_The Nice People_, by Henry Cuyler Bunner, is republished from his volume, _Short Sixes_, by permission of its publishers, Charles Scribner’s Sons. _The Buller-Podington Compact_, by Frank Richard Stockton, is from his volume, _Afield and Afloat_, and is republished by permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons. _Colonel Starbottle for the Plaintiff_, by Bret Harte, is from the collection of his stories entitled _Openings in the Old Trail_, and is republished by permission of the Houghton Mifflin Company, the authorized publishers of Bret Harte’s complete works. _The Duplicity of Hargraves_, by O. Henry, is from his volume, _Sixes and Sevens_, and is republished by permission of its publishers, Doubleday, Page & Co. These stories are fully protected by copyright, and should not be republished except by permission of the publishers mentioned. Thanks are due Mrs. Grace MacGowan Cooke for permission to use her story, _A Call_, republished here from _Harper’s Magazine_; Wells Hastings, for permission to reprint his story, _Gideon_, from _The Century Magazine_; and George Randolph Chester, for permission to include _Bargain Day at Tutt House_, from _McClure’s Magazine_. I would also thank the heirs of the late lamented Colonel William J. Lampton for permission to use his story, _How the Widow Won the Deacon_, from _Harper’s Bazaar_. These stories are all copyrighted, and cannot be republished except by authorization of their authors or heirs. The editor regrets that their publishers have seen fit to refuse him permission to include George W. Cable’s story, “_Posson Jone’_,” and Irvin S. Cobb’s story, _The Smart Aleck_. He also regrets he was unable to obtain a copy of Joseph C. Duport’s story, _The Wedding at Timber Hollow_, in time for inclusion, to which its merits—as he remembers them—certainly entitle it. Mr. Duport, in addition to his literary activities, has started an interesting “back to Nature” experiment at Westfield, Massachusetts. To CHARLES GOODRICH WHITING Critic, Poet, Friend THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN AND HIS WATER LOTS[10] BY GEORGE POPE MORRIS (1802–1864) Look into those they call unfortunate, And, closer view’d, you’ll find they are unwise.—_Young._ Let wealth come in by comely thrift, And not by any foolish shift: ’Tis haste Makes waste: Who gripes too hard the dry and slippery sand Holds none at all, or little, in his hand.—_Herrick_. Let well alone.—_Proverb_.