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He spake to them, standing upon the top step that led into the sanctuary, and the step upon which he stood may be found there to this day.
The King first told his people how matters stood within the kingdom. Sweden had been attacked by both Russia and Denmark. Under ordinary circumstances this would not be alarming, but at present the army was so filled with traitors[277-1] that he could hardly depend on it. He saw, therefore, no alternative but to go out himself to the small towns and ask his subjects whether they wished to side with the traitors or were willing to help the King with soldiers and money to save the Fatherland.
While he was making this earnest appeal, the sturdy peasants stood attentively before him, making no comment, nor giving any sign as to whether they agreed or not. Now the King had felt inwardly pleased at the forcefulness of his own appeal, so when the men stood silent, unable to give their answer, he frowned and showed his disappointment.
The farmers understood that the King was impatient for their reply, and at length one stepped forward. "Now you must know, King Gustav," he said, "that we were not expecting a visit from our King here to-day. We are therefore not prepared to answer you immediately. I would suggest that you go into the sanctuary and speak with our minister while we discuss among ourselves this matter which you have presented to us."
The King, perceiving that no better solution was possible, decided to take the farmer's advice.
When he entered the study, he found no one there except an old farmer. He was tall and rough, with hands large and horny from hard work. He wore neither robe nor collar, but only leather breeches and a long white homespun coat, like the other peasants. He arose and bowed as the King entered.
"I believed that I should meet the minister here," said the King.
The other reddened with embarrassment, for he realized that it might be annoying to the King to be told that he had mistaken the minister for a farmer.
"Yes," he admitted, "the pastor is usually found here."
The King seated himself in a large armchair that stood in the study at that time, and which still stands there with a single change; the congregation has placed upon the back a gold crown.
"Have you a good minister here?" asked the King, wishing to show interest in the people's welfare.
When the King questioned him thus, the pastor felt that it was impossible to admit who he was. He decided that it was better to let the King think he was only a farmer, so he answered: "The minister is fair; he preaches the clear word of God, and he tries to live as he preaches."
The King thought this a good recommendation. His sharp ear, however, had detected a certain hesitation in the tone of the man. He said, therefore, "It sounds, though, as if you are not entirely satisfied with your pastor."
"He may be a bit hardheaded," said the other, thinking inwardly, "If the King should later discover who I am, he will realize that I did not pour compliments over myself." He decided, therefore, to come out with a bit of criticism. "There be those who would say that the minister is inclined to want to be the ruler in this hamlet," he continued.
"Then he has surely directed and managed everything in the best possible way," said the King. He was not pleased to have the farmer finding fault with some one placed over him. "It appears to me that everything here is ruled by good habit and old-fashioned simplicity."
"The people are good," said the minister, "because they live in a remote place in isolation and poverty. The people here would probably be no better than others if the trials and temptations of the world came nearer to them."
"There is little chance that this will happen," said the King with a shrug of his shoulder.
He said nothing further but began drumming on the table with his fingers. He felt that he had exchanged enough words with this farmer, and wondered when the people would be ready with their answer.
"Those peasants are not very eager about coming to their King with aid," he thought. "If my coach were only ready, I would drive away from them and their deliberations."
The minister, deeply troubled, strove within himself as to how he should act on an important question that must be settled quickly. He felt glad that he had not told the King who he was, for now he could discuss matters that otherwise he would have been unable to bring forward.
After a time he broke the embarrassing silence by asking the King if it really were true that enemies were besieging them and their kingdom was in danger.
The King, feeling that this person should have sense enough to leave him undisturbed, looked at him for a time without reply.
"I asked the question because, standing within the study here, I could not hear clearly what you said to the people. But in case it is true, I should like to state that the pastor of this parish might possibly be in a position to furnish the King as much money as he would need."
"I thought you said that every one here was poor," said the King, thinking that the farmer did not know what he was talking about.
"Yes, that is true," agreed the pastor, "and the minister has no more than any other. But if the King will honor me by listening, I will explain how it is that the minister has power to help."
"You may speak," said King Gustav. "You seem to find it easier to express yourself than your friends and neighbors outside, who never will be ready with their answer."
"It is not an easy matter to answer a King. I fear that, in the end, it will be necessary for their pastor to speak in their stead."
The King crossed his knees, folded his arms, and dropped his head. "You may begin," he said, with an air of preparing to fall asleep.
"Once upon a time the pastor and four men from his parish went elk hunting," began the minister. "Besides the pastor, there were two soldiers, Olaf and Erik Svard, the landlord of the village, and a farmer named Israels Pers Perssons."
"Should not mention so many names," grumbled the King, as he shifted his head a bit.
"The men were good hunters and usually had good luck, but this day they traveled far without getting any game. At last they gave up the hunt and sat down on the ground to talk. They remarked upon the strange fact that so large a section of the country should be unsuitable for cultivation. All was rocks, hills, or morass.
"'Our Lord has not done right by us, when he has given us such poor land to live in,' said one of them. 'In other sections people have riches and plenty, but here in spite of all our efforts we can hardly get sufficient for our daily needs.'"
The minister stopped a moment as if uncertain whether the King had heard him. The King, however, moved his little finger as a sign that he was still awake.
"As the hunters were talking of their ill fortune, the minister noticed something glittering where he had overturned a bit of moss with his boot. 'This is a remarkable mountain,' he thought. Overturning more of the moss and picking up a piece of stone that clung to it, he exclaimed, 'Can it be possible that this is lead ore!'
"The others came eagerly over to the speaker and began uncovering the rock with their rifle stocks. They thus exposed a broad mineral vein on the side of the mountain.
"'What do you suppose this is?' asked the minister.
"Each man broke loose a piece of the rock and, biting it as a crude test, said he thought it should be at least zinc or lead.
"'And the whole mountain is full of it,' eagerly ventured the landlord."
When the minister had reached this stage of the story, the King slightly raised his head and partly opened one eye.
"Do you know if any of these persons had any knowledge of minerals or geology?"
"No, they did not," answered the minister. Whereupon the King's head sank and both eyes closed.
"The minister and those with him were highly pleased," continued the pastor, undisturbed by the King's indifference. "They believed that they had found something which would enrich not only themselves, but their posterity as well.
"'Nevermore shall I need to work,' said one of them. 'I can do nothing the whole week through and on Sunday I shall ride to church in a gold chariot.'
"These were usually men of good sense, but their great discovery had gone to their heads, so that now they spoke like children. They had enough presence of mind, however, to lay the moss carefully back in place so as to hide the mineral vein. Then, after taking careful note of the location, they journeyed home.
"Before parting, they all agreed that the minister should go to Falun and ask the mineralogist there what kind of ore this might be. He was to return as soon as possible, and until then they all swore by a binding oath that they would not reveal to any person the location of the ore."
The king slightly raised his head but did not interrupt the narrative. He began to believe apparently that the man really had something important to tell, though he did not permit himself to be aroused out of his indifference.
"The minister started upon his journey with a few samples of ore in his pocket. He was just as happy in the thought of becoming wealthy as any of the others were. He mused upon how he would repair the parsonage that now was no better than a cottage; and how he could marry the daughter of the bishop, as he had long desired. Otherwise he would be compelled to wait for her many years, for he was poor and obscure, and he knew it would be a long time before he would be assigned to a place that would enable him to marry the girl of his choice.
"The minister's journey to Falun took him two days. There he was compelled to wait a day for the return of the mineralogist. When he finally showed the samples of the ore, the man took them in his hand, looked at them, and then at the stranger. The minister told the story of how he had found these samples in the vicinity of his home, and asked if they might be lead.
"'No, it is not lead.'
"'Zinc, then?' faltered the minister.
"'No, neither is it zinc.'
"All hope sank within the breast of the minister. He had not felt so downcast in many a day.
"'Do you have many stones like these in your country?' asked the mineralogist.
"'We have a whole mountain,' answered the minister.
"Then the man advanced toward the minister and slapping him on the shoulder said, 'Let us see that you make such use of it that will bring great good both to you and to our Kingdom, for you have found silver.'"
"'Is that true?' said the minister rather dazed; 'so it is silver?'
"The mineralogist explained to him what he should do in order to obtain legal rights to the mine, and gave him much good advice, also. The minister, however, stood bewildered and heard not a word that was said. He thought only of the wonderful news that back home in his poor neighborhood lay a whole mountain of silver ore waiting for him."
The King raised his head so suddenly that the minister broke off the narrative. "I suppose when the minister came home and began working the mine he found that the mineralogist had misinformed him."
"No," said the minister, "it was as the man had said."
"You may continue," and the King settled himself again to listen.
"When the minister reached home, the first thing he did was to start out to tell his comrades of the value of their find. As he drove up to Landlord Stensson's place, where he had intended to go in and inform his friend that they had found silver, he paused at the gate, for he saw that white sheets had been hung before the windows and a broad path of hemlock boughs led up to the door step."
"'Who has died here?' inquired the minister of a little boy who stood leaning against the fence.
"'It is the landlord himself.' Then he told the minister that for a week past the landlord had been drinking ever and ever so much liquor, until he was drunk all the time.
"'How can that be?' asked the pastor. 'The landlord never before drank to excess.'
"'Well, you see,' said the boy, 'he drank because he was possessed with the idea that he had found a mine. He was so rich, he said, that he would never need to do anything now but drink. Last night he drove out, drunk as he was, and fell out of the carriage and was killed.'
"After the minister had heard all this, he started homeward, grieving over what he had learned. And only a moment before he had been so elated over the good news he had to tell his friends.
"When the minister had gone a short distance, he met Israels Pers Persson walking along the road. He appeared as usual and the minister was glad that their good fortune had not turned his head. He would immediately gladden him with the news that he was now a rich man.
"'Good-day!' said the minister.
"'Do you come now from Falun?'
"'Yes, and I can tell you that things turned out better than we thought. The mineralogist said that it was silver ore.'
"Pers Persson looked as if the earth had opened to engulf him. 'What is it you say? Is it silver?'
"'Yes, we shall all be rich men now and able to live as royalty.'
"'Oh, is it silver?' repeated Pers Persson, in still greater dejection.
"'It certainly is silver,' said the minister. 'Don't think that I would deceive you. You should not be afraid of being glad.'
"'Glad!' said Pers Persson, 'should I be glad? I thought it was fool's gold, so it seemed better to take a certainty for an uncertainty. I sold my share in the mine to Olaf Svard for one hundred dollars.'
"He looked very downhearted, and the minister left him standing there with tears in his eyes.
"When the minister reached home, he sent a servant to Olaf Svard and his brother asking them to come to the manse that he might tell them the nature of their find. He felt that he had had enough of trying to spread the good news himself.
"But that evening, as the minister sat alone, joy again filled his heart. He went out and stood upon a hillock where he had decided to build the new parsonage. This, of course, should be very grand, as grand as the bishop's home itself. He was not satisfied, moreover, with the idea of repairing the old church. It occurred to him that, as there was so much wealth in the hamlet, many people would find their way to the place, until finally a large town would probably be built around the mine. He reasoned that it would be necessary then to build a large new church in place of the old one, which would require a great portion of his riches. Neither could he stop here in his dreams, for he thought that when the time came to dedicate this grand new church, the King and many bishops would be there. The King would be glad to see such a church, but he would remark that there were not fit accommodations to be had in the town. It would be necessary, therefore, to build a castle in the city."
At this point one of the King's courtiers opened the door of the study and announced that the King's coach had been repaired.
The King thought at first that he would depart immediately but, reconsidering, he said to the minister, "You may continue your story to the end, but make it shorter. We know how the man dreamed and thought; now we want to know what he did."
"While the minister sat in the midst of his dreams," went on the speaker, "word came to him that Israels Pers Perrson had taken his life. He could not endure the thought of his folly in selling his share of the mine. He felt he would be unable to live and see from day to day another enjoy the wealth that might have been his."
The King moved slightly in his chair. He now had both eyes wide open. "Methinks," said he, "that had I been this minister, I should have had enough of that mine."
"The King is a rich man; at least he has plenty. It was not so with the minister, who owned nothing. This poor man, when he saw that God's blessing appeared not to be with his undertaking, thought: 'I shall not dream further about making myself prosperous and useful with these riches. I cannot let the silver mine lie in the ground, however; I must take out the ore for the poor and needy. I will work the silver mine to help put the whole community on its feet.'
"One day the minister went over to Olaf Svard's to talk with him and his brother about the best disposal of the mine. When he came near the soldier's home, he met a cart surrounded by awe-stricken farmers. Within the cart sat a man, his feet bound with a rope and his hands behind him.
"As the minister passed, the cart stopped, giving the minister an opportunity to observe the prisoner more closely. His head was bound around so that it was hard to see him, but the minister thought he recognized Olaf Svard. He heard the prisoner pleading with the guards to let him speak with the minister.
"As he came closer to the cart, the prisoner turned towards him, saying, 'You will soon be the only one who knows where the silver mine is.'
"'What is that you say, Olaf?'
"'You see, minister, since we heard that it is a silver mine we have found, my brother and I have not remained such good friends as formerly. We often have come to disputes, and last night we had an argument over which one of us five first found the mine. We came to blows, and I have killed my brother and he has given me a deep mark on my forehead.[290-1] I shall hang now and you will then be the only one who knows the site of the mine. I should like to request something of you.'
"'Speak up,' said the minister. 'I will do all in my power for you.'
"'You know I shall leave several little children behind me,' said the soldier.
"'So far as that is concerned,' interrupted the minister, 'you may rest easy. Whatever is your share they shall have.'
"'No,' said Olaf, 'it is another thing I wanted to ask of you. Do not let them have any part of that which comes out of the mine.'
"The minister fell back a few steps, then remained motionless, unable to reply.
"'If you do not promise me this, I cannot die in peace.'
"The minister at last promised reluctantly, and the cart continued on its way, bearing the murderer to his doom.
"The minister stood there in the road, deliberating on how he should keep the promise he had just given. All the way home he thought over the riches which he had expected would bring such joy.
"'If it should prove,' he mused, 'that the people of this parish are unable to endure wealth, since already four have died who had been strong practical men, ought I not to give up the idea of working the mine?' He pictured his whole parish going to destruction because of the silver. Would it be right that he, who was placed as a guardian over the souls of these poor people, should put into their hands something which might be the cause of their ruin?"
The King raised himself upright in his chair and stared at the speaker. "I might say that you give me to understand that the pastor of this isolated community must be a real man."
"But this that I have related was not all," continued the minister, "for as soon as the news of the mine spread over the neighboring parishes, workers ceased to labor and went about light-heartedly, awaiting the time when the great riches should pour in on them. All idlers in that section roamed into the hamlet. Drunkenness, quarreling, and fighting became constant problems for the minister's solution. Many people did nothing but wander around through fields and forest looking for the mine. The minister noted, also, that as soon as he left home, men spied upon him to see whether he visited the silver mine, so that they might steal the secret of its location from him.
"When things had come to this pass, the minister called the farmers to a meeting. He reminded them of the many tragedies that the discovery of the silver mine had brought to their community and asked if they were going to allow themselves to be ruined or if they wished to save themselves. And then he asked if they wanted him, who was their pastor, to contribute to their ruin. He himself had decided that he would not reveal to anyone the location of the mine, nor would he ever attempt to derive any wealth therefrom.
"He then asked the farmers how they would vote for the future. If they desired to continue seeking after the mine and awaiting riches, he intended to go so far from them that no news of their misery would ever reach him. If, on the other hand, they would give up thinking of the silver mine, he would remain among them. 'But however you choose,' repeated the minister, 'remember that no one will ever hear from me any information about the location of the silver mine.'"
"Well," said the King, "what did the farmers decide?"
"They did as the minister desired of them. They understood that he meant well for them when he was willing to remain in poverty for their sake. They urged him to go to the forest and take every precaution to conceal the vein so that no one would ever find it."
"Since then the minister has remained here as poor as the others?"
"Yes, as poor as the others."
"Has he, in spite of this, married and built a new parsonage?"
"No, he has not had the means. He lives in the same old place."
"That is a beautiful story," said the King, bending his head.
The minister stood silent before the King. In a few minutes the latter continued: "Was it of the silver mine that you were thinking when you said that the minister here could furnish me with as much money as I should need?"
"Yes," said the other.
"But I can't put thumb-screws on him; and how otherwise could I bring a man like him to show me the mine—a man who has forsaken his beloved and all material blessings?"
"That is another matter," said the minister. "If it is the Fatherland that needs help, he will undoubtedly give up the secret."
"Do I have your assurance for that?"
"Yes, I will answer for it."
"Does he not care, then, how it goes with his parishioners?"
"That shall stand in God's hands."
The King arose from his chair and walked over to the window. He stood for a moment observing the people outside. The longer he stood, the clearer his large eyes glistened. His whole stature seemed to expand.
"You may present my compliments to the minister of this parish," said the King, "and say to him that there is given no more beautiful sight to Sweden's King than to see such a people as these."
Thereupon the King turned from the window and looked smilingly at the minister. "Is it true that the minister of this parish is so poor that he takes off his black robe as soon as the service is over and dresses as one of the peasants?"
"Yes, he is as poor as that," said the minister, and a flush of embarrassment spread over his rough but noble face.
The King again stepped to the window. He apparently was in his best mood. All that was great and noble within him had been awakened. "He shall let the silver mine rest in peace. Since through all his life he has starved and worked to perfect a people such as these, he shall be permitted to keep them as they are."
"But if the kingdom is in danger——"
"The kingdom is better served with men than with money." When he had said these words, the King shook hands with the minister and stepped out of the study.
Outside stood the people, as impassive as when he went in. But when the King came down the steps, one of the farmers approached him.
"Have you talked with our minister?"
"Yes, I have talked with him."
"Then you have also received answer from us," said the farmer.
"Yes, I have received your answer."
—Translated from the Swedish by C. Frederick Carlson.
NOTES
O. HENRY (Page 11)
Sydney Porter, whose pen name was O. Henry, was an American journalist who lived during the years 1862 to 1910. For several years he wandered in the South and Southwest, gathering the many and varied experiences of a journalistic career. These he aptly used in his numerous short stories, and he was ever a beguiling story teller.
He finally settled down in New York City and there wrote his best stories. Instead of writing of the Four Hundred, or the social set of the great city, as so many other writers were fond of doing, with his clever pen he revealed to us through little sketches the real life of the four million others in New York. Laundresses, messenger boys, policemen, clerks, even the tramps ever present in the parks were pictured for us as real everyday people whom one could find anywhere. Read his stories in The Four Million, from which "The Gift of the Magi" is taken, for you will like them.
O. Henry, while his stories usually lack the qualities of enduring literature, those of a cultured style and a universal theme—a theme that will be true to human experience through the ages—is yet master of the composition of the short story. Examine "The Gift of the Magi" and you will find that it develops one main incident carried out in a single afternoon with all the necessary details compressed; that is, the details are suggested in a few words but not developed. The story has originality and appeals to the imagination of the reader, for the whole life of the two characters is suggested through this brief, rather touching sketch. The end, though it is a surprise and comes like the crack of a whip, was nevertheless carefully prepared for. Then the writer is through, and we are left with the feeling that we know this everyday young couple, who after all have the priceless gift, an unselfish love, which, hidden from the eyes of the world, glorifies their commonplace existence.
O. Henry approaches true literature here, for he has a theme that has lived and will ever live to uplift human life. His style too, influenced by his theme, is raised somewhat from his usual slangy expression.
The Gift of the Magi
11, 1. The Magi. Wise men who brought gifts to the infant Christ as he lay in the manger at Bethlehem.
13, 1. Queen of Sheba. A queen of Old Testament history, who is reported to have sought an alliance with Solomon, King of Israel, in the tenth century B.C., bringing to him fabulous gifts of gold and jewels.
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BOOTH TARKINGTON (Page 19)
Booth Tarkington was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1869. The author's love for and knowledge of his native state is revealed to us in several of his best novels. He was educated at Exeter Academy, at Purdue University, and at Princeton.
Mr. Tarkington may truly be said to be a literary man. Unlike most of our other authors, he has had no other formal occupation except that of writing. To this work, since he left Princeton, he has given all of his time and energy. For eight years he wrote stories that were always rejected. His courage and perseverance, however, were finally richly rewarded. With his first accepted work, The Gentleman from Indiana, he attained a secure position as a writer of distinction.
Mr. Tarkington is said to be exceedingly companionable and entirely without self-consciousness and egotism. He is a ready and entertaining talker and tells a story as well as he writes one. He has, too, a keen sense of the humorous. This naturalness and this sense of humor may be noticed readily in the story, "A Reward of Merit" selected from Penrod and Sam.
The books, Penrod, Penrod and Sam, and Seventeen are studies of the human boy, presented in a series of chapters that read like so many short stories.
A Reward of Merit
21, 1. Obedient to inherited impulse. The boys followed an unreasoning impulse in their nature, inherited from their savage ancestors, who got their living by pursuing and killing running animals.
2. Automatons of instinct. Creatures guided, not by reason or will, but by tendencies inherited from savage ancestors.
22, 1. Practioner of an art, etc. A humorous way of saying that gambling by the method of throwing dice dates back probably further than the time of the Romans.
30, 1. Sang-froid. A French word meaning coolness under trying circumstances.
36, 1. Gothic. A term applied to certain types of architecture of the Middle Ages. Whitey, with bones and ribs showing, suggested the pillars and pointed arches of a Gothic building.
43, 1. Nemesis. An ancient goddess in Greek literature who justly punished any one who sinned.
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MARY RAYMOND SHIPMAN ANDREWS (Page 48)
Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews is a well-known short story writer of the present day. She was born in Mobile, Alabama. Her present home is in Syracuse, New York.
Mrs. Andrews is perhaps best known by her story of Lincoln, "The Perfect Tribute," the one of her stories which will surely endure the test of time and rank high as literature. Among her best work are also stories of camping trips in the Canadian woods—stories which show her keen delight in life out-of-doors, for Mrs. Andrews says of herself, "I paddle a canoe much better than I write a story."
In "American, Sir!" the story of the World War given in this book, one finds Mrs. Andrews's usual qualities of sentiment, dramatic effect, and distinctive style. To readers of "The Perfect Tribute," it is enough to say that in her stories of the recent war Mrs. Andrews writes with the same exalted spirit of American patriotism that she showed in that story of the Civil War. She believes that out of the sorrow and suffering of the war have come the glory of courage and self-sacrifice and a new and deeper love for America.
"American, Sir!"
49, 1. "Tapped" for "Bones" or "Scroll and Key." "Bones" and "Scroll and Key" are two fraternities at Yale to which the students deem it a great honor to belong. On the great day when new members are chosen, every one assembles on the campus, where the new members are tapped on the shoulder by old members and told to go to their rooms.
52, 1. Croix de Guerre. The French War Cross, a decoration given by France to soldiers for extreme bravery and self-sacrifice.
2. Caporetto disaster. The Italian army was overwhelmingly defeated by the Germans near the village of Caporetto on October 24, 1917. This disaster was brought about by fraternization, or friendly relations, between the soldiers of the Austro-German and Italian armies. Skillful German propaganda had led the Italians to believe that fighting would be brought to an end if the Italian soldiers would do no more shooting. Then new German troops were brought forward to make a deadly attack upon the Italian army. So thoroughly had the Germans played their game that the Italians lost more than 250,000 prisoners and 2300 guns before they realized how they had been duped.
3. Lombardy and Venetia. Provinces in northern Italy, which are noted for their beautiful scenery and places of interest to tourists.
4. Tagliamento. A small river in northern Italy. The Italian army made a stand here in a bloody encounter with the Germans.
5. Piave. Another river in northern Italy, south of the Tagliamento. Here the Italians brought the Germans to a stand and held them for several months. They did this by a system of lagoon defenses from the lower Piave to the Gulf of Venice. This is most interesting to read about in any of the histories of the World War.
55, 1. Bersagliari. Italian sharp-shooters.
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KATHERINE MAYO (Page 68)
Katherine Mayo was born in Ridgway, Pennsylvania, but she was educated at private schools in Boston and Cambridge, and her home has long been in New York City.
She is a contributor to our best periodicals, The Atlantic Monthly, Scribner's, The North American, The Outlook, and The Saturday Evening Post. Her stories are almost all founded on facts. The story "John G." in this collection of short stories is selected from The Standard Bearers, which is a group of true narratives concerning the Pennsylvania State Police. These tales are told by Miss Mayo in a finely distinctive way which makes vivid the gallant deeds of these brave men.
Miss Mayo's interest in the history and deeds of the Pennsylvania State Police was aroused by her personal experience of the helplessness of country districts in New York state to prevent or punish crime. Miss Mayo had heard that Pennsylvania years ago had acknowledged its duty to protect all its people, and to that end had established a rural patrol known as the State Police. Finding little in print concerning this force, she went to Pennsylvania to study the facts first hand.
The results of her investigations she published early in 1917 in her book, Justice to All, with an introduction by ex-President Roosevelt, in which he declares the volume to be so valuable that it should be in every public library and every school-library in the land.
In The Standard Bearers, she tells of some of the special feats of early members of that now famous force. No detective stories, no tales of the Wild West can exceed in thrilling human interest these true narratives of events that have happened in our own time and in our own country.
Miss Mayo during the world war has done active work over seas in the "Y." True stories of her experiences with the doughboys have appeared in The North American, and in The Outlook.
John G.
68, 1. Barrack-Room Ballads. Poems by Rudyard Kipling with the atmosphere of the far East.
69, 1. Pennsylvania State Police. See sketch of Katherine Mayo.
2. I. W. W. Industrial Workers of the World, a revolutionary labor organization. The members have given much trouble by their extreme views, such as eternal war against their employers. They believe that they should organize as a class and take possession of the earth, abolishing the wage system.
70, 1. Blue ribbon. A sign of distinction; a blue ribbon worn by a horse at a horse show denotes that he has won the first prize.
2. Atlantis. A mythical island of vast extent mentioned by Plato and other ancient writers and placed by them in the distant unknown West.
72, 1. Two by twelves. A plank two inches thick by twelve inches wide.
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MYRA KELLY (Page 77)
Myra Kelly, who later became Mrs. Allan Macnaughton, was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1876 and died in England in 1910. She lived almost all of her short life, however, in New York City. Here she was educated in the public schools and at Teachers College, Columbia University.
She was an American teacher and author. She taught in the New York public schools from 1899 to 1901 and at Teachers College in 1902 and 1903. She first became known by her stories of children in the primary schools of New York City. She wrote chiefly of the children of the East Side, with whom she had had first-hand experience, while teaching in the public schools. Her stories give the Yiddish dialect inimitably and they show a fine, wise tolerance as well as a shrewd knowledge of child character.
Mrs. Macnaughton's published volumes include Little Citizens, Wards of Liberty, Rosnah, Little Aliens, New Faces, and Her Little Young Ladyship. The story "Friends," presented in this collection, is taken from Little Aliens.
Little Aliens contains nine stories, of which the settings are all in the homes of the children. Most of the stories in her first volume, Little Citizens, have their settings in the schools. The stories reveal a rich humor, an underlying pathos, a deep understanding of child nature, and a full grasp of the conditions with which all aliens, big or little, must contend.
Friends
77, 1. Friends. The dialect spoken by the child in this story is the American adaptation of the Yiddish, which is a German dialect spoken by the Jews of eastern Europe, containing many Hebrew and Slav expressions.
78, 1. Board of Monitors. A group of children appointed by the pupils to help the teacher in various ways.
79, 1. Krisht. Christian.
82, 1. Rabbi. A Jewish title for a teacher or interpreter of the law, also a pastor of a Jewish congregation. Kosher law refers to special Jewish laws. The laws regarding food specify how animals must be slaughtered in order that the meat may be ceremonially clean.
89, 1. Vis-a-vis. Opposite to one another.
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HAMLIN GARLAND (Page 97)
Hamlin Garland is a poet and novelist, whose stories are set mostly in the Middle West. He was born in 1860 on a farm near the present site of West Salem, Wisconsin. In 1869 his family moved out on the prairie of Mitchell County, Iowa, the scene of his Boy Life on the Prairie, and of many of the stories in Main-Traveled Roads. The selection, "A Camping Trip," given in this volume, is taken from Boy Life on the Prairie.
Mr. Garland's education was different from that of most of his contemporaries. When about sixteen, he became a pupil at the Cedar Valley Seminary, Osage, Iowa, though he worked on a farm during six months of the year. He graduated in 1881 from this school and for a year tramped through the eastern states. His people having settled in Brown County, Dakota, he drifted that way in the spring of 1883 and took up a claim in McPherson County, where he lived for a year on the unsurveyed land, making studies of the plains country, which were of great value to him later. The Moccasin Ranch and several of his short stories resulted from this experience.
In the fall of 1884 he sold his claim and returned to the East, to Boston, intending to qualify himself for teaching. He soon found a helpful friend in Professor Moses True Brown, and became a pupil, and a little later an instructor, in the Boston School of Oratory. During years from 1885 to 1889 he taught private classes in English and American literature, and lectured in and about Boston on Browning, Shakespeare, the drama, etc., writing and studying meanwhile in the public library. In Boston he made the acquaintance of Oliver Wendell Holmes, William Dean Howells, Edward Everett Hale, Edwin Booth, and other leaders in literature and art.
Mr. Garland wrote his stories from first-hand experience with men under certain typical American conditions. His stories of Boy Life on the Prairie and of Main-Traveled Roads are grim stories of farm life in the West. They portray the conditions under which people lived on the prairies only a generation or two ago. He shows us that men may become true and strong because of their battle with such conditions. His books are as truly American as any our country has produced.
As a writer of literature, these books show Mr. Garland to be a realist, that is, a writer who deals with the facts of real life, but as you read Boy Life on the Prairie, you will see that he is fond of the ideal, of the fanciful, and of descriptions of simple rural scenes. The latter quality is very plain, when he writes of the birds and of the thrill of the open country that comes to the boys on their camping trip.
A Camping Trip
100, 1. A prairie schooner. A long canvas-covered wagon used especially by emigrants crossing the prairies.
105, 1. Skimmer-bugs. Bugs that skip or glide over the surface of the water.
111, 1. Luff. To turn the head of a vessel towards the wind. Hard-a-port is a direction given to the helmsman, meaning to put the helm quickly to the port or left side.
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DOROTHY CANFIELD FISHER (Page 114)
Dorothea Canfield, the author of "A Thread Without a Knot," is one of the most brilliant and forceful writers in America to-day. She was born in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1879. The daughter of a teacher and writer, her education was intensive and varied. As a child she learned to speak several languages. She received her B.A. from Ohio State University and a Ph. D. from Columbia University. She has studied and traveled extensively in Europe as well as in America.
Both as a person and as a writer, Dorothea Canfield has been extraordinarily well liked. As an author she is characterized by originality, clearness, and the vital quality of human sympathy. She always writes with a purpose, both in her works of fiction and in her educational writings. The writer's own ideals and common sense are revealed in her work and her stories are thoroughly interesting. Under the name, Dorothy Canfield, she has written some notable fiction. The Bent Twig is a graphic American novel in which are portrayed the influences of environment upon a most interesting character. Understood Betsy is a girl's story of warm sympathy and strong common sense. The Real Motive is a volume of short stories from which the story, "A Thread Without a Knot," is taken. The stories in the volume range in their settings from Paris to a middle western university town. As the title suggests, they are studies in human motives.
Under her married name, Dorothea Canfield Fisher, she has written some valuable educational works, as The Montessori Mother and Mothers and Children. During the World War, Mrs. Fisher spent her time in France working for the relief of those made blind by the war. Home Fires in France and The Day of Glory are truthful records of Mrs. Fisher's impressions of life in that tragic, mutilated land.
A Thread without a Knot
114, 1. Doctor's dissertation. Before a student can obtain the highest degree a university gives, the doctor's degree, he must write a dissertation, that is, a formal and elaborate essay on some original research work he has done. The degree Mr. Harrison was working for was that of Doctor of Philosophy, or Ph. D.
2. Archives. A place where public records and historical documents are kept.
116, 1. Munich. A city in Germany where one of the largest and oldest German universities is located.
2. Treaty of Utrecht. A treaty of peace in 1713 which concluded the war of the Spanish succession, a war fought by most of the other countries of Europe against the armies of France and Spain.
117, 1. Bibliotheque Nationale. The national library at Paris.
125, 1. Versailles. A city about twelve miles from Paris, noted for the beautiful chateau, or palace, and gardens of Louis XIV. The palace is now used as a historical museum and art gallery. It was in the famous Hall of Mirrors at Versailles that the treaty between Germany and the Allies was signed at the end of the World War.
The formal gardens and the fountains are among the famous sights of Paris. In the garden stands the Trianon, sometimes called the Grand Trianon, a villa built by Louis XIV for one of his favorites. Near it is the Petit Trianon, or little Trianon, the favorite resort of Marie Antoinette, the unfortunate and beautiful queen of France who was executed during the French Revolution. Here she and her ladies-in-waiting used to play at being shepherdesses and milkmaids.
2. Tram line. A street railway or trolley line.
129, 1. Fontainebleau. A town of northern France, situated in the midst of a beautiful forest which covers an area of nearly 66 miles. At Fontainebleau is a famous chateau of the French kings. It is noted for the beauty of its architecture and contains many wonderful paintings.
2. Pierrefonds. A small village in northern France where a very old and famous chateau is located.
3. Vincennes. A town about five miles from Paris, noted for its chateau which is now used as a great fortress.
4. Chantilly. A town in northern France noted for its lace-making, its horse races, and two beautiful chateaux built by the Prince of Conde, one of the French nobility. In the eighteenth century the most brilliant writers and artists of France used to gather at Chantilly.
133, 1. Tophet. A valley, sometimes called Gehenna, near Jerusalem, where human sacrifices were burned to the heathen god Moloch.
137, 1. Andy. Andrew Carnegie, a Scotch-American steel manufacturer and philanthropist, who established libraries in many cities of the United States.
138, 1. La Salle. A French explorer of the seventeenth century. He discovered the Ohio River and was the first to explore the greater part of the Mississippi River.
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FRANCIS BRET HARTE (Page 141)
Bret Harte, as he is familiarly known, was born in Albany, New York, in 1836. At fifteen he wandered to California, the state which has so vividly colored his best known short stories. The first three years he was there, for a living, he taught school, and, as a pastime, like every one else in California at that time, he dug for gold.
He then entered the office of the Golden Era as a compositor, but soon began to write articles for the paper. These attracted favorable notice and he was made assistant editor-in-chief.
His ready imagination was stirred by the teeming, adventuresome life about him and he began to put his ideas into short stories with the mellow background of the golden state of California. Poe and Hawthorne had made the short story a distinct type. Now Bret Harte, less artistic and careful in his style, followed their lead with short stories to which he added the new idea of coloring brilliantly the setting of the story with the atmosphere of a certain locality.
From 1868-1870 he edited the Overland Monthly in which appeared his best known short stories, "The Luck of Roaring Camp," "The Outcasts of Poker Flat," and "Tennessee's Partner," each of which presented stirring scenes of the early gold-seeking days of California. Their charm lies in his emphasis on the manners and actions of a picturesque community.
The material of his stories is romantic, melodramatic, often almost shocking. He handled it, however, with humor, irony, or pathos. He was a realist who pictured, marvelously, the life about him as he saw it.
In 1870 Mr. Harte was made professor of recent literature in the University of California. After 1878 he held consular appointments; in Germany 1878-1880, in Scotland 1880-1885. After 1885 he lived in England until his death in 1902.
Chu Chu
145, 1. Castilian. Of pure Spanish origin.
2. Mexican plug. Slang for an inferior horse of Mexican breed.
147, 1. Vaquero. A cowherder.
2. Sombrero. A hat.
149, 1. Comstock lode. A rich vein of gold and silver discovered in Nevada in 1859. The discovery of its riches led people to rush to Nevada, and Virginia City grew up as if by magic.
2. Rosinante. The horse belonging to Don Quixote who was the romantic and absurdly chivalric hero of a satirical Spanish novel entitled The History of the Valorous and Witty Knight Errant, Don Quixote of the Mancha by Miguel Cervantes.
152, 1. Arabian Nights. The Thousand and One Nights, commonly called The Arabian Nights' Tales, are ancient oriental fairy tales. One of these is the story of the enchanted horse, a wooden horse with two pegs. When one of the pegs was turned, the horse rose in the air; when the other was turned, the horse descended wherever the rider wished.
154, 1. Dulcinea. Sweetheart. Dulcinea was also the name of Don Quixote's lady.
156, 1. Hidalgo. A man of wealth and position.
157, 1. Chatelaine. The mistress of a castle.
158, 1. Petite. Small.
159, 1. Toreador. A bull-fighter.
162, 1. Hacienda. A large estate.
2. Alfalfa. A species of grass valuable as fodder for horses and cattle.
165, 1. Rodeo. Cattle market.
167, 1. Tete-a-tete. A private conversation between two people.
169, 1. Padre. Priest.
172, 1. Rencontre. A meeting.
2. Patio. Courtyard.
3. Cabriole. An open carriage.
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NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (Page 173)
Because he was one of the founders of the short story in America, and because he is considered by many critics to be superior in style to all other American writers of fiction, Nathaniel Hawthorne has been chosen as the last of the group of American authors represented in this collection. In reading the story "Feathertop," therefore, it is interesting to compare the style of the author with that of the other American writers who are represented here. The story may also be used as a good test of the composition of the short story as given in the Introduction.
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) was born of a stern Puritan line in Salem, Massachusetts, the grimmest of all the Puritan communities. He was a graduate of Bowdoin College and lived much of his life at Concord and Salem.
He was a happy child, by nature, but he was influenced by stern family traditions and the loneliness of his early environment. After the death of his silent, melancholy father, his mother brought up the children in the utmost seclusion. The decaying old seaport of witch-haunted memories in which he lived, also impressed profoundly the lively imagination of the solitary boy. All these influences may be traced in the stories of Hawthorne with their strong moral tone and their delicate but often rather morbid fancies.
Hawthorne, because of his timidity and self-depreciation, did not begin his real literary career until rather late. We owe it to his sympathetic yet practical wife that he ever published his writings. She recognized the value of the stories he had written and believed in his genius. Since he loathed the duties of the custom house where he was employed as an official, Mrs. Hawthorne urged him to give up this occupation and devote himself to his true vocation, that of a writer, in spite of its uncertainties as to success and financial returns.
Hawthorne's imagination early led him into the field of romance; that is, he told tales full of strange and fanciful adventure, revealing the ideal or spiritual side of human nature. According to some of our best critics, Hawthorne is said to be our greatest romantic novelist.
Feathertop
176, 1. Louis le Grand or the Grand Monarque, was Louis XIV, king of France from 1638-1715.
185, 1. Eldorado. An imaginary country, rich in gold and jewels, which the early Spanish explorers believed to exist somewhere in the New World.
191, 1. Norman blood. A sign of aristocracy. The Norman-French conquered England in the eleventh century and became the aristocracy of England.
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SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (Page 203)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the eldest son of the artist, Charles Doyle, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in May, 1859. He was educated in England, Scotland, and Germany. In 1885 he received the degree of M.D. from Edinburgh University. Immediately afterward he began to practice as a physician, but although he attained no little success in this profession, it is as a writer that all the world knows him.
He made his first real appearance as an author in 1887 when he published A Study in Scarlet. It was in this novel that the wonderful Sherlock Holmes was introduced to the public. Dr. Doyle soon attained immense popularity by his narratives of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which were first published in the Strand Magazine. This popular character returned at intervals in several other novels: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, and others.
These ingenious stories of the success of the imperturbable Sherlock Holmes in detecting crime and disentangling mystery have become known wherever the English language is spoken. It is a notable thing to be able to create a character that is known even by people who have never heard of the author, or who have never even read a book. Ask any little street lad who Sherlock Holmes is, and see what he answers.
It is regrettable, however, that people know Sir Conan Doyle entirely as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, when his best work has really been done in other novels, such as The Adventures of Brigadier Gerard, Rodney Stone, The White Company, and Beyond the City.
His late works include plays as well as numerous novels. It is noteworthy that in all his writings women have played but little part. His men characters, on the other hand, are many and varied, as well as sharply defined. As an author Conan Doyle has a wonderful gift of narrative, unusual imagination, fine constructive powers, and an effective style.
The Red-Headed League
203, 1. Sherlock Holmes. See biographical sketch of Conan Doyle.
206, 1. Freemason. A member of a secret order.
207, 1. Omne ignotum pro magnifico. All the unknown is as something wonderful.
221, 1. Sarasate. A famous Spanish violinist.
224, 1. Sleuth hound. Detective.
227, 1. The Sholto murder and the Agra treasure. This refers to another Sherlock Holmes story, The Sign of Four, which you may enjoy reading.
230, 1. Napoleons. French gold coins worth 20 francs each.
231, 1. Partie carree. A party of four.
237, 1. L'homme c'est rien—l'oeuvre c'est tout. Man is nothing, his work is everything.
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SIR JAMES MATTHEW BARRIE (Page 238)
Sir James Matthew Barrie, one of the best loved of contemporary novelists and dramatists, was born in 1860 in Kirriemuir, Scotland. His formal education was completed at Edinburgh University. And although his mature life has been spent largely in England, his stories reflect the village and country life of his native and beloved Scotland.
J. M. Barrie, as he is usually called, is a person interesting but difficult to know because of the reserve and shyness of his race. He has a sweetness of nature and a joy in life born of sympathy and faith. All these characteristics, together with his whimsical humor, are part of his great charm. One cannot help loving the man as one reads about him or reads his stories. The mental picture of him which one receives is of a shy and meditative little man, inconspicuous of dress, getting over the ground with strides almost as long as himself, and with a face that one cannot meet without stopping to look after it.
Barrie's mother, Margaret Ogilvy, is really the heroine of practically all of his stories and plays. From her, this man, shy of women, has learned all he knows of her sex. This accounts in part for the goodness and purity in his works. From his mother, too, he inherited his whimsically gay vision of life. Thus, his plays and novels, so much purer than those of many of his contemporaries, are never dull, for they are lightened by his wit, his fanciful humor, and his love for humanity.
The man's genial satire and kindly humanity may be distinguished in the selection, "The Inconsiderate Waiter," which you will read in this collection. The lovable Barrie, with his tenderness for child life, his poetic fancy and whimsical invention, will be revealed to you more truly when you have read his novels, Sentimental Tommy, Tommy and Grizel, The Little Minister, The Little White Bird, and his play Peter Pan.
The Inconsiderate Waiter
239, 1. Chartreuse. A highly esteemed liqueur, which derives its name from the celebrated monastery of the Grand Chartreuse, in France, where it is made.
240, 1. The Derby. The most important annual horse race of England, founded in 1780 by the Earl of Derby and run at Epsom, in the spring.
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ALPHONSE DAUDET (Page 266)
Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897) was a French humorist and satirist, who wrote novels, plays, and short stories. He was born in Provence in southeast France, a district of which he is typical in the warmth of his imagination. He lived for a time at Lyons but later went to Paris, where he came in contact with the literary artists of the capital.
Monsieur Daudet, like the moody, imaginative Hawthorne of America, was guided and influenced in his literary career by his wife, whose inspiring but practical mind guided his impulsive and impressionable nature into its best outlet.
As a writer Daudet is remarkable for the grace of his style and the keenness of his observations. Literary critics appreciate him, not only for his polished style, but also for his originality and insight into human nature.
The Siege of Berlin
266, 1. The Siege of Berlin. This is a story of the Franco-Prussian War, the war between France and Germany in 1870. War was declared in July and the opening battle was fought the first of August before the French had had time to complete their preparations. This battle, at Wissemburg, resulted in a heavy loss for the French troops.
The fighting during August of 1870 covered much the same ground contested during the World War. It is especially interesting to note that it was at Sedan that the French met their great defeat in September, 1870, and that Sedan was captured by the French shortly before the signing of the Armistice in November, 1918.
The battle of Sedan in 1870 meant the total defeat of the French army, and the Germans immediately began a four months' siege of Paris. After terrible suffering the city surrendered to the enemy in January, 1871.
The territory of Alsace-Lorraine lost by France to Germany in the war of 1870 was returned after the World War.
2. Arc de Triomphe. Sometimes called the Arc de l'Etoile. The great triumphal arch at the head of the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, begun by Napoleon to celebrate his victories and completed by Louis Philippe. After the Germans marched under it in triumph after the siege of Paris, chains were stretched across the roadway and the order was given that no one was to drive under the arch again until the lost provinces should be restored to France. In the great celebration on July 14, 1919, the armies of the victorious French and their Allies marched up the avenue under the Arc de Triomphe.
3. A cuirassier of the First Empire. A cuirassier is a cavalryman whose body is protected by a cuirass, a piece of defensive armor, covering the body from neck to girdle, and combining a breastplate and a back piece. The First Empire was the Empire of France under Napoleon I, 1804-1814.
267, 1. Mac Mahon. The Marshal of France during the War of 1870.
269, 1. Mayence. The German town of Mainz, where one of the strongest German fortresses is located.
273, 1. Invalides. The Hotel des Invalides is an establishment in Paris where French veterans are maintained at the expense of the state. Part of the building is a great military museum where trophies of war are exhibited. Among them are German guns captured in the World War. Napoleon is buried in the Dome des Invalides, a chapel in this building.
274, 1. The Tuileries. The palace of the French kings in Paris.
275, 1. Uhlans. Prussian cavalrymen.
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SELMA LAGERLOeF (Page 276)
Selma Lagerloef, who was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1858, is the Swedish idol in literature. She has had a series of honors such as rarely have fallen to the lot of a woman novelist, the climax of which has been the winning of the Nobel prize.[C] This enrolls her in a small group of authors of cosmopolitan interest—writers who belong to the whole world. Yet she is a woman who aspires to no prominence. She is modest, retiring, and unconscious of self.
[C] The Nobel prizes are prizes given for the encouragement of men and women who work for the interests of humanity, and were established by the will of Alfred B. Nobel (1833-1896), the inventor of dynamite, who left his entire estate for this purpose. They are awarded yearly by the Academy of Sweden, for what is regarded as the most important work during the year in physics, chemistry, medicine or physiology, idealistic literature, and service in the interests of peace. The prizes, averaging $40,000 each, were first awarded in 1901.
No other Swedish writer of any period has so faithfully mirrored the soul of the Swedish people as has Selma Lagerloef, nor has any other writer been so worshipped by her people. In her native province her work has sunk deep into the hearts of the people. The places and characters she has described have become so intimately associated with her stories and legends that the real names are constantly being confused with the fictitious ones she has given them in her Wonderful Adventures of Nils and Goesta Berling. Everywhere in Sweden one finds postal cards representing scenes from the Wonderful Adventures of Nils. This is an enchanting fairy story that may be compared to the fairy classics of Grimm and of Hans Andersen. In it fact and fancy are delicately interwoven with the geography and natural history of Sweden.
Miss Lagerloef's popularity is not confined exclusively to Scandinavian countries, however. In Germany, Russia, and Holland, she is more widely read than almost any other foreign writer. In recent years, moreover, she has conquered France, and since the bestowal of the Nobel prize, she has become a world figure. It is since that event that she has become known in America, though she is not yet read here so much as she deserves.
She might well be called the founder of a new school of literature. She turned away from the general tendency of the European literature of her day, a tendency to morbid realism, or dealing with the ugliest facts of life. Her method is to throw into obscurity human frailties and vices and turn the light on what is biggest and strongest in people. This idealistic tendency may be readily traced in the story of "The Silver Mine," which is given in this text. It was for Optimism in Literature that Selma Lagerloef was given the Nobel prize.
The Silver Mine
276, 1. Gustav the Third. King of Sweden, 1771-1792.
277, 1. The army was so filled with traitors. The country of Sweden at this time was distracted by the intrigues of the rival political parties of Hom and Gyllenborg, known as "Caps" and "Hats."
290, 1. Given me a deep mark on my forehead. This refers to the Bible story of Cain's murder of his brother Abel. Genesis 4:3-15.
SUGGESTED READING LIST OF SHORT STORIES
Abbott, Eleanor Hallowell (Mrs. Coburn) Sick-a-bed Lady. Title Story and "The Happy Day"
Aldrich, Thomas Bailey Marjorie Daw and Other People. Title Story Two Bites at a Cherry. "Goliath"
Allen, James Lane The Flute and the Violin. Title Story
Andrews, Mary Raymond Shipman The Perfect Tribute Joy in the Morning
Barrie, Sir James Matthew Two of Them. Title Story A Window in Thrums
Balzac, Honore Chouans. "A Passion in a Desert"
Bunner, Henry Cuyler Short Sixes. Title Story and "Love Letters of Smith"
Butler, Ellis Parker Pigs is Pigs. Title Story
Cable, George Old Creole Days
Canfield, Dorothy (Mrs. Fisher) Hillsboro People The Real Motive
Coppee, Francois Tales by Coppee. "The Substitute"
Cutting, Mary Stewart Little Stories of Married Life Little Stories of Courtship
Davis, Richard Harding The Man Who Could Not Lose. "The Consul" Somewhere in France. Title Story Gallagher and Other Stories. Title Story Ranson's Folly. "The Bar Sinister"
Deland, Margaret Old Chester Tales Dr. Lavendar's People
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Adventures of Brigadier Gerard
Ferber, Edna Emma McChesney & Co. Cheerful by Request
Freeman, Mary E. Wilkins The Copy Cat A New England Nun The Wind in the Rose Bush
Fox, John Christmas Eve on Lonesome. Title Story
Gale, Zona Friendship Village Friendship Village Love Stories
Garland, Hamlin Main Traveled Roads Other Main Traveled Roads
Hale, Edward Everett The Man Without a Country
Harris, Joel Chandler Tales of the Home Folks in Peace and War
Harte, Francis Bret The Luck of Roaring Camp. Title Story, "Tennessee's Partner," and "The Outcasts of Poker Flat"
Hawthorne, Nathaniel Twice Told Tales. "The Great Carbuncle" and "The Minister's Black Veil"
"Henry, O." The Four Million The Voice of the City. "The Memento" and "While the Auto Waits"
"Hope, Anthony" Dolly Dialogues Comedies of Courtship
Jewett, Sara Orne Tales of New England
Kelly, Myra Little Citizens Wards of Liberty. "A Soul above Buttons" Little Aliens New Faces
Kipling, Rudyard Life's Handicap. "Betram and Bimi," "The Man Who Was," and "Without Benefit of Clergy" Second Jungle Book. "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" The Phantom Rickshaw. "The Man Who Would Be King" The Day's Work. "The Brushwood Boy" and "William the Conqueror"
Lagerloef, Selma The Girl from the Marsh Croft
Martin, Helen The Betrothal of Elypholate. Title Story
Maupassant, Guy de The Odd Number. "A Piece of String" and "The Necklace"
Mayo, Katherine The Standard Bearers Justice to All
O'Brien, Edward J. (Editor) Best Short Stories of 1917 Best Short Stories of 1918
O'Brien, Fitz The Diamond Lens. Title Story, "What Was It? A Mystery," and "The Thing"
Page, Thomas Nelson In Old Virginia
Poe, Edgar Allan Works. "The Gold-Bug," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Purloined Letter," and "The Pit and the Pendulum"
Rinehart, Mary Roberts Bab, Sub-Deb
Shute, Henry The Misadventures of Three Good Boys
Stevenson, Robert Louis Merry Men. "Markheim" and "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" New Arabian Nights. "A Lodging for the Night" and "The Sire de Maletroit's Door"
Stockton, Frank The Lady or the Tiger? Title Story
Tarkington, Booth Penrod Penrod and Sam Monsieur Beaucair
"Twain, Mark" The Jumping Frog
Van Dyke, Henry The Blue Flower. Title Story and "The Other Wise Man"
White, Stewart Edward Blazed Trail Stories
White, William Allen The Court of Boyville
Wister Owen Philosophy Four. Title Story
SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY
The Gift of the Magi
1. Does the introduction of "The Gift of the Magi" awaken your interest at once?
2. Della and Jim are very poor. Why is neither their home nor Della in her shabby clothes, ugly or sordid?
3. Do Jim and Della seem like real people you have known? What makes them so happy in spite of their being poor?
4. Is there something about this simple story that is beautiful and that would be true for people ages ago or years from now? How would you put this idea in words?
5. Were you prepared for the surprise ending of the story? Read over the story and see if O. Henry had really prepared from the very beginning for such an ending and yet had kept the reader from knowing.
6. After reading the Introduction, would you say that "The Gift of the Magi" is a true short story?
A Reward of Merit
1. Look over the story "A Reward of Merit" and gather up the real story or plot and see how briefly you can relate it in your own words.
2. Does the fact that the story is told so largely through the conversation of the boys make it more interesting to you?
3. Try writing a story of some escapade, adventure, or exciting event in which the story is largely told, and the characters revealed, by means of conversation between two boys or two girls.
4. Would you say that Mr. Tarkington, the writer of this story, has a sense of humor? Give instances of humor in the story.
5. In what ways does the story show a knowledge of boy life?
"American, Sir!"
1. What type of story would you call this?
2. The setting of the main incident brings before you what part of the Great War? Were any of your friends in that country? In the ambulance service anywhere? Locate on the map the places named in the story.
3. Find in the story some of the dramatic, graphic scenes that John has sketched for his uncle. See how well you can fill them out and express them. Why would this story make a good play?
4. What three people does Mrs. Andrews make real and likable to you? Does Uncle Bill conceal his real character? Of what other character in this book does he remind you?
5. Some of you may be able to write a stirring story of the brave deed of some real or imaginary ambulance driver for the Red Cross in Italy or France during the Great War.
John G.
1. What gives you the thrill in the story "John G."?
2. Does this story of Miss Mayo's gain or lack in interest, because it is founded on fact?
3. Who would you say was the main character or real hero of the story?
4. Where in the story would you say was the most critical and the most interesting point?
5. Could this incident make the foundation for a good moving picture scenario?
6. Write either a story or a scenario of an exciting and dangerous adventure in which a dog or a horse is the hero.
Friends
1. In what are you most interested in this story?
2. Is the setting of the story in the school or at home?
3. Do Mrs. Mowgelewsky and Morris seem like any living persons you have known?
4. Do you think the children in the first grade would like Miss Bailey as a teacher? What makes her a lovable person?
5. How do this story and others by Myra Kelly that you may have read, show that she sympathized with and understood these American children of foreign birth?
A Camping Trip
1. Does the interest of this story lie more in the nature or out-of-doors setting, or in the action or plot?
2. Note the number of birds mentioned in the story. How many of them do you know?
3. What are some of the beautiful or poetic pictures of nature given by the author? Did the scenes have any effect on the imagination and feeling of these real boys and add to their enjoyment?
4. Have you ever had a camping experience? In what ways was your experience like that of the boys in this story?
5. Write a story of a camping or other out-of-doors trip in which the characters have some narrow escape and which contains some description of nature.
The Thread without a Knot
1. Has the recent World War made any difference in the current idea in America that only foreign universities, art schools, and works of art are of any real value? Why did Mr. Harrison good-humoredly assent to this really false idea, when he was seeking higher education?
2. When does the story become really interesting to you? Why?
3. What American characteristics does Mr. Harrison illustrate?
4. Although the English girl's story is not told directly, can you gather what she thought of the young American? Does it remind you of what the French people thought of our American boys when they went to France during the recent war?
5. What characteristics of the English does the frank American bring out in his talk with the English girl?
6. What was the motive of the young American's conduct toward the English girl? Why was the American blameless, or do you blame him?
7. Is the slang this young man uses characteristic of Americans in general?
Chu Chu
1. Where is this story located? What are some of the things that give it the atmosphere or flavor of California?
2. Is "Chu Chu" anything like "John G."? Tell the likenesses and differences between the two horses. Which do you admire more?
3. Why are there so many Spanish words in this story?
4. Do you think Consuelo is like other Spanish girls you have read or heard about? In what ways is she different from American girls?
5. Is the love story, or the action of the horse, the most interesting incident in the story?
6. Read the Introduction and see what Bret Harte added to the idea of the short story. Does it apply to this story?
Feathertop, A Moralized Legend
1. What do the words "moralized legend" mean? What is the moral of the story?
2. This is a fanciful story. Do you like it as well as "The Gift of the Magi" or "A Reward of Merit" in which there are real people?
3. Does Hawthorne show his personality and boyhood training in this story as much as Mr. Garland showed his in "A Camping Trip"? (See biographical sketches.)
4. What do you think was the word that Feathertop whispered in Mr. Gookin's ear?
5. Which do you think more difficult to write, a story wholly from the imagination like "Feathertop," or one from experience like "A Camping Trip"?
The Red-Headed League
1. Do you think this a good detective story? What makes it better than the cheap ones you perhaps have bought at the news stands?
2. What do you know about Sherlock Holmes? (See biographical sketch of Conan Doyle.)
3. Where did the most thrilling moment come? Was this the place where you saw how the story was going to turn out? What might you call this point?
4. Relate a mystery from real life that you have heard of or read in a newspaper that is just as hard to find out about as those Conan Doyle explains in his stories.
5. When Sherlock Holmes explains how he knew things about people, as, for instance, how he knew that Wilson was a Freemason, does it all seem simple enough to you? Why then are there not more good Sherlock Holmeses?
6. Relate some sly bits of humor you find in the story.
The Inconsiderate Waiter
1. What kind of humor is shown in this story? Is it different from "A Reward of Merit"?
2. Is there anything touching in the story?
3. What do you think are the real qualities of the narrator of this story? Why does he try to conceal his real self?
4. What do you think was Mr. Barrie's purpose in making this waiter of an exclusive English club show himself to be a real human being?
5. After you have read the biographical sketch of Mr. Barrie, see if you can discover anything in the story that shows his personality.
The Siege of Berlin
1. What is it that holds your attention in this story, is it the character of the fine old soldier, the story itself, or both?
2. What qualities of a soldier does M. Jouve show to the last?
3. What noble qualities does war bring out in the women of a nation, as revealed by the granddaughter of the old soldier?
4. What recent attack on Paris does this one make you think of? In what ways is it similar? How different?
5. How near did the Germans get to Paris in the World War?
6. What places mentioned in this story were strategic points around which great and critical battles were fought during the World War?
7. Read the notes on this story carefully, and from what you have read or can find out from soldier friends who were in the late war, see how the battles of the Franco-Prussian War and the World War differed. For instance, were the same people victorious in each case?
8. Write a war story, using the most thrilling incident you have heard of the World War. Make the characters real and show some noble quality in them, such as heroism, generosity, or human kindness.
The Silver Mine
1. In what ways does this story of a hidden treasure differ from other stories of hidden treasure, such as "Treasure Island," for example?
2. Does the character of the minister as revealed in the story, so good and fine, yet so plain and humanly near to his people, make you think of any other minister you have known or read about?
3. How does the sacrifice of the minister influence the king to noble action?
4. In what ways do these Swedish people differ in their faults and good qualities or any of their human ways from the people of any other nation?
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