E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Janet Blenkinship, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 16121-h.htm or 16121-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/1/2/16121/16121-h/16121-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/1/2/16121/16121-h.zip) BROTHERS OF PITY AND OTHER TALES OF BEASTS AND MEN by JULIANA HORATIA EWING London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Northumberland Avenue, W.C. Brighton: 129, North Street. New York: E. & J.B. Young & Co. [Published under the direction of the General Literature Committee.] DEDICATED TO MY DEAR SISTER HORATIA KATHARINE FRANCES GATTY. J.H.E. PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. These tales have appeared, during some years past, in _Aunt Judy's Magazine for Young People_. "Father Hedgehog and his Neighbours," and "Toots and Boots," were both suggested by Fedor Flinzer's clever pictures; but "Toots" was also "a real person." In his latter days he was an honorary member of the Royal Engineers' Mess at Aldershot, and, on occasion, dined at table. "The Hens of Hencastle" is not mine. It is a free translation from the German of Victor Bluethgen, by Major Yeatman-Biggs, R.A., to whom I am indebted for permission to include it in my volume, as a necessary prelude to "Flaps." The story took my fancy greatly, but the ending seemed to me imperfect and unsatisfactory, especially in reference to so charming a character as the old watch dog, and I wrote "Flaps" as a sequel. The frontispiece was designed specially for this volume, by Mr. Charles Whymper, and the _Fratello della Misericordia_ (from a photograph kindly sent me by a friend) is by the same artist. J.H.E. PREFACE TO NEW EDITION. The foregoing Preface was written by Mrs. Ewing for the first edition of _Brothers of Pity, and Other Tales_. The book contains five stories, illustrated by the pictures of which my sister speaks; and it is still sold by the S.P.C.K. "Toots and Boots" was so minutely adapted to Flinzer's pictures, that the tale suffers in being parted from them. Still, it is to be hoped that readers of the un-illustrated version will not have as much difficulty as Toots in solving the mystery of the Mouse's escape! I have added four more tales of "Beasts and Men" to the present edition, as they have not been included in any previous collections of my sister's stories. "A Week Spent in a Glass Pond" appeared first in _Aunt Judy's Magazine_, October 1876, and was afterwards published separately with coloured illustrations. The habits of the water beasts are described with the strictest fidelity to nature, even the delicate differences in character between the Great and the Big Black water beetles are most accurately drawn.