The Complete Writings of Charles Dudley Warner — Volume 1

MY DEAR MR. FIELDS, — I did promise to write an Introduction to these charming papers but an Introduction, — what is it? — a sort of pilaster, put upon the face of a building for looks' sake, and usually flat, — very flat. Sometimes it may be called a caryatid, which is, as I understand it, a cruel device of architecture, representing a man or a woman, obliged to hold up upon his or her head or shoulders a structure which they did not build, and which could stand just as well without as with them. But an Introduction is more apt to be a pillar, such as one may see in Baalbec, standing up in the air all alone, with nothing on it, and with nothing for it to do.