Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882,

BY N. K. ROYSE,

in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

PREFACE.

We get no good,

By being ungenerous, even to a book,

And calculating profits.

so much help

By so much reading. It is rather when

We gloriously forget ourselves, and plunge
Soul-forward, headlong, into a book's profound.
Impassioned for its beauty and salt of truth-
'Tis then we get the right good from a book.
-Mrs. Browning.

The author of this little volume hopes his public will heed the authoritative opinion just quoted; and, accordingly, be generous, and plunge, one and all, into his pages with an abandon near to the breaking of their souls and heads. And if in that dive they shall reach a "profound," or in the attempt discover any native "beauty," or get any taste

Smit June 27,1923

of the "salt of truth," he promises to feel quite as much surprised and pleased at the result as the public possibly can.

N. K. ROYSE.

CINCINNATI, January 1, 1882.