The well in the wood

by Bert Leston Taylor

“THE BACILLUS DEDICATORY”

I had intended dedicating this little book to Mr. Henry B. Fuller, to whose friendship and criticism I owe much; but finally I decided it were wiser to refrain. The explanation of my change of mind is contained in the paragraph which follows:

“In this part of the world,” wrote Mr. Fuller, not long ago, “the bacillus dedicatory hardly survives within us up to middle age, but there is no denying that it is terribly active in most beginners, and that the ingenuous gratitude of these gives their established elders considerable cause for embarrassment. Have I written a successful story? Then I cast about for some well-known name, ‘higher up,’ with which to adorn thy fly-leaf and to ease my overpowering sense of obligation. The effort on the part of these various celebrities to elude my homage is the liveliest side of the literary game, and not the least instructive phase of unwritten literary history.”