BUTTERED SIDE DOWN

STORIES

BY

EDNA FERBER

MARCH, 1912

FOREWORD

"And so," the story writers used to say, "they lived happily ever after."

Um-m-m—maybe. After the glamour had worn off, and the glass slipperswere worn out, did the Prince never find Cinderella's manner redolent ofthe kitchen hearth; and was it never necessary that he remind her to bemore careful of her finger-nails and grammar? After Puss in Boots hadwon wealth and a wife for his young master did not that gentleman oftenfume with chagrin because the neighbors, perhaps, refused to call on thelady of the former poor miller's son?

It is a great risk to take with one's book-children. These stories makeno such promises. They stop just short of the phrase of the old storywriters, and end truthfully, thus: And so they lived.

E. F.

CONTENTS