Dawson, W. J. AND Coningsby Hamilton, Clayton, Materials and Methods of Fiction (Chapters X and XI). Doubleday, Page & Co., 1908. Hamilton, Clayton Matthews, Brander, The Short-story. American Book Co., 1907. Matthews, Brander Perry, Bliss, A Study of Prose Fiction (Chapter XII). Houghton Mifflin Co., 1902. Perry, Bliss Smith, C. Alphonso, The American Short-story. Ginn & Co., 1912.[Pg xxvii][Pg xxvi] Smith, C. Alphonso [Pg xxvii] [Pg xxvi] [Pg xxviii] [Pg xxviii] THE SHORT-STORY [The following Tale was found among the papers of the late Diedrich Knickerbocker, an old gentleman of New York, who was very curious in the Dutch history of the province, and the manners of the descendants from its primitive settlers. His historical researches, however, did not lie so much among books as among men; for the former are lamentably scanty on his favorite topics; whereas he found the old burghers, and still more their wives, rich in that legendary lore, so invaluable to true history. Whenever, therefore, he happened upon a genuine Dutch family, snugly shut up in its low-roofed farmhouse, under a spreading sycamore, he looked upon it as a little clasped volume of black-letter, and studied it with the zeal of a book-worm. The result of all these researches was a history of the province during the reign of the Dutch governors, which he published some years since. There have been various opinions as to the literary character of his work, and, to tell the truth, it is not a whit better than it should be. Its chief merit is its scrupulous accuracy, which indeed was a little questioned
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