THIS volume, composed of essays which on their appearance in the Atlantic have met with especial favor and which from their character seem to deserve a longer life than the paper covers of a magazine permit, is published out of deference to a multitude of requests. Many readers have asked that this essay or that be preserved in permanent form, while many teachers both in college and high school have written us that the usefulness of the Atlantic in the classroom would be enhanced by the appearance of an edition which, selecting from the selection already made from month to month, should constitute a kind of Atlantic Anthology, preserving the magazine's flavor and character and offering, as it were, a sample of what it aims to be.

To give to this collection that variety which is the spice of a magazine's life, the editor has selected a single contribution from each of sixteen characteristic Atlantic authors, making his choice from material not greatly affected by the interests of the moment. In two or three instances appears an essay which has already been published in some collection of an author's work, and the Atlantic wishes to acknowledge with thanks permission from Houghton Mifflin Company to print once again Professor Sharp's delightful "Turtle Eggs for Agassiz," which has been included in his volume "The Face of the Fields," and Mr. Nicholson's agreeable delineation of the "Provincial American"; while it gratefully adds its acknowledgment to Henry Holt and Company for the reappearance of Mr. Strunsky's "The Street," already published in his inimitable little volume, "Belshazzar Court."

Our chief thanks, now and always, are due to the Atlantic's contributors, to whom we owe all we have or hope for. Were not our design limited, we should gladly enrich this collection with much material from our file, which is quite as worthy to represent the magazine, but which, for one reason or another, we judge less suitable for the purposes of the present volume.

THE EDITOR.

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