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Gentry Born, Miller Born
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Vair and Voolish
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A Reward Offered
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A Letter
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One Puzzle after Another
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Into the Hopper and Out
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Manners and Customs
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A "Pitcher"
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Making "Pitchers"
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Partners in Crime
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A Face Recognized
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A Scrape at School
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The Making of Pigs
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A Tale Told
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A Pickpocket's Reward
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A New Pig‑Minder
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Leaf‑Paintings
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A Trip to Town
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A Change of Occupation
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Under the Schoolmaster's Wing
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Mistaken Identity
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The "Heart of Oak"
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The "Black Fever"
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The Passing of Another
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Turning of the Tide
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A Second Bogy
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Looking to Mother
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A "Long-Lost Child"
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The Screever's Art
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"On and On"
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Giotto Sought
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Giotto Found
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The Bow‑Legged Boy
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A Welcome Response
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Sunshine after Storm
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The Painter's Schoolmaster
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George Tells All
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At the Academy
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Pedigree Established
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Conclusion
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Front Matter
Note to the Original Edition
T
HIS tale appeared in a serial form in "Aunt Judy's
Magazine" in the year 1873, under the title of "The
Miller's Thumb." As this name has been objected to, I
have changed it: but to one which cannot mislead any
who have read the tale into thinking that it is a new
one. It has been thoroughly revised.
It may obviate some possible misapprehension if I say
that this story was more or less suggested to me by
hearing that Constable, the great Wiltshire landscape
painter, was wont to boast of his miller's thumb, but
that no other incident of my hero's history has any
foundation in the life of this or any other artist.
The above note was written eight years ago. Within the
last twelve months I have seen, for the first time, a
painting by Gainsborough of a dark-eyed village boy,
who was employed to grind the painter's colours in a
country house in Somersetshire where he was painting.
One day the painter came suddenly
upon his little colour-grinder. The lad had set a
palette for himself, and, brush in hand, was looking
upwards as if for artistic inspiration. "Stay as you
are!" shouted Gainsborough; and catching up a canvas,
he made the portrait of which I speak. It is the
property of F. W. Newton, Esq., of Barton Grange, near
Taunton, where the incident occurred.
1884.
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