This book is intended to be read in bed. Please do not attempt to read it anywhere else. In order to obtain the best results for all concerned do not read a borrowed copy, but buy one. If the bed is a double bed, buy two. Do not lend a copy under any circumstances, but refer your friends to the nearest bookshop, where they may expiate their curiosity. Most of these sketches were first printed in the Philadelphia “Evening Public Ledger;” others appeared in “The Bookman,” the Boston “Evening Transcript,” “Life,” and “The Smart Set.” To all these publications I am indebted for permission to reprint. If one asks what excuse there can be for prolonging the existence of these trifles, my answer is that there is no excuse. But a copy on the bedside shelf may possibly pave the way to easy slumber. Only a mind "debauched by learning" (in Doctor Johnson's phrase) will scrutinize them too anxiously. It is a pleasure to publish this new, high quality, and affordable edition of this timeless book.
