Chapter I: Front Matter

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(page 30)]

GAMBOLLING WITH GALATEA: A BUCOLIC ROMANCE

by

CURTIS DUNHAM

Author of “The Casino Girl in London,” “Two in a Zoo,” “The Golden Goblin,” etc.

With Illustrations by Oliver Herford

Houghton Mifflin Company Boston & New York The Riverside Press Cambridge MDCCCCIX

Copyright, 1909, by Curtis Dunham and Houghton Mifflin Company

All Rights Reserved

Published May 1909

------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Preliminary and Confidential_

Fair reader (and unfair one, of either sex), I pray you be not dismayed by the profundity of this discourse. Doubtless there are some light-minded observers who would have seen in the natural phenomena herein recorded the very quintessence of humor, the apotheosis of the comical. Such pretenders to scientific and literary eminence would entertain the same view of the noble Titanotherium Robustum, or the sublime Stegosaurus Ungulatus. They would have cast merry doubts upon the improving conversation between Balaam and his Ass; ridiculed the psychic resources of the Birds of St. Francis d’Assisi; scoffed at the gratitude of Æsop’s Lion; denied the acumen of the Jumping Frog of Calaveras; yea, and presumed to say “scat” to the sacred Cat of Bubastis.

Fair reader (or unfair one), be warned against all such triflers with the important truths of nature. Life is earnest. Turn the page—read, ponder, and be wise.

C. D.

_Contents_

PRELIMINARY AND CONFIDENTIAL vii

_PART I_
INITIATION OF THE TWO-LEGGED PARTNERS 1

_PART II_
FAIR WARNING TO THE HORSELESS 39

_PART III_
PIG-MALION AND GALATEA 67

_PART IV_
THE OBSEQUIES OF BOS NEMO 98

_PART V_
EQUUS MINOR, DETECTIVE 127

_PART VI_
TAURUS CUPID, ESQ. 157

_Illustrations_

“_I wouldn’t roost in a cherry tree_” (_page 30_) Frontispiece

_The goat seemed to nod his approval_ 44

_Sit perfectly still for five minutes while the gentleman
takes your picture_ 92

_Seized her hand and kissed it ardently_ 126

_The guests ate their turnips decorously_ 150

_All the four-legged members of the firm had drawn near_ 168

GAMBOLLING WITH GALATEA