secure a satisfactory facsimile of the title. The
names of some of the agents of the magazine are of historical interest.

_The_ PIONEER

_or_

California Monthly Magazine

[Illustration]

_May, 1855_

SAN FRANCISCO
PUBLISHED _by_ LE COUNT & STRONG
Nos. 111 & 113 MONTGOMERY STREET

_For_ SALE _at all the_ BOOKSTORES _in the_ CITY

AGENTS

J. W. JONES, Benicia; CHAS. BINNEY, Sacramento; R. A. EDDY & CO.,
Marysville; GEO. VINCENT & CO., Coloma; LANGTON & BRO., Downieville; A.
ROMAN, Shasta; ROMAN & PARKER, Yreka; NASH & DAVIS, Placerville; ADAMS
& CO., Jackson; ADAMS & CO., Georgetown; ADAMS & CO., Mud Springs; C. O.
BURTON, Stockton; CANNADAY & COOK, Sonora; A. A. HUNNEWELL, Columbia;
J. COFFIN, Mokelumne Hill; MILLER & CO., Chinese Camp; ELLIOTT REED,
San Jose; ALEXANDER S. TAYLOR, Monterey; R. K. SWEETLAND, Volcano;
LANGTON & BRO., Sierra County; DR. STEINBERGER, agent Adams & Co.,
Oregon; HENRY M. WHITNEY, Honolulu, S.I.

MONSON & VALENTINE, Printers, 124 Sacramento Street

But few copies of the Pioneer are known to be in existence. Odd numbers
are sometimes found, but these are generally in a mutilated condition,
while the bound volumes lack the advertisements.

The first number was issued in January, 1854, and the last in December,
1855. The first letter of the Shirley series appeared in the initial
number, and the last one in the final issue. The magazine seems to have
been well received in the East, and the Eastern magazines reviewed it
very favorably.

Of Shirley herself it is not necessary to say much in this Foreword.
She was a typical Massachusetts girl, although born in New Jersey, the
residence of the family in the latter state being merely temporary, as
is clearly shown by her correspondence. A letter from Miss Katherine
Powell, librarian of the Amherst Town Library, sheds some light on the
early associations of Shirley. In part, she says,--

In spite of widespread inquiries, I have been able to get ... [but
little] concerning Louise Amelia Knapp Smith. There are no people
now living here who knew her even by hearsay. The records of
Amherst Academy show that she attended that institution in 1839 and
1840.... Miss Smith's name adds another to the long list of writers
who have lived here at one time or another, and Amherst Academy has
added many names to that list. Two of them--Emily Dickinson the
poet, and Emily Fowler Ford--were schoolmate