Gideon
By Wells Hastings (1878- ) “An’ de next’ frawg dat houn’ pup seen, he pass him by wide.” The house, which had hung upon every word, roared with laughter, and shook with a storming volley of applause. Gideon bowed to right and …
Humorous Stories Archive
How the Widow Won the Deacon
By William James Lampton ( -1917) Of course the Widow Stimson never tried to win Deacon Hawkins, nor any other man, for that matter. A widow doesn’t have to try to win a man; she wins without trying. Still, the Widow Stimson …
Bargain Day at Tutt House
By George Randolph Chester (1869- ) I Just as the stage rumbled over the rickety old bridge, creaking and groaning, the sun came from behind the clouds that had frowned all the way, and the passengers cheered up a bit. The two …
The Duplicity of Hanrgraves
By O. Henry (1862-1910) When Major Pendleton Talbot, of Mobile, sir, and his daughter, Miss Lydia Talbot, came to Washington to reside, they selected for a boarding place a house that stood fifty yards back from one of the quietest avenues. It …
Colonel Starbottle for the Plaintiff
By Bret Harte (1839-1902) It had been a day of triumph for Colonel Starbottle. First, for his personality, as it would have been difficult to separate the Colonel’s achievements from his individuality; second, for his oratorical abilities as a sympathetic pleader; and …
The Buller Podington Compact
BY FRANK RICHARD STOCKTON (1834-1902) “I tell you, William,” said Thomas Buller to his friend Mr. Podington, “I am truly sorry about it, but I cannot arrange for it this year. Now, as to my invitation—that is very different.” “Of course it is different,” …
The Nice People
By Henry Cuyler Bunner (1855-1896) “They certainly are nice people,” I assented to my wife’s observation, using the colloquial phrase with a consciousness that it was anything but “nice” English, “and I’ll bet that their three children are better brought up than …
The Hotel Experience of Mr. Pink Fluker
BY RICHARD MALCOLM JOHNSTON (1822-1898) I Mr. Peterson Fluker, generally called Pink, for his fondness for as stylish dressing as he could afford, was one of that sort of men who habitually seem busy and efficient when they are not. He had …
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, was an everyday affair, while, as a matter of fact, many years had elapsed …
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, and inquired after my friend’s friend, Leonidas W. Smiley, as requested to do, and …
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