ATLANTIC
CLASSICS

The Atlantic Monthly CompanyBoston

COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY COMPANY

TO
 
The Pleasantest of Companions,
Most Constant of Friends,
Who Seeks not Flattery but Counsel,
Provoked on Occasion only
And never Vexing beyond Endurance,
Wise with Ancient Wisdom,
And Fresh from the Fountain of Youth—
THE
ATLANTIC CONTRIBUTOR

Preface

THIS volume, composed of essays which on their appearance in theAtlantic have met with especial favor and which from their characterseem to deserve a longer life than the paper covers of a magazinepermit, is published out of deference to a multitude of requests. Manyreaders have asked that this essay or that be preserved in permanentform, while many teachers both in college and high school have writtenus that the usefulness of the Atlantic in the classroom would beenhanced by the appearance of an edition which, selecting from theselection already made from month to month, should constitute a kind ofAtlantic Anthology, preserving the magazine's flavor and character andoffering, as it were, a sample of what it aims to be.

To give to this collection that variety which is the spice of amagazine's life, the editor has selected a single contribution from eachof sixteen characteristic Atlantic authors, making his choice frommaterial not greatly affected by the interests of the moment. In two orthree instances appears an essay which has already been published insome collection of an author's work, and the Atlantic wishes toacknowledge with thanks permission from Houghton Mifflin Company toprint once again Professor Sharp's delightful "Turtle Eggs for Agassiz,"which has been included in his volume "The Face of the Fields," and Mr.Nicholson's agreeable delineation of the "Provincial American"; while itgratefully adds its acknowledgment to Henry Holt and Company for thereappearance of Mr. Strunsky's "The Street," already published in hisinimitable little volume, "Belshazzar Court."

Our chief thanks, now and always, are due to the Atlantic'scontributors, to whom we owe all we have or hope for. Were not ourdesign limited, we should gladly enrich this collection with muchmaterial from our file, which is quite as worthy to represent themagazine, but which, for one reason or another, we judge less suitablefor the purposes of the present volume.

THE EDITOR.