PREFACE. 



Those who are familiar with the poems of Longfellow — and 

 who is not ? — will remember the elegant lines in which the 

 poet, appealing to readers whom he has never seen, thanks 

 them for their appreciation of his work, for their "words of 

 friendship, comfort, and assistance": — 



" If any thought of mine in writing told 



Has ever given delight or consolation, 

 Ye have repaid (he says) a thousand-fold 



By every friendly sign and salutation. 

 Thanks for the sympathies that ye have shown, 



Thanks for each kindly word, each silent token, 

 That teaches us, when seeming most alone, 



Friends are around us though no word be spoken." 



He alludes to — 



" The pleasant books that silently among 



Our household treasures take familiar places, 

 And are to us as if a living tongue 



Spake from the printed leaves or pictured faces." 



And then, referring to the bond of union which exists 

 between author and reader, he thus explains it: — 



" Not chance of birth or place has made us friends, 

 Being oftentimes of different tongues or nations, 

 But the endeavour for the self-same ends, 



With the same hopes, and fears, and aspirations." 



These lines, in a measure, seem fitly to convey the 



Editor's sentiments when in this, his annual " Preface," he 



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