What Experience Has Taught Me An Autobiography of Thomas William Burton: By way of introduction to the reading public of Dr. Thomas W. Burton, the author of this book, I desire to say that the effort that is made a success, though it may be opposed by difficulties, encourages many a hitherto despondent one. Encouragement is what humanity stands in need of, and especially those who have not been in the midst of the most favorable surroundings for mental and moral development. I am sure that anyone reading this volume will find much to inspire him to earnest and continued effort. We have here the history of a man who, like Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, has come up from obscurity and by dint of hard study and honesty, and above all by being a man of God, has come to honorable distinction.