AS A PEBBLE CAST UPON A GREAT
CAIRN, THIS EDITION IS INSCRIBED TO THE
MEMORY OF JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL,
WHOSE CORDIAL ENCOURAGEMENT TO MY
EARLY STUDIES OF AMERICAN DIALECT IS
GRATEFULLY REMEMBERED.

THE AUTHOR.




PREFACE TO THE LIBRARY EDITION.

BEING THE HISTORY OF A STORY.


"THE HOOSIER SCHOOL-MASTER" was written and printed in the autumn of
1871. It is therefore now about twenty-one years old, and the publishers
propose to mark its coming of age by issuing a library edition. I avail
myself of the occasion to make some needed revisions, and to preface the
new edition with an account of the origin and adventures of the book. If
I should seem to betray unbecoming pride in speaking of a story that has
passed into several languages and maintained an undiminished popularity
for more than a score of years, I count on receiving the indulgence
commonly granted to paternal vanity when celebrating the majority of a
first-born. With all its faults on its head, this little tale has become
a classic, in the bookseller's sense at least; and a public that has
shown so constant a partiality for it has a right to feel some curiosity
regarding its history.