Read it through once

I suppose if I had been thinking at all when first I undertook to write down the story I am going to tell, I should have begun by saying something to the effect that this narrative is not a work of fancy, nor of fiction — that it is strictly and literally true. But I never have had any talent for that kind of preface, and moreover it would have been awkward; for it would have given a handle to skeptics to ask me where the evidence was, and to demand proofs and witnesses — and I have no proofs and no witnesses to produce. I can only offer testimony — my own testimony. I do not care to go into the question whether my readers will accept it or not; they can do as they please.