The stories may be studied happily in connection with the student's composition work. For example, when he has read an adventure story and his mind is stirred by it, why not assign for his next composition, a story of an adventure in which he has been interested or has figured? The mechanics of composition, moreover, are more interestingly learned in connection with an admired author's work.
It is to be hoped that the students may be led to read other stories by the same and by different authors. A supplementary list of short stories has been added to the book for this purpose.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Acknowledgment for permission to use the stories printed in this book is gratefully made to Doubleday, Page and Company for "The Gift of the Magi" from Stories of the Four Million by O. Henry; to Hamlin Garland for "A Camping Trip" from Boy Life on the Prairie, published by Harper and Brothers; to Henry Holt and Company for "A Thread without a Knot" from The Real Motive, by Dorothy Canfield Fisher; to Charles Scribner's Sons for "Friends" from Little Aliens by Myra Kelly, and for the story, "American, Sir," by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews; to Booth Tarkington for "A Reward of Merit" from Penrod and Sam. The stories by Katherine Mayo, Bret Harte, and Nathaniel Hawthorne are used by permission of, and by special arrangement with, Houghton Mifflin Company, the authorized publishers.
Special acknowledgment should be made to Mr. Garland for so kindly revising the selection from Boy Life on the Prairie, to meet our needs; and to Mr. Carlson for the translation from the Swedish of Miss Lagerlöf's story.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | ||
| Introduction | [7] | |
| Chapter | ||
| I | O. Henry: The Gift of the Magi | [11] |
| II | Booth Tarkington: A Reward of Merit | [19] |
| III | Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews: "American, Sir!" | [48] |
| IV | Katherine Mayo: John G. | [68] |
| V | Myra Kelly: Friends | [77] |
| VI | Hamlin Garland: A Camping Trip | [97] |
| VII | Dorothy Canfield Fisher: A Thread Without a Knot | [114] |
| VIII | Francis Bret Harte: Chu Chu | [141] |
| IX | Nathaniel Hawthorne: Feathertop | [173] |
| X | Arthur Conan Doyle: The Red-Headed League | [203] |
| XI | James Matthew Barrie: The Inconsiderate Waiter | [238] |
| XII | Alphonse Daudet: The Siege of Berlin | [266] |
| XIII | Selma Lagerlöf: The Silver Mine | [276] |
| Notes | [295] | |
| Suggested Reading List of Short Stories | [317] | |
| Suggestions for Study | [321] | |