sickness, suffering, and lethargy it may come, it may bring with it the
magic and contagious joy of those rare and gracious people whose
longed-for visits to an invalid are like draughts of rejoicing health. I
hope that my fine covers may soon be worn to the comfort of an old
garment, that my new pages may be quickly shabbied to the endearment of
a familiar face, and that the book will live at bedsides deepening and
sweetening the reader's affection for its faded leaves till it come to
seem an old, faithful, and never-failing friend, one who is never at
fault and never a deserter, and without whom life would lose one of its
fondest companionships.




CONTENTS

ALLSTON, WASHINGTON:
The Lost Ornament 191

ANONYMOUS:
The Gentle Reader 14
King David and the Gardener 198
Sabbath Bells 275
From the Greek Anthology 313
Letter from an Indian Gentleman to an
English Friend 324
A Babu Letter 327
Mary Powell 341
A Tur'ble Chap 374
After Mr. Masefield 384