Excerpt from Polly's Lion: California Story for Children Dear children: When I was your age and Opened a new story book, I did so much wish that the writer would first tell me if the heroine was a real person, her name, where she lived, and just enough about the story so that I could understand the beginning. I can assure you that Polly is a real child, is pretty, lovable, and intelligent for her years. She is a native daughter of the Golden State (california). She came to us one bright morning in April, when the plains of the San Joaquin Valley were covered with beautiful wild flowers, and the meadow larks and orioles sang for joy all day long. You may be sure that she received a glad welcome when she arrived, and a downy little bed, almost hid in white lace, was ready for her. When she was six weeks old, a clergyman came down from San Francisco to baptize her, and she was named Mary Lorrain, but her mamma one day, just in fun, called her Polly, and she is still called by this pet name. She is fond of it herself, and when I say Mary, she will answer, Auntie, please call me Polly; I think it so very pretty. Her household is composed of her dear self, father, mother, and brother Rob bie J., younger than herself, and her Auntie Lorrain, who is her god mother. Her home is called Sweetbrier, from this delicious rose climbing over the building. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.