The characters are all imaginary; the scenes, in the main, are real: and I would gladly lure other families from tenement flats into green pastures.

E. P. R.
CORNWALL-ON-THE-HUDSON,

August 10, 1885.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I A PROBLEM

CHAPTER II I STATE THE CASE
CHAPTER III NEW PROSPECTS
CHAPTER IV A MOMENTOUS EXPEDITION
CHAPTER V A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS IN A CITY FLAT