The custom which has ordained that a book shall have a preface is useful enough to writers who have to say to their readers something which could not properly be said in the body of the text; but it imposes a burden upon those who have no such communication to make. The author of the present volume considers that he may fairly perform the task by remarking that if the tales herein contained are not so amusing as others he has written, they will perhaps be found to be quite as entertaining, and possibly, in some particulars, more instructive. If they shall be received by the public with the favor that was found by the preceding volumes, the author will have reason to congratulate himself that they have achieved success of a somewhat remarkable character.