This story is true to life. The Truant was a real man, who lived during the reign of Jeroboam II, king of Israel. Some of the details of his life I have gathered from history, but most of them from his own writings. A few details of the setting, however, are supplied; but these are all in strict keeping, so far as I am able to judge, with the history of the times in which the Truant lived.
My object in writing this story is to emphasize the importance of obeying the voice of God, and to decry selfishness and pride, propensities that have made more than one man a truant.
Should this story prevent one “man from playing the truant or incline one soul to obey the voice of the Lord, I shall consider myself abundantly repaid.
