pes, rosy with the expectation of the indefinite and
unknowable. Old misgivings and fears; old rompings and holidays and
precious idle hours. We know them all, and we know how true they are.
We remember in our own case the very hour and day, and how it all
happened and why, and what came of it,--joys and sorrows as real as our
keenest experiences since.

This is a heritage plentiful and noble,--and this heritage is Field's.

In the last paragraphs of that tender prose poem of "Bill--the Lokil
Editor"--one of the Profitable Tales--Bill--"alluz fond uv children 'nd
birds 'nd flowers"--Bill, who was like the old sycamore that the
lightning had struck,--with the vines spread all around and over it,
covering its scars and splintered branches--occurs this passage:

"----That's Bill perhaps as he stands up f'r jedgment--a miserable,
tremblin', 'nd unworthy thing, perhaps, but twined about, all over,
with singin' and pleadin' little children--and that is pleasin' in
God's sight, I know."

If Field had nothing else to bring he could say truthfully as he faced
his Master:

"I followed in your footsteps. I loved the children and the children
loved me."

F. HOPKINSON SMITH.

The Tales in this Book

HUMIN NATUR' ON THE HAN'BUL 'ND ST. JO.

THE MOTHER IN PARADISE

MR. AND MRS. BLOSSOM

DEATH AND THE SOLDIER

THE 'JININ' FARMS

THE ANGEL AND THE FLOWERS

THE CHILD'S LETTER

THE SINGER MOTHER

THE TWO WIVES

THE WOOING OF MISS WOPPIT

THE TALISMAN

GEORGE'S BIRTHDAY

SWEET-ONE-DARLING AND THE DREAM-FAIRIES

SWEET-ONE-DARLING AND THE MOON-GARDEN

SAMUEL COWLES AND HIS HORSE ROYAL

THE WEREWOLF

A MARVELLOUS INVENTION

THE STORY OF XANTHIPPE

BAKED BEANS AND CULTURE

MLLE. PRUD'HOMME'S BOOK

THE DEMAND FOR CONDENSED MUSIC

LEARNING AND LITERATURE

"DIE WALKUeRE" UND DER BOOMERANGELUNGEN

THE WORKS OF SAPPHO

HUMIN NATUR' ON THE HAN'BUL 'ND ST. JO

Durin' war times the gorillas hed torn up most uv the cypress ties an'
used 'em for kindlin' an' stove wood, an' the result wuz that when the
war wuz over there wuz n't anythink left uv the Han'bul 'nd St. Jo but
the rollin' stock 'nd the two streaks uv rails from one end uv the road
to the other. In the spring uv '67 I hed to go out into Kansas; and
takin' the Han'bul 'nd St. Jo at Palmyry Junction, I wuz n't long in
findin' out that the Han'bul 'nd St. Jo railroad wuz jist about the
wust cast of rollin' prairer I ever struck.