Chapter I: Front Matter

ATLANTIC CLASSICS

The Atlantic Monthly Company Boston

COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY COMPANY

TO

The Pleasantest of Companions,
Most Constant of Friends,
Who Seeks not Flattery but Counsel,
Provoked on Occasion only
And never Vexing beyond Endurance,
Wise with Ancient Wisdom,
And Fresh from the Fountain of Youth--

THE
ATLANTIC CONTRIBUTOR

Preface

This volume, composed of essays which on their appearance in the _Atlantic_ have met with especial favor and which from their character seem to deserve a longer life than the paper covers of a magazine permit, is published out of deference to a multitude of requests. Many readers have asked that this essay or that be preserved in permanent form, while many teachers both in college and high school have written us that the usefulness of the _Atlantic_ in the classroom would be enhanced by the appearance of an edition which, selecting from the selection already made from month to month, should constitute a kind of _Atlantic Anthology_, preserving the magazine's flavor and character and offering, as it were, a sample of what it aims to be.

To give to this collection that variety which is the spice of a magazine's life, the editor has selected a single contribution from each of sixteen characteristic _Atlantic_ authors, making his choice from material not greatly affected by the interests of the moment. In two or three instances appears an essay which has already been published in some collection of an author's work, and the _Atlantic_ wishes to acknowledge with thanks permission from Houghton Mifflin Company to print once again Professor Sharp's delightful "Turtle Eggs for Agassiz," which has been included in his volume "The Face of the Fields," and Mr. Nicholson's agreeable delineation of the "Provincial American"; while it gratefully adds its acknowledgment to Henry Holt and Company for the reappearance of Mr. Strunsky's "The Street," already published in his inimitable little volume, "Belshazzar Court."

Our chief thanks, now and always, are due to the _Atlantic's_ contributors, to whom we owe all we have or hope for. Were not our design limited, we should gladly enrich this collection with much material from our file, which is quite as worthy to represent the magazine, but which, for one reason or another, we judge less suitable for the purposes of the present volume.

THE EDITOR.

Contents

FIDDLERS ERRANT _Robert Haven Schauffler_ 1

TURTLE EGGS FOR AGASSIZ _Dallas Lore Sharp_ 23

A FATHER TO HIS FRESHMAN SON _Edward Sanford Martin_ 45

INTENSIVE LIVING _Cornelia A. P. Comer_ 59

REMINISCENCE WITH POSTSCRIPT _Owen Wister_ 87

THE OTHER SIDE _Margaret Sherwood_ 110

ON AUTHORS _Margaret Preston Montague_ 124

THE PROVINCIAL AMERICAN _Meredith Nicholson_ 130

OUR LADY POVERTY _Agnes Repplier_ 153

ENTERTAINING THE CANDIDATE _Katharine Baker_ 173

THE STREET _Simeon Strunsky_ 181

FASHIONS IN MEN _Katharine Fullerton Gerould_ 201

A CONFESSION IN PROSE _Walter Prichard Eaton_ 225

IN THE CHAIR _Ralph Bergengren_ 243

THE PASSING OF INDOORS _Zephine Humphrey_ 252

THE CONTENTED HEART _Lucy Elliot Keeler_ 265

Fiddlers Errant

By Robert Haven Schauffler