"And this is liberty--that one grow after the law of his own life, hindering not another." [Illustration: Title Page] _My Monks of Vagabondia._ _Andress Floyd_ Copyright 1913 By Andress Floyd TO MY WIFE LILLIAN BLANCHE FLOYD WHOSE DEVOTION AND INSPIRATION MADE POSSIBLE THE SELF MASTER COLONY Introductory My Monks of Vagabondia comprises Fact-stories selected from the old files of the Self Master Magazine. I wish to present the defeated man, as he really is, to the reader who cannot fail to appreciate the humor and tragedy that makes up his wayward life. The bond of sympathy should be awakened between us and the so-called prodigal. A wider publicity should be given to the unique but practical uplift work that I have founded and carried on for the past five years among these weaker brothers. The stories explain in part the methods and plans of the Family of Self Masters. It is--we believe--the only book in which a writer has received his facts for his stories direct from a life-experience with outcast men. Not alone that, but the volume is printed, bound and illustrated by the unexpected guests--the Itinerant Monks of whom the tales are told, and who make their home in our so-called Monastery. The day approaches when broken men shall have beautiful, though simple, homes of their own making, modeled after the group idea of The Self Master Colony. They will be established outside of the different cities of the world, and opened hospitably to all men who come in their hour of need or weakness, seeking Self Mastery and the peace that accompanies it. The proceeds from the sale of these stories go toward the purchase and installation of much needed equipment for the Printshop and Bindery. With this equipment the men can work out their own independence, industrially and socially. When a man has lived months and years enslaved by some vicious habit--self-destructive and careless of consequences--his sub-conscious mind is a sensitive matrix on which the sordid history is deeply engraved. The certain change can come only as the man learns values and respects them by a right life. The sub-conscious self takes on a complete reformation slowly. An evil habit does not gain mastery over the man upon the instant nor once in control is its grip broken by any feeble affirmation or miraculous phenomenon. The hope comes when one turns one's thought from the destructive to the constructive, and lives in the sight of the new born faith until wisdom lifts the darkened veil and freedom follows as its rightful legacy. The Self Master Colony offers an open door to the disheartened man during the period of his awakening to his real strength and helps him with its constant care and sympathy back to his true self. ANDRESS FLOYD.