TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
In compiling this second volume of our translation of Count Tolstoï's works we have endeavored to select only such stories as have a direct bearing upon the great problems of life and death, religion and morality, time and eternity. While it is not assumed that the author's religious views, in their entirety, are to be found between the covers of this little book, yet herein those fundamental doctrines of Christianity upon which we all agree are given an application that is unique. These stories are based upon the simple teachings of Christ—not one of them containing a line that is calculated to infringe upon the sensitive distinctions of sectarianism, or to controvert in the slightest degree the principles of any Christian denomination. This volume is peculiarly adapted, therefore, to the use of Sabbath-schools, both Protestant and Catholic—though it may be read with equal profit by adults in all walks of life:
