Transcriber’s Note:
New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.
Once upon a time two children read aloud togethermore or less of Darwin, Spencer, Lyell, Goethe, Carlyle,Taine, and other writers of equal note. Thoughthe books were somewhat above their comprehension, andcertainly not so well suited to their years as fairy-talesand romances, both the choice and the rejection weredeliberately made and consistently maintained. Thediscrimination originated neither in excessive fondnessof fact, nor in the slightest dislike of fiction; being solelydue to a greater preference for the stories they themselvescreated than for those they found in books.Presently, one of these two, having found a new playfellow,stopped inventing and acting and living theirjoint imaginings, and the other one had to go on playingby himself. But he has never forgotten the originalimpulse, and so, in collecting the offspring of some ofhis earliest and some of his latest play-hours, hisvithoughts recur to the years of the old partnership, andhe cannot please himself better than by putting hisplaymate, where she truly belongs, at the beginning ofhis “imaginary” playthings.
“His Version of It” is reprinted inthis form by permission of the CenturyCompany.
“The Cortelyou Feud” is reprintedby permission of Messrs. Harper andBrothers.