounding in fruitful public and private activities. She submitted to me her work as it progressed, but it was not mere translators work. Her sagacious suggestions as to passages to be shortened, and others to be amplified and made clearer, in order to eliminate what would be of no interest to the American reader, or to elaborate in greater detail that of which he might wish to hear more, were to me of the greatest value and I accepted them in every instance. Also in other ways her accurate sense of propriety as well as her fine literary instinct gave me most important aid which I cannot too gratefully acknowledge.
Nor can I refrain from adding that to work with her was an especially exquisite pleasure as our conversational digressions from the matter in hand not seldom ranged over many fields of human thought, endeavor, and experience; and the rare gifts of her mind, her remarkable judgment of men and things, her keen insight into social and political situations and problems, her strong practical sense and her large warm hearted sympathies were to me a subject of frequent astonishment and of constant admiration. This translation of my reminiscences thus became the product as well as the monument of a friendship which I count among the richest and most cherished treasures of my life.