[Transcriber's notes: _ before and after a word or phrase indicate
italics, + indicate bolded text]

THE WRITINGS IN PROSE AND VERSE OF EUGENE FIELD


A LITTLE BOOK OF PROFITABLE TALES

NEW YORK 1901

By EUGENE FIELD.



TO MY SEVEREST CRITIC, MY MOST LOYAL ADMIRER, AND MY ONLY DAUGHTER, MARY
FRENCH FIELD, THIS LITTLE BOOK OF PROFITABLE TALES IS AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED. E.F.




INTRODUCTION


I have never read a poem by Mr. Field without feeling personally drawn to
the author. Long after I had known him as a poet, I found that he had
written in prose little scraps or long essays, which had attracted me in
just the same way, when I had met with them in the newspapers, although I
had not known who the author was.