ly for young readers, who know no more of "The
Potential Mood" than they know of the surrender of Cornwallis (this
day celebrated). And, besides, we have some facts in the treatise
which are not hypothetical. Why ignore them? Do you not see that
your miserable suggestion of "The Potential Mood" is as worthless
as it is sensational and fails as not comprehensive, inadequate,
unintelligible, and not true?

For these reasons I settled on the plain, straightforward title of
unadorned truth, viz. "Four Possibilities, Six Exaggerations, and
some Bits of Fact"; and with this we went to the publisher. But, as
I entered his shop, a boy from Dutton's rushed in with his
order-book, and cried:--

"I want seventy _Chimes_ and ninety _Ivanhoe_."

"What," said I, "if, by any good fortune, it had been our
story-book that was wanted, this boy would then have called for

"'Seventy Four Possibilities.' Can there be so many in a world
which runs in grooves? Will he even get the number that he needs of
our treatises? Alexander a robber! Let me reflect."

Reflecting thus, I determined that the title of a book must be,--

1. Brief.
2. Intelligible.
3. Suggestive.
4. It must not begin with a numeral.

I took a Tremont Street car and returned home.

"What," I said in the night-watches, "is the brief expression of a
possibility? Surely it is in the word PERHAPS.

"What of a fact?

"Surely it is YES.

"What of an exaggeration? Why, it is that which would be true If it
had not been overstated. Our title then, clearly, is

"PERHAPS, YES, AND IF."

I see that the critics would have been better satisfied with this.
But, on the principle of the little elephants sacrificing
themselves in the passage of a river, Mr. Fields and I determined
to start the smallest word first, and thus to drive a gentle wedge
into the close chasm of the public favor. Sensitive, however, as I
am, dear Ingham, to your criticism, I will at the earliest
opportunity consult with him as to a return to the original
title:--

"A Few Sketches * * * Illustrative," &c., &c., &c.

Or might we not let the one word "Etcetera" stand alone? Or thus,
with the stars, "* * * &c., &c., &c."?

Truly yours,
E. E. HALE.

CONTENTS