THE SANDMAN.

HIS FARM STORIES

Copyright, 1902

By The Page Company

All rights reserved

Made in U.S.A.

PRINTED BY THE COLONIAL PRESS INC.
CLINTON, MASS., U.S.A.

To
that
Little John
of to-day
who has inspired these stories
of that other
Little John
of long ago
this volume is
most affectionately
dedicated

PREFACE

Whatever may be thought of thesestories by older people, they have served,with some others, to induce a certain littleboy to go to sleep, and for nearly threeyears my one listener has heard them repeatedmany times, and his interest hasnever flagged. As the farm stories slowlygrew in number, they entirely displacedthe other stories, and that farm has becomeas real in the mind of my audienceas it was in fact when little John wasdriving the cows, or planting the corn,seventy-five years ago.

The detail, which may seem excessiveto an older critic, was in every case, untilI had learned to put it in at the start, theresult of a searching cross-examination.If the bars were not put up again, thecows might get out; and if the oxen didnot pass, on their return, all the familiarobjects, how did they get back to thebarn? It is the young critics that I hopeto please, those whose years count nomore than six. If they like these farmstories half as well as my own youngcritic likes them, I shall be satisfied.

William J. Hopkins.

CONTENTS