BUTTERED SIDE DOWN

STORIES BY

EDNA FERBER





MARCH, 1912


FOREWORD


"And so," the story writers used to say, "they lived happily
ever after."

Um-m-m--maybe. After the glamour had worn off, and the glass
slippers were worn out, did the Prince never find Cinderella's
manner redolent of the kitchen hearth; and was it never necessary
that he remind her to be more careful of her finger-nails and
grammar? After Puss in Boots had won wealth and a wife for his
young master did not that gentleman often fume with chagrin because
the neighbors, perhaps, refused to call on the lady of the former
poor miller's son?

It is a great risk to take with one's book-children. These
stories make no such promises. They stop just short of the phrase