present at the private wedding, except Mrs.
Scott, the wife of the minister. This divine made Stevenson a present of a
religious book of his own writing to read on the journey to Scotland, and
the whimsical fear of Stevenson that he might not read it all while
crossing the continent and the Atlantic was characteristic. But if he felt
that this was not sufficiently light reading for a steamer journey he
appreciated the gift, and in return sent Dr. Scott a book on a like topic
written by his father in Scotland.

"People are very much like folks"; the fairy tales which are told about
the famous are very likely to need large grains of salt in the taking. The
simple truth about the Stevensons was that theirs was a peculiarly
fortunate and happy marriage, and that if they lived in Bohemia it was "on
the airy uplands" of that land, where freedom of personal action never
meant wilful foolish eccentricity or lack of conformity to the canons of
true courtesy and kindness.

THE DAVOS PLATZ BOOKS

Mr. Joseph Pennell has contributed to _The Studio_ an account of an
unpublished chapter, which is delightful reading and reveals Stevenson to
the world as an illustrator and wood engraver. With the people of Le
Monastier, the lace-makers, Stevenson became a popular figure and was
known for miles in the country. In the town every urchin seemed to know
his name, "although no living creature could pronounce it." One group of
lace-makers brought out a chair whenever he went by, and insisted on
having a good gossip. They would have it that the English talked French,
or patois, and "of all patois they declared that mine was the most
preposterous and the most jocose in sound. At each new word there was a
new explosion of laughter, and some of the younger ones were glad to rise
from their chairs and stamp about the streets in ecstasy." In a notice of
the article, a writer in _The London Chronicle_ says:

[Illustration:

NOT I,
And Other POEMS,

_BY_
Robert Louis Stevenson,

Author of
_The Blue Scalper, Travels
with a Donkey, etc._
PRICE 8d.

BLACK CANYON
_or_
Wild Adventures in the
FAR WEST
A
Tale of Instruction and Amusement
for the Young.

_BY
SAMUEL OSBOURNE_

ILLUSTRATED.

_Printed by the Author._
Davos-Platz.]

"There was a dear old lady of Monastier with whom he struck up an
attachment. She passed judgment on his sketches and his heresy with a wry
mouth and a t