The Battery in Lieu of a PrefaceAFEW years ago, at the very tip of that narrow rocky strip of land that has been well named " the Tongue that laps the Commerce of the World," the million-teeming Island of Manhattan, there was daily presented a scene in the life-drama of our land that held in itself, as in solution, a great national ideal. The old heroic "Epic of the Nations'* was still visible to the naked eve, and masquerading here among us of the then nineteenth century in the guise of the arrival of the immigrant ship.The scenic setting is in this instance incomparably fine. As we lean on the coping of the sea wall at the end of the green-swarded Battery, in the flush of a May sunset that, on the right, throws the Highlands of the Xavesink into dark purple relief and lights the waters of Harbor, River, and Sound into a softly swelling roseate flood, we may fix our eyes on the approach to The Narrows and watch the incoming shipping of the world: the fruit-laden steamer from tTable of Contents Contents; Page; The Battery in Lieu of a Preface 3; Part First, A Chtld from the Vaudeville 7; Part Second, Home Soil 55; Part Third, In thh Stream 147; Part Fourth, Oblivion 319; Part Fifth, Shed Number Two 361; The Last Word 473About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the difficult to read text. Read books online for free at www.forgottenbooks.org