Elder Brown's Backslide
By Harry Stillwell Edwards (1855- ) Elder Brown told his wife good-by at the farmhouse door as mechanically as though his proposed trip to Macon, ten miles away, …
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
By Mark Twain (1835-1910) In compliance with the request of a friend of mine, who wrote me from the East, I called on good-natured, garrulous old Simon Wheeler, …
A Visit to the Asylum for Aged and Decayed Punsters
By Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) Having just returned from a visit to this admirable Institution in company with a friend who is one of the Directors, we propose …
My Double; and How He Undid Me
By Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) It is not often that I trouble the readers of The Atlantic Monthly. I should not trouble them now, but for the importunities of …
Titbottom's spectacles
BY GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS (1824-1892) In my mind’s eye, Horatio. Prue and I do not entertain much; our means forbid it. In truth, other people entertain for us. …
The Watkinson Evening
By Eliza Leslie (1787-1858) Mrs. Morland, a polished and accomplished woman, was the widow of a distinguished senator from one of the western states, of which, also, her …
The Schoolmaster's Progress
By Caroline M.S. Kirkland (1801-1864) Master William Horner came to our village to school when he was about eighteen years old: tall, lank, straight-sided, and straight-haired, with a …
The Angel of the Odd
BY EDGAR ALLAN POE (1809-1849) It was a chilly November afternoon. I had just consummated an unusually hearty dinner, of which the dyspeptic truffe formed not the least important item, …
Mother Holle Fairy Tales
Once upon a time there was a widow who had two daughters; one of them was beautiful and industrious, the other ugly and lazy. The mother, however, loved the …
Hansel and Gretel Fairy Tales
Hard by a great forest dwelt a poor wood-cutter with his wife and his two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel. He had little to …
The Valiant Little Tailor
One summer’s morning a little tailor was sitting on his table by the window; he was in good spirits, and sewed with all his might. Then came a peasant …