A half century among the Siamese and the Lao : an ... - Khamkoo

THE
NOTE BY THE EDITOR
task which has fallen to me in connection
with this book, was undertaken as a labour of
love; and such it seems to me even more, now
that it ends in sadness of farewell. It has not been
an easy task. The vast spaces to be traversed, and
the months of time required before a question could
receive its answer, made consultation with the author
almost impossible. And the ever-present fear that for
him the night might come before the work could receive
a last revision at his hands, or even while he was
still in the midst of his story, led me continually to
urge upon him the need of persevering in his writing
which was evidently becoming an irksome task—and
on my part to hasten on a piecemeal revision as the
chapters came to hand, though as yet I had no measure
of the whole to guide me.
It is, therefore, a great comfort to know that my
urgency and haste were not in vain; that all of the
revision reached him in time to receive his criticism and
correction—though his
letter on the concluding chapter
was, as I understand, the very last piece of writing
that he ever did. How serene and bright it was, and
with no trace of the shadow so soon to fall
But the draft so made had far outgrown the possible
limits of publication, and was, of course, without due
measure and proportion of parts. In the delicate task
of its reduction I am much indebted to the kind suggestions
of the Rev. Arthur J. Brown, D.D., and the
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