PREFACE 



SOME who are now engaged in literary pursuits 

 would no doubt be far more profitably engaged 

 in growing corn. 'The first call' belongs to the 

 stomach. There is always a market for breadstuff s. 

 " Literary wares," on the other hand, often go a-begging. 

 I have a friend who is a poet. For the last twenty 

 years or more he has every day composed for the news- 

 papers from four to ten stanzas of humorous verse. 

 I complimented him recently upon the fecundity of 

 his muse. 'Oh, that is nothing!" he replied. "There 

 is a man in Kansas who advertises that he will write 

 poems in exchange for garden-truck." Even poets 

 have stomachs, and call for food. Corn may be traded 

 for culture. 



Happy then the lot of the farmer! He needs but 



to carry his eggs to the market, and, if they be only 



'tolerably fresh," he is sure to return with his pockets 



filled with jingling dollars or poems, if he lives in 



Kansas. 



In view of the foregoing reflections it may appear to 

 be a daring act for the writer to venture to add another 

 to the long and ever-growing list of books; more espe- 

 cially to add another tale to the many which have been 

 told by travelers. At first I hesitated, but finally 

 yielded to the persuasions of certain of my friends, 

 justly held in esteem by the literary world, who have 



