ENGLISH WAYS AND
BY-WAYS
BEING THE
LETTERS OF JOHN AND RUTH DOBSON
WRITTEN FROM ENGLAND
TO THEIR FRIEND, LEIGHTON PARKS
"For me, an aim I never fash--
I rhyme for fun."
--BURNS.
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1920
COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
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Published October, 1920
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Copyright, 1920, BY THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY CO.
TO
E. S. P.
WHO KNOWS JOHN AND RUTH DOBSON
AS WELL AS I DO AND CAN BEAR WITNESS TO THE
TRUTH OF THIS NARRATIVE
"ENGLISH WAYS AND BY-WAYS"
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
PREFACE
What this little book contains the reader must discover for himself.
I shall not save him trouble by telling in the Preface anything about
it. Nor shall I tell more than the letters themselves show as to the
identity of John and Ruth.
It is a book with a Purpose. The purpose being to give the reader
the same pleasure that I had in compiling it when debarred for a time
from more serious work.
I am, however, not without hope that this humorous record of the
impressions of two young and unconventional Americans of the England
before the dreadful war may do a little to lessen the tension which
the nervous strain of the last few years has unhappily produced, and
so help to that mutual understanding and sympathy upon which the
welfare of the world depends. _The test of friendship is sympathetic
banter_, and is, moreover, a firmer cement than solemn speech.
My thanks are due to the _Atlantic Monthly_ for permitting the use in
book form of some passages in this chronicle which appeared as
articles in that magazine.