The first chapter of this little work I wrote as a sketch for the perusal of the youthful readers of the Juvenile Instructor. It was written hastily—as were those which followed it—and without any author's name, or any intention, at the time, of adding any more to it. Afterwards, I concluded to write a series of missionary sketches; but when these were written I did not have any intention of publishing them in their present form. They were penned in a plain, familiar and personal style, for the purpose of securing the interest of young people.