In offering to the public this volume of Essays, all but two of which
have been read at various places on different occasions, I am aware that
there is some repetition in ideas and illustrations, but, as the dates
of their delivery and previous publication are indicated, I am letting
them stand substantially as they were written and delivered.
I am indebted to my son, Daniel P. Rhodes, for a literary revision of
these Essays; and I have to thank the editors of the _Atlantic Monthly_,
of _Scribner's Magazine_, and of the _Century Magazine_ for leave to
reprint the articles which have already appeared in their periodicals.
Boston, November, 1909.