Copyright, 1900, BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. All rights reserved. Printers S. J. PARKHILL & Co., BOSTON, U.S.A. INTRODUCTION. 8165 JE v.l j TOWARDS the end of 18681 Daudet first saw him -a shivering, round-shouldered, pathetic figure, whose ill-fitting coat covered but scantily the narrow chest racked by an ominous cough. In Paris, where the sight of wretchedness and want and disease is too familiar to arrest even a momentary attention, such a figure as this might have passed on unnoticed, lost in that great stream of human life that overflows the pavements of the mighty city. Clothed in picturesque rags, it might perhaps have served some artist in search of a model, but the novelist could scarcely have singled out so familiar a figure to be the hero of a novel. Had Daudet himself first met this unfortunate in the streets of Paris, it is doubtful whether Jack would have been written at all. But it was at Champrosay they met, Champrosay which plays no small part in Daudet's life, and is mentioned lovingly in connection with his labors. To what chance they owed their acquaintance we do not know, but for a time they were neighbors. We remember with what tireless patience that 1 1 Jack was first published in 1876. M151 |