It is modest, cleanly and without malice or irreverence.

A worthier and nobler work might have been written; a purer work could not have been.
What its other merits are he who reads it will discern.

To apologize for it in any manner would be to admit that it has grave deficiencies, and such an admission the author would not make even if his conscience impelled him to do so.

The book is offered to the reader with the conviction that if the man who laughs is the happiest man, it may contribute something to the sum of human felicity.
The story of the French horn, related in the twentieth chapter, will recall to the reader of the "Sparrowgrass Papers" an incident related in that most charming book of humor.

Perhaps it ought to be said that the former narrative was at least suggested by the latter.
The artist who has illustrated the book, Mr.Arthur B.Frost, deserves to have it said of him that he has done his work skilfully, tastefully and with nice appreciation of the humor of the various situations.
CONTENTS CHAPTER I.THE ADVANTAGES OF ELBOW-ROOM II.