The Project Gutenberg EBook of Second Plays, by A. A. Milne

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Title: Second Plays

Author: A. A. Milne

Release Date: January 19, 2005 [EBook #14734]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SECOND PLAYS ***

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Distributed Proofreading Team.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

FIRST PLAYS
THE DAY'S PLAY
THE HOLIDAY ROUND
ONCE A WEEK
ONCE ON A TIME
NOT THAT IT MATTERS
IF I MAY
MR. PIM
THE SUNNY SIDE

SECOND PLAYS

by A.A. MILNE

New York
ALFRED A. KNOPF

Printed in Great Britain by
R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.

To

D.M.

SO LITTLE IN RETURN FOR SO MUCH

CONTENTS

MAKE-BELIEVE
MR. PIM PASSES BY
THE CAMBERLEY TRIANGLE
THE ROMANTIC AGE
THE STEPMOTHER

INTRODUCTION

Encouraged by the reviewer who announced that the Introduction to my
previous collection of plays was the best part of the book, I venture
to introduce this collection in a similar manner. But I shall be
careful not to overdo it this time, in the hope that I may win from my
critic some such tribute as, "Mr. Milne has certainly improved as a
dramatist, in that his plays are now slightly better than his
Introduction."

Since, then, I am trying to make this preface as distasteful as
possible, in order that the plays may shine out the more pleasantly, I
shall begin (how better?) with an attack on the dramatic critics. I
will relate a little conversation which took place, shortly after the
publication of "First Plays," between myself and a very much more
eminent dramatist.

EMINENT DRAMATIST (kindly) Your book seems to have been well reviewed.

MYSELF (ungratefully). Not bad--by those who reviewed it. But I doubt
if it was noticed by more than three regular dramatic critics. And
considering that two of the plays in it had never been produced--

EMINENT DRAMATIST (amused by my innocence). My dear fellow, _you_
needn't complain. I published an unproduced play a little while ago,
and it didn't get a single notice from anybody.

Now I hope that, however slightly the conversations in the plays which
follow may m