Introduction written in series. That in which Beechnut is found is in the Franconia series Franconia being a district in New York State. The centre of the stories is Mrs. Henry's farm, where Beechnut was what we should call a handy man, although rather a young one. In America a handy man is as good as anyone else ; and Beechnut was also a friend of the family. Phonny, or Alphonso, was Mrs. Henry's only child, and Madeline (called Malleville in some of the books) was his cousin. The Franconia stories have never had in this country the popularity which I think they deserve. Nor have, indeed, any of Abbott's writings. His Rollo books are hardly less interesting ; but I have found it impossible, so matter-of-fact and ordinary is their texture, to extract one single story of sufficient interest from any of them. One gets the full effect of Jacob Abbott's pleasant, leisurely, and very wise pen only from the whole book. He appeals cumulatively, less than page by page, or even chapter by chapter. 1 The Misses,' on page 213, from the Juvenile Forget-me-not for 1830, is by Mrs. Barbauld, and was published posthu- mously. It is included for its ingenuity and old-fashioned naivete. The Stories of Old Daniel ( about 1805), fr° m which I have taken the ' Robbers' Cave,' on page 220, was one of the publica- tions of Mrs. William Godwin, second wife of the philosopher Its anonymity has led certain enterprising booksellers to catalogue it under the name of Charles Lamb (whose children's books were written for the Godwins), hoping thereby to catch the too confiding collector. It is hardly necessary to say that Lamb did not write it ; apart from the evidence of literary style, robbers' caves were not at all in his line. I have not discovered who Old Daniel was, but there are signs that his origin was French, or at least foreign, and the book may be one of those translations upon which we know Mrs. Godwin herself to have worked. I do not greatly admire this story, which is too retrospec- tive, too much ' emotion recollected in tranquillity '; but Old xiii
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