[ 2 ] This is the first story written by me, beyond a few juvenile tales; and it was the first short story to appear in Scribner's Monthly, the present Century Magazine. Mr. Gilder, then associated with Dr. Holland in editing that newborn periodical, begged me to write a short story for the second number of the magazine. I told him that something Helps had written suggested that a story might be devised in which the hero should marry a servant. He said it couldn't be done, and I wrote this, on a wager, as it were. But a "help" is not a servant. The popularity of this story encouraged me to continue, but I can not now account for the popularity of the story.
[ 3 ] The reader will remember that this was written in 1872. I do not know how far the uptown centers of fashion will be in twenty years more.
[ 4 ] The New-Year's call is one of several things alluded to in the text that were in vogue when the story was written, but seem anachronisms in 1893.
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THE FAITH DOCTOR. By Edward Eggleston, author of "The Hoosier Schoolmaster," "The Circuit Rider," etc. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
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