The Spinners Book of Fiction

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The Spinner's Book of Fiction, by Various

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Title: The Spinner's Book of Fiction
Author: Various
Release Date: January 11, 2007 [EBook #20343]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration: "THE DEVIL SIT IN FILON'S EYES AND LAUGH--LAUGH--SOME TIME HE GO AWAY LIKE A MAN AT A WINDOW, BUT HE COME AGAIN. M'siu, he live there!" From a Painting by E. Almond Withrow.]

THE SPINNERS' BOOK OF FICTION
BY
GERTRUDE ATHERTON, MARY AUSTIN GERALDINE BONNER, MARY HALLECK FOOTE ELEANOR GATES, JAMES HOPPER, JACK LONDON BAILEY MILLARD, MIRIAM MICHELSON, W. C. MORROW FRANK NORRIS, HENRY MILNER RIDEOUT CHARLES WARREN STODDARD, ISOBEL STRONG RICHARD WALTON TULLY AND HERMAN WHITAKER
WITH A DEDICATORY POEM BY GEORGE STERLING
COLLECTED BY THE BOOK COMMITTEE OF THE SPINNERS' CLUB
ILLUSTRATED BY LILLIE V. O'RYAN, MAYNARD DIXON ALBERTINE RANDALL WHEELAN, MERLE JOHNSON E. ALMOND WITHROW AND GORDON ROSS INITIALS AND DECORATIONS BY SPENCER WRIGHT
PAUL ELDER AND COMPANY SAN FRANCISCO AND NEW YORK
Published in behalf of The Spinners' Benefit Fund Ina D. Coolbrith First Beneficiary Copyright, 1907 by PAUL ELDER AND COMPANY
* * * * *

TO INA D. COOLBRITH
WITH WILDER SIGHING IN THE PINE THE WIND WENT BY, AND SO I DREAMED; AND IN THAT DUSK OF SLEEP IT SEEMED A CITY BY THE SEA WAS MINE.
TO STATELIER SPRANG THE WALLS OF TYRE FROM SEAWARD CLIFF OR STABLE HILL; AND LIGHT AND MUSIC MET TO FILL THE SPLENDID COURTS OF HER DESIRE--
(EXTOLLING CHORDS THAT CRIED HER PRAISE, AND GOLDEN REEDS WHOSE MELLOW MOAN WAS LIKE AN OCEAN'S UNDERTONE DYING AND LOST ON FOREST WAYS).
BUT SWEETER FAR THAN ANY SOUND THAT RANG OR RIPPLED IN HER HALLS, WAS ONE BEYOND HER EASTERN WALLS, BY SUMMER GARDENS GIRDLED ROUND.
TWAS FROM A NIGHTINGALE, AND OH! THE SONG IT SANG HATH NEVER WORD! SWEETER IT SEEMED THAN LOVE'S, FIRST-HEARD, OR LUTES IN AIDENN MURMURING LOW.
FAINT, AS WHEN DROWSY WINDS AWAKE A SISTERHOOD OF FAERY BELLS, IT WON REPLY FROM HIDDEN DELLS, LOYAL TO ECHO FOR ITS SAKE....
I DREAMT I SLEPT, BUT CANNOT SAY HOW MANY DREAMLAND SEASONS FLED, NOR WHAT HORIZON OF THE DEAD GAVE BACK MY DREAM'S UNCERTAIN DAY.
BUT STILL BESIDE THE TOILING SEA I LAY, AND SAW--FOR WALLS O'ERGROWN-- THE CITY THAT WAS MINE HAD KNOWN TIME'S SURE AND ANCIENT TREACHERY.
ABOVE HER RAMPARTS, BROAD AS TYRE'S, THE GRASSES' MOUNTING ARMY BROKE; THE SHADOW OF THE SPRAWLING OAK USURPT THE SPLENDOR OF HER FIRES.
BUT O'ER THE FALLEN MARBLES PALE I HEARD, LIKE ELFIN MELODIES BLOWN OVER FROM ENCHANTED SEAS, THE MUSIC OF THE NIGHTINGALE.
GEORGE STERLING.

THE STORIES
CONCHA ARGüELLO, SISTER DOMINICA by Gertrude Atherton
THE FORD OF CRèVECOEUR by Mary Austin
A CALIFORNIAN by Geraldine Bonner
GIDEON'S KNOCK by Mary Halleck Foote
A YELLOW MAN AND A WHITE by Eleanor Gates
THE JUDGMENT OF MAN by James Hopper
THE LEAGUE OF THE OLD MEN by Jack London
DOWN THE FLUME WITH THE SNEATH PIANO by Bailey Millard
THE CONTUMACY OF SARAH L. WALKER by Miriam Michelson
BREAKING THROUGH by W. C. Morrow
A LOST STORY by Frank Norris
HANTU by Henry Milner Rideout
MISS. JUNO by Charles Warren Stoddard
A LITTLE SAVAGE GENTLEMAN by Isobel Strong
LOVE AND ADVERTISING by Richard Walton Tully
THE TEWANA by Herman Whitaker

THE ILLUSTRATIONS
"The devil sit in Filon's eyes and laugh--laugh--some time he go away like a man at a window, but he come again. M'siu, he live there!" from a painting by E. Almond Withrow
"She was always very sweet, our Concha, but there never was a time when you could take a liberty with her." from a painting by Lillie V. O'Ryan
"The petal of a plum blossom." from a painting by Albertine Randall Wheelan
"Not twenty feet from me Miller sat upright in his canoe as if petrified." Opp. Page from a painting by Merle Johnson
"All their ways lead to death." from a painting by Maynard Dixon
"Dawn was flooding the east, and still the boy lurched and floundered on and on." from a painting by Gordon Ross

WHEREFORE?
Wherefore this book of fiction by Californian writers? And why its appeal otherwise than that of obvious esthetic and literary qualities? They who read what follows will know.
The fund, which the sale of this book is purposed to aid, was planned by The Spinners soon after the eighteenth of April, 1906, and was started with two hundred dollars from their treasury. To this, Mrs. Gertrude Atherton added another two hundred dollars. Several women's clubs and private individuals also generously responded, so that now there is a thousand dollars to the credit of the fund. A bond has been bought and the interest