THIS EDITION OF

THE DEVIL'S POOL

HAS BEEN COMPLETELY TRANSLATED

BY

GEORGE B. IVES

THE ETCHINGS AND DRAWINGS ARE BY

EDMOND RUDAUX




NOTICE


When I began, with _The Devil's Pool_, a series of rustic pictures which
I proposed to collect under the title of _The Hemp-Beater's Tales_, I
had no theory, no purpose to effect a revolution in literature. No one
can bring about a revolution by himself alone, and there are
revolutions, especially in matters of art, which mankind accomplishes
without any very clear idea how it is done, because everybody takes a
hand in them. But this is not applicable to the romance of rustic
manners: it has existed in all ages and under all forms, sometimes
pompous, sometimes affected, sometimes artless. I have said, and I say
again here: the dream of a country-life has always been the ideal of