Affectionately dedicated to
my young friend Sumner Hamilton
Britton of Chicago
Through the kindness of Dorothy
Gale of Kansas, afterward Princess
Dorothy of Oz, an humble writer
in the United States of America
was once appointed Royal Historian
of Oz, with the privilege of
writing the chronicle of that
wonderful fairyland. But after
making six books about the adventures
of those interesting but queer
people who live in the Land of
Oz, the Historian learned with
sorrow that by an edict of the
Supreme Ruler, Ozma of Oz, her
country would thereafter be rendered
invisible to all who lived outside
its borders and that all communication
with Oz would, in the future,
be cut off.
The children who had learned
to look for the books about Oz
and who loved the stories about
the gay and happy people inhabiting
that favored country, were as
sorry as their Historian that
there would be no more books
of Oz stories. They wrote many
letters asking if the Historian
did not know of some adventures
to write about that had happened
before the Land of Oz was shut
out from all the rest of the
world. But he did not know of
any. Finally one of the children
inquired why we couldn't hear
from Princess Dorothy by wireless
telegraph, which would enable
her to communicate to the Historian
whatever happened in the far-off
Land of Oz without his seeing
her, or even knowing just where
Oz is.
That seemed
a good idea; so the Historian
rigged up a high
tower in his back yard, and took
lessons in wireless telegraphy
until he understood it, and then
began to call "Princess Dorothy
of Oz" by sending messages into
the air.
Now, it wasn't likely that
Dorothy would be looking for
wireless messages or would heed
the call; but one thing the Historian
was sure of, and that was that
the powerful Sorceress, Glinda,
would know what he was doing
and that he desired to communicate
with Dorothy. For Glinda has
a big book in which is recorded
every event that takes place
anywhere in the world, just the
moment that it happens, and so
of course the book would tell
her about the wireless message.
And that was the way Dorothy
heard that the Historian wanted
to speak with her, and there
was a Shaggy Man in the Land
of Oz who knew how to telegraph
a wireless reply. The result
was that the Historian begged
so hard to be told the latest
news of Oz, so that he could
write it down for the children
to read, that Dorothy asked permission
of Ozma and Ozma graciously consented.
That is why,
after two long years of waiting,
another Oz
story is now presented to the
children of America. This would
not have been possible had not
some clever man invented the "wireless" and
an equally clever child suggested
the idea of reaching the mysterious
Land of Oz by its means.
L. Frank Baum.
"OZCOT" at
Hollywood in California
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