Here are twelve tales that I have known for some time but never could find leisure to write. Now release from all sorts of official duty has set me free to work at whatever I like. As they are brought together it appears that these are all stories of deliverance from some kind of peril or perplexity or bondage. The book could have had as a motto: There is always a way out. But this might be too sweeping - misleading to light readers who look for a "happy ending" in tune with their own desires. Life is not made that way. The doors of deliverance are often different from what we expected. Sometimes one that looks dark leads into liberty. However that may be, I believe that in all God's world there is no hopeless imprisonment nor endless torment. So instead of a motto I have chosen for this book a symbol: The Golden Key. Take it and use it as you will. Henry van Dyke (1852-1933) was an American clergyman, educator, and author. He graduated from Princeton in 1873, and from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1874. He was pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church, New York City (1883-99), professor of English literature at Princeton (1899-1923), and U.S. minister to the Netherlands (1913-16). Among his popular inspirational writings is the Christmas story The Other Wise Man (1896). As President Wilson's ambassador to the Netherlands from 1913, Van Dyke was a first-hand witness to the outbreak of World War I and its progress, and was a key player in the President's diplomatic efforts to keep the U.S. out of the conflict.