Star papers

The author has been saved the trouble of searching for a title to his book from the simple circumstance that the articles of which the work is made up appeared in the columns of the New York Independent with the signature of a STAR, and, having been familiarly called the Star Articles, by way of designation, they now become, in a book form, STAR PAPERS. Only such papers as related to art and to rural affairs, have been published in this volume. It was thought best to put all controversial articles in another, and subsequent, volume. The letters to Europe were written to home friends, during a visit of only four weeks ; a period too short to allow the subsidence of that enthusiasm which every person must needs experience who, for the first time, stands in the historic places of the Old World. An attempt to exclude from these letters any excess of personal feeling, to reduce them to a more moderate tone, to correct their judgments, or to extract from them the fiery particles of enthusiasms, would have taken away their very life. The other papers in this volume, for the most part, were written from the solitudes of the country, during the vacations of three summers.