The Spinners' Book of Fiction

"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 from it will be paid to Ina D. Coolbrith, the poet, and first chosen beneficiary of the fund. The Spinners feel assured that this book will meet with such a ready sale as to make possible the purchase of several bonds, and so render the accruing interest a steady source of aid to Miss. Coolbrith._

_All who have read and fallen under the charm of her "Songs from the Golden Gate," or felt the beauty and tenderness of the verses "When the Grass Shall Cover Me," will, without question, unite in making "assurance doubly sure" to such end._

From the days of the old Overland Monthly, when she worked side by side with Bret Harte and Charles Warren Stoddard, to the present moment, Miss. Coolbrith's name has formed a part of the literary history of San Francisco.

_The eighteenth of April, 1906, and the night which followed it, left her bereft of all literary, and other, treasures; but her poem bearing the refrain, "Lost city of my love and my desire," rings with the old genius, and expresses the feeling of many made desolate by the destruction of the city which held their most cherished memories._

When Miss. Coolbrith shall no longer need to be a beneficiary of the fund, it is intended that it shall serve to aid some other writer, artist or musician whose fortunes are at the ebb.

To the writers, artists and publishers who have so heartily and generously made this book possible, The Spinners return unmeasured thanks.

San Francisco, June 22, 1907.

CONCHA ARGUeELLO, SISTER DOMINICA

BY

GERTRUDE ATHERTON

DEDICATED TO CAROLINA XIMENO

Written for THE SPINNERS' BOOK OF FICTION All Rights Reserved