the answer he found declared that art cannot be separated from life,
nor life from industry and industrial conditions. A civilization
founded upon unrestricted competition therefore seemed to him
necessarily feeble in appreciation of the beautiful, and unequal to its
creation. In this way loyalty to his mission bred apparent disloyalty.
Delightful discourses upon art gave way to fervid pleas for humanity.
For the rest of his life he became a very earnest, if not always very
wise, social reformer and a passionate pleader for what he believed to
be true economic ideals.

There is nothing of all this in "The King of the Golden River." Unlike
his other works, it was written merely to entertain. Scarcely that,
since it was not written for publication at all, but to meet a
challenge set him by a young girl.

The circumstance is interesting. After taking his degree at Oxford,
Ruskin was threatened with consumption and hurried away from the chill
and damp of England to the south of Europe. After two years of
fruitful travel and study he came back improved in health but not
strong, and often depressed in spirit. It was at this time that the
Guys, Scotch friends of his father and mother, came for a visit to his
home near London, and with them their little daughter Euphemia. The
coming of this beautiful, vivacious, light-hearted child opened a new
chapter in Ruskin's life. Though but twelve years old, she sought to
enliven the melancholy student, absorbed in art and geology, and bade
him leave these and write for her a fairy tale. He accepted, and after
but two sittings, presented her with this charming story. The incident
proved to have awakened in him a greater interest than at first
appeared, for a few years later "Effie" Grey became John Ruskin's wife.
Meantime she had given the manuscript to a friend. Nine years after it
was written, this friend, with John Ruskin's permission, gave the story
to the world.

It was published in London in 1851, with illustrations by the
celebrated Richard Doyle, and at once became a favorite. Three
editions were printed the first year, and soon it had found its way
into German, Italian, and Welsh. Since then countless children have
had cause to be grateful for the young girl's challenge that won the
story of Gluck's golden mug and the highly satisfactory handling of the
Black Brothers by Southwest Wind, Esquire.

For this edition new drawings have been prepared by Mr. Hiram P.