A MEMORIAL SKETCH

As this—­The Captain’s Toll-Gate—­is the last of the works of Frank R. Stockton that will be given to the public, it is fitting that it be accompanied by some account of the man whose bright spirit illumined them all.  It is proper, also, that something be said of the stories themselves; of the circumstances in which they were written, the influences that determined their direction, and the history of their evolution.  It seems appropriate that this should be done by the one who knew him best; the one who lived with him through a long and beautiful life; the one who walked hand in hand with him along the whole of a wonderful road of ever-changing scenes:  now through forests peopled with fairies and dryads, griffins and wizards; now skirting the edges of an ocean with its strange monsters and remarkable shipwrecks; now on the beaten track of European tourists, sharing their novel adventures and amused by their mistakes; now resting in lovely gardens imbued with human interest; now helping the young to make happy homes for themselves; now sympathizing with the old as they look longingly toward a heavenly home; and, oftenest, perhaps, watching girls and young men as they were trying to work out the problems of their lives.  All this, and much more, crowded the busy years until the Angel of Death stood in the path; and the journey was ended.

In regard to the present story—­The Captain’s Toll-Gate—­although it is now after his death first published, it was all written and completed by Mr. Stockton himself.  No other hand has been allowed to add to, or to take from it.  Mr. Stockton had so strong a feeling upon the literary ethics involved in such matters that he once refused to complete a book which a popular and brilliant author, whose style was thought to resemble his own, had left unfinished.  Mr. Stockton regarded the proposed act in the light of a sacrilege.  The book, he said, should be published as the author left it.  Knowing this fact, readers of the present volume may feel assured that no one has been permitted to tamper with it.  Although the last book by Mr. Stockton to be published, it is not the last that he wrote.  He had completed The Captain’s Toll-Gate, and was considering its publication, when he was asked to write another novel dealing with the buccaneers.  He had already produced a book entitled Buccaneers and Pirates of our Coasts.  The idea of writing a novel while the incidents were fresh in his mind pleased him, and he put aside The Captain’s Toll-Gate, as the other book—­Kate Bonnet—­was wanted soon, and he did not wish the two works to conflict in publication.  Steve Bonnet, the crazy-headed pirate, was a historical character, and performed the acts attributed to him.  But the charming Kate, and her lover, and Ben Greenaway were inventions.

Francis Richard Stockton, born in Philadelphia in 1834, was, on his father’s side, of purely English ancestry; on his mother’s side, there was a mixture of English, French, and Irish.  When he began to write stories these three nationalities were combined in them:  the peculiar kind of inventiveness of the French; the point of view, and the humor that we find in the old English humorists; and the capacity of the Irish for comical situations.