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Who are far wiser in their way and far better in every way, than I; and yet who have not the wisdom to know it Who do not merely think I am perfect, but who are calmly and permanently convinced of my perfection;--and this in spite of fifty disillusions a day Who are frantically happy at my coming and bitterly woebegone in my absence Who never bore me and never are bored by me Who never talk about themselves and who always listen with rapturous interest to anything I may say Who, having no conventional standards, have no respectability;and who, having no conventional consciences, have no sins Who teach me finer lessons in loyalty, in patience, in true courtesy, in unselfishness, in divine forgiveness, in pluck and in abiding good spirits than do all the books I have ever read and all the other models I have studied Who have not deigned to waste time and eyesight in reading a word of mine and who will not bother to read this verbose tribute to themselves In short, to the most gloriously satisfactory chums who ever appealed to human vanity and to human desire for companionship TO OUR TEN SUNNYBANK COLLIES MY STORY IS GRATEFULLY ANDAFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED