Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Cape Cod and All Along Shore Stories: Stories
The stories collected in this volume have been printed at different times in Harper's Magazine, except one which appeared in the Atlantic Monthly. Collections of stories like this, I have noticed, are commonly pub lished at the earnest solicitation of friends, or to gratify the desires of an amiable but undiscriminating public. To prevent misunderstanding in the present case, it is perhaps well to say that the public is g'uiltless in respect to this volume, and that no fond friend has ever expressed even a willingness to have my stories assume this more enduring form - except the publishers, who, it will be readily believed, have no especial desire to see the book permanently on their shelves. I have noticed that it is customary with writers, when they collect their shorter tales, to set them into one gen eral story, which serves as a frame-work to the smallpieces, and furnishes a name for the volume, such as the Queen of Hearts of Mr. Wilkie Collins, and Miss Edwards's Miss Carew. In this way a story writer gives his collection the appearance, at first sight, of what is call ed a novel. It naturally occurred to me to follow this fash ion, which has the advantage of deceiving purchasers, who buy what they imagine from the title and chapter heads to be a novel, and do not discover, until they get home, that what they took to be a fat chicken is only a small basket full of stale eggs. But I refrained, for two reasons: lst., I think it wrong to practice such a cheat upon an unoffe'nding and confiding public; and, 2dly., I tried in vain to invent a tale which should serve me as such a frame-work; and had at last to give it up, for lack of ingenuity.
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