vi PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



of the Religious Dog and the Pagan Cat is 

 quite excellent as a piece of humour, while 

 the Praying Dog suggests a strange picture 

 of sanctimonious canine priggishness. Crib's 

 biography is also not a little curious. I have 

 only to add my reason for not distributing 

 the new stories as far as possible under their 

 appropriate headings in the body of the book. 

 This would, I admit, have been the logical 

 and natural course. There were, however, 

 two objections. First, there exist, I am 

 given to understand, typographical difficulties 

 which, if not insurmountable, are serious. 

 Next, a reader of the first edition who might 

 come across the second and wish to see what 

 was fresh, would be much puzzled to get at 

 the new stuff. It would therefore probably 

 be his wish that the added stories should be 

 grouped together at the end. But a reader 

 of the first edition is clearly an old friend, 

 and must have his wishes consulted, espe- 

 cially when doing so does not interfere with 

 the enjoyment of him who reads for the first 

 time in the second issue of these stories. 



