There has been no effort, thus far, on the part of literary executors,
in the cases, for example, of Bronson Howard or James A. Herne, to
preserve the correspondence of these men, so much of which dealt with
the circumstances surrounding them while writing or the conditions
affecting them while rehearsing. These data would be invaluable in
preserving a perspective which the modern historian of the American
theatre so wofully lacks.

All the more significant, therefore, is the edition of Mr. Augustus
Thomas's works, now being issued by Messrs. Samuel French. Thus far
the "autobiographies" of six plays have been prepared by the dramatist
in a charming, reminiscent vein. The present Editor is privileged to
make use of one, describing the evolution of "In Mizzoura," and this
inclusion removes from him the necessity of commenting too lengthily
on that play, for fear of creating an anti-climax.

Read consecutively, the prefaces suggest Mr. Thomas's mental
equipment, his charm and distinction of personality, the variety of
his experiences which have given him a man's observation of people and
of things. The personalia are dropped in casually, here and there, not
so much for the purpose of specific biography, as to illustrate the
incentives which shaped his thought and enriched his invention as a
playwright. His purpose in writing these forewords is just a little
didactic; he addresses the novice who may be befuddled after reading
various "Techniques of the Drama," and who looks to the established
and successful dramatist for the secrets of his workshop. These
prefaces reveal Thomas as working more with chips than with whole
planks from a virgin forest. He confesses as much, when he talks of
"Mrs. Leffingwell's Boots." It was "salvage," he writes, "it was the
marketing of odds and ends and remnants, utterly useless for any other