volume. "Primeval California," first published in October, 1881, in the
old Scribner's (now The Century) Magazine, when James G. Holland was its
editor, is at times Stoddard at his best. "In Yosemite Shadows" shows us
the young Stoddard full of boyish enthusiasm--he could not have been
more than twenty when it was written and published, in the old Overland,
then edited by Bret Harte. It is more than a gloriously poetic
description of Yosemite, when Yosemite still dreamed in its virgin
beauty; it is the revelation of a poet's beginnings, for it gives us in
the rough, just finding their way to the light, all those gifts which
later won Stoddard his fame.

The third addition to this volume is "An Affair of the Misty City," a
valuable chapter, since it is wholly autobiographical, and at the same
time embodies pen portraits of all the celebrities of California's first
literary days, that famous group of which Stoddard was one. Of all the
group, Ina Coolbrith was closest and dearest to Stoddard's heart. The
beautiful abiding friendship which bound the souls of these two poets
together has not been surpassed in all the poetry and romance of the
world. These last added chapters are taken from "In the Pleasure of His
Company," which is out of print and may never be republished.

The "Mysterious History," included in the original editions of "The
Footprints" has wisely been left out. It had no proper place in the
book: Stoddard himself felt that. The additions which have been supplied
by Mr. Robertson, who was for years Stoddard's publisher, and in whom
the author reposed the utmost confidence, make a real improvement on the
original book.

"We have often met in spirit ere this," Stoddard wrote me. We had; and
we meet again and again. I feel him very near me as I write these words;