(TO BE READ)
THE Dictionary says that a Preface is something spoken before. Usually it gives the author an opportunity to talk about himself. Some authors talk very much, especially about themselves, in their Preface. Mr. George Bernard Shaw writes more Preface than Book, and Théophile Gautier simply uses the Book as an excuse for the Preface. But you do not need to worry, as you will not read either of them for a very long time.
My Preface is going to be different. It is about something that comes at the end and not the beginning; furthermore, I am not going to talk about myself.
Of course you do not know what in the world I am driving at; I will come at once to the point. I had all but finished the stories of Lady Rumdidoodledum’s children when I received the following letter. I have a pretty good idea that “L. H. D.” is no other than the Child-Person for whom Lady Rumdidoodledum winked.
“MR. S. B. DINKELSPIEL,
“DEAR SIR,——
“I have the honor to inform you that Mrs. Sherman is the mother of a lovely new baby daughter, born this evening. She is to be christened ‘Margaret,’ but will be known to her friends (of whom I trust you will be among the number) as ‘Midge.’ Liza and Martha Mary are delighted over the new arrival—the boys have not yet seen the little lady.
“Hoping that she will prove as welcome to you as to the rest of her very devoted family, I am, sir,
“Your very obedient servant and humble collaborator,
L. H. D.”
The Planet Venus.
A day or so later, a thick envelope came through the mail for me.
“Is it,” said I to myself, “another of my stories rejected by a heartless editor?”
It was not! It was the story of “Midge,” written by “L. H. D.,” and it came just in time, for I had been having a miserable hour seeking a last chapter for the book, and here one fell—I might say—out of the sunny sky.
S. B. DINKELSPIEL.
San Francisco, California.