Howard Pyle, a chronicle by Charles D. Abbott, with an introduction by N. C. Wyeth and many illustrations from Howard Pyle's works.

THE CRUCIBLE OF NEW YORK
it is with a sigh I close a task that has been, for a brief
space, so delightful to myself.
"I shall lay aside such pleasures for a space and resume
the task, not, however, unpleasant in itself, of writing up
another budget of fables for Mrs. Dodge. The fables
and their illustrations pay me not less than sixty dollarsthe last brought me seventy-five,.*0)
"November 17, 1876.
"I went down to Scribner's yesterday to take my fables
to Mrs. Dodge. There was, I believe, some little difficulty
in regard to the blurring of the lines of my illustrations,
since both the former and Mr. Drake, the Art Editor, suggested that I should go down and see the Photoengraving
Company and obtain such suggestions as they might offer.
I could not attend to it yesterday but shall today.
"I stopped in at Mr. Smith's to see if he could refer me
to someone who would give me severe criticisms on my
articles before I submitted them to the magazines; for I
feel more and more acutely as time progresses and I begin
to know enough to 'know how little I do know,' the need
of severe advice in chopping off needless excrescences. Mr.
Smith was more than kind. He cordially invited me to come
up to his house for dinner and read my MS. to him and
Mrs. Smith afterward, and he said that even were his
criticisms useless in a literary sense, they would at least
be frank. 'I know exactly what you want,' said he. 'What
you desire is a friend. It's human nature as Christ himself
has shown when He bade the disciples go forth two-by-two
to preach His doctrine. You can rely upon one thing
and that is that your articles will always be coddled by
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