Throughout this book Officer McWatters has shown the modesty of a retiring and unassuming man; making no further allusion to himself, and his deeds and experiences, than necessary to sustain the thread of the narratives. He desired that the book should stand upon its own merits, without any adventitious aid from the high indorsements of his own daily life and personal character, such as will be found in what follows. He would, so far as the book is concerned, be judged as an officer and an author, rather than by the merits of his own private life, be they great or small. In this he evinced a commendable pride and a good sense which we could not question. Nevertheless we considered it fitting that we add to the book such facts as we might possess ourselves of regarding the career of a man whose life has been given, in so great part, to deeds of good, heartfully and freely done, and to humanitary reforms, as has Officer McWatters'. For it is not strictly and merely in the capacity of a successful officer or as a spirited and graceful writer that "the Literary Policeman" (as the journals of New York are wont to distinguish Officer McWatters) has done his best works. Officer McWatters is, _par excellence_, a humanitarian, a gentleman of the widest tolerance and liberality of opinions, as is evinced in various parts of the narratives, which exhibit nothing of that cruel and tyrannical spirit so common to men who have much to do with the criminal classes. It is rather by kindness than severity that he would deal with the erring. Officer McWatters, being unwilling to supply his Autobiography; and being ourselves without sufficient notes to furnish the public with the biographical comments which we considered so desirable concerning him, we intrusted the matter of writing his personal history to a well known literary gentleman of New York, with directions to him to put into form whatever he could authentically gather of a nature interesting to the reading public in general, concerning the author of "Knots Untied." How well he fulfilled his arduous duty, under the circumstances, the reader of the Biographical Notes which follow will judge for himself. But we regard it as not improper for us to say, that in our opinion the Biographical Notes will be found a very interesting addition to "Knots Untied," not only by the insight they give the reader into the career of a man, who, filling an unpretentious sphere in life, so far as technical vocations are concerned, has made himself illustrious by deeds of good will; but also by their style, peculiar in some respects, and here and there marked by the utterance of brave thoughts regarding matters of so much vital interest to the laboring classes, the poor, who are the "chief constituency," in a humanitary sense, of Officer McWatters himself,--by his benefactions to whom he has mostly won that high popular esteem, which is so well recorded in the Biographical Notes.