FAIRY TALES
FROM
GOLD LANDS.
BY MAY WENTWORTH.
NEW YORK:
A. ROMAN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS.
SAN FRANCISCO:
417 & 419 MONTGOMERY STREET.
1868.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867,
BY A. ROMAN & COMPANY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States
for the Southern District of New York.
DEDICATION.
TO
CHILDREN EVERYWHERE,
A Merry Christmas
TO YOU ALL,
WITH MUCH LOVE, I DEDICATE THESE STORIES,
ESPECIALLY TO MY
LITTLE NIECE AND NEPHEW,
Mamie and Wentworth.
MAY WENTWORTH.
PREFACE
As a child, I was fond of stories, and well rememberthe dearth of the intermediate season, when"Jack the Giant Killer," had ceased to please, andI was yet unprepared to enjoy works written forolder and more cultivated minds. Children requirestories ingeniously written, with a pleasant tinge ofromance about them to fix their attention, and atouch of pathos that goes to the heart, to makethem good and happy.
In writing these Christmas Tales, I have earnestlyhoped they may serve to while away many a wearyhour, which finds its place even in the sunny daysof childhood.
The scenes of most of these Tales, will be laid inCalifornia, a land full of romance and beauty.
It is not strange to hear from the miners of "theearly days," tales as marvelous as those of the"Arabian Nights."
Of these "early days" I shall write, and of theviSpaniards, and Mexicans who inhabited the countrybefore the coming of the gold-seekers.
Now as I send away the first volume of the series,I think of the children who will read it, of theirsweet, innocent faces, and guileless hearts.
May the blessed Christ, who smiles upon them inthis holy Christmas season, never leave them, butdwell in their hearts making them pure and happyforever.
May Wentworth.
San Francisco, 1867.