MEMORIES AND VAGARIES BY AXEL MUNTHE AUTHOR OF THE STORY OF SAN
MICHELE ETC, Chacmi ne doit raconter que ce quil a TU lui-ro me de
cette fagon le monde connattra la v6rlt NEW YORK E. P. BUTTON 8c
CO., INC. MEMORIES ANDVA IBS I figST PUBLISHED IN TrfE
UNITED-SrSpES 0 AMERICA BY E. P. DUTXQN COMPANY, INC. 1980 1930
SXCOND PRINTING .... H . M . WH .... M ... NovEMBES f 1930 THIRD
PRINTING ... ... NOVEMBER, 1930 FOURTH PRINTING .. M . H . H .....
M ....... NOVEKBES, 1930 FIFTH PRINTING .............. NovEMBB2,
1930 SIXTH PRINTING MMMM . MmM ... M . M ... JNovEiCBER, 1930
SEVENTH PRINTING ................ NOVZMBER, 1930 EIGHTH PRINTING ..
M..... M.-. NOVEMBBR, 1930 NINTH PRINTING
............................... NOVEMBER, 1930 TENTH PRINTING
......... NOVEMBER, 1930 ELEVENTH PRINTING NOVEMBER, 1930 TWXXFTH
PRINTING . .. ...... NOVEMBER, 1930 TO R. B. CUNNINGHAME GRAHAM
JFROM HIS jElHEND AND ATVfti i K U. K. PREFACE TO THE T LIRD
ENGLISH EDITION BENEVOLENT readers of The Story of Sew Michele have
come forth with a gallant attempt to rescue this little book from
oblivion. I fear I have not done very well for myself by consenting
to a re print of these small sketches or stories, or whatever they
are to be called. They were all written long, long ago by an
inexperienced hand in rather indif ferent English. I flatter myself
with the belief that, were I to sit down and rewrite them to-day, I
would make a better book, at least to the majority of its readers.
But there still exists a minority of booklovers with a sneaking
weakness for sponta neous writing, who will, maybe, approve of my
bold ness in leaving these stories just as they were writ ten, to
take care of themselves as best they can. Readersof The Story of
San Michele will come . across several old acquaintances here, all
in their same old clothes, for they have nothing else to put on
their backs. My friend Archangelo Fusco, the street-sweeper of
Quartier Montparnasse the Sal vatore family Don Gaetano, the
organ-grinder PREFACE with his shivering monkey Monsieur Alfredo
with the MS. of his last five-act tragedy under his arm, are all
here. Even Soeur Philomne, the sweet guar dian angel of Salle St.
Claire in the Paris hospital, lives and dies in these pages. The
same shabby old monks and priests are carrying through the cholera
slums of Naples their respective madonnas and patron saints, all
quarrelling among themselves. The same glorious sun is shining over
Golfo di Napoli. Out of its sparkling waters rises the same
enchanted island, where the same friendly people welcome the
reader. Even the dogs in this book are wagging their tails in token
of recognition. The beloved Tappio in the chapter When Tappio was
lost in this book was the great-grandfather of the Tappio Miss Hall
took for his daily walk in Villa Borghese, and who lay half -
asleep in the sunny pergola of San Michele while Billy, the
drunkard baboon, was busy catching his fleas. The pedigree of Billy
is more obscure, though I still stick to my belief that he was an
illegitimate son of II Demonio. But I know for certain that the
wooden horse I gave on Christmas Day to John, the blue-eyed lit tle
boy in The Story of San Michele, was a lineal descendant of the
wooden horse which Petrucchio, the child of sorrow of the Salvatore
family, is hold ing in his withered hand in this book. I know, too,
that my friend Archangelo Fusco, the street sweeper in Impasse
Roussel, is the same Archangelo Fusco I met in Heaven in the last
chapter of the PREFACE book of San Michele. I am equally certain
that his cruel landlord, the money-lender to the poor in Im passe
Roussel, whom I caused to hang himself in this book, is now keeping
company in hell with the ex-butcher who blinded the quails with a
red-hot needle in The Story of San Michele. Memories and Vagaries
have been out of print for long...
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