Some people write books because they have fantastic or heroic experiences to relate; some write to inform or inspire. Some write from an unseen compulsion to entertain or a drive to achieve fame and fortune; some have a muse that will not let them rest unless they write. And then there are those who were nagged, or more gently, cajoled into writing because their letters and spoken descriptions have been enjoyed so much by friends and family that the retelling of certain events simply needs the preservative of the printed page. The last of these causes is the one that most closely applies in the case of this book.