Illustrations

[JOHN KENDRICK BANGS]
[PARLEY CONVERSING WITH THE INVISIBLE GHOST]
["I THOUGHT A MILE WAS THE PROPER DISTANCE"]
["HE VANISHED IN SOMETHING OF A RAGE"]
[THE SPECTRE BRASS-BAND]
["THE THING FELL OVER LIMP"]
["'GOOD-MORNING, MR. DAWSON'"]
["THREE VILLANOUS-LOOKING BODIES, AND A FOURTH, WHICH DAWSON RECOGNIZED AS HIS OWN"]
["HE'S THE WORST BABY YOU EVER SAW"]
["IT WAS A WEARY VIGIL, BUT HE WAS TRUE"]
["'MY CASTLE'S BURNING, EH? HA-HA!'"]
["RUPERT WAS ALWAYS MERRY"]
["SIEGFRIED VON PEPPERPOTZ GREW ILL OF IT"]
["THE THREE FIDDLED WITH ALL THEIR STRENGTH"]
["'YOU ARE A VERY NICE OLD GENTLEMAN'"]
["THE LITTLE FELLOW MUSED OFT AND LONG THEREON"]
["IT NEARLY BLINDED HIM"]

"Over the Plum-Pudding"

Why it was Never Published. An authoritative Statement by its Editor.

On the eve of his departure for Manila, where he is shortly to begin the publication of a comic paper, my friend Mr. Horace Wilkinson, late literary adviser of Messrs. Hawkins, Wilkes & Speedway, the publishers, sent to me the following pages of manuscript with the request that I should have them published for the benefit of those whom the story may concern. I have cheerfully accepted the commission, desiring it to be distinctly understood, however, that I am in no sense responsible for Mr. Wilkinson's statements either of fact or of opinion. I am merely the medium through whom his explanation is brought to the public eye.

J. K. B.

"Over the Plum-Pudding"