Category: Humorous Stories

By Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) [From The Atlantic Monthly, January, 1861. Republished in Soundings from the Atlantic (1864), by Oliver Wendell Holmes, whose authorized publishers are the Houghton Mifflin Company.] Having just returned from a visit to this admirable Institution in company with a friend who is one of the Directors, we propose giving a short account of…

By Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) [From The Atlantic Monthly, September, 1859. Republished in the volume, The Man Without a Country, and Other Tales (1868), by Edward Everett Hale (Little, Brown & Co.).] It is not often that I trouble the readers of The Atlantic Monthly. I should not trouble them now, but for the importunities of my wife, who…

BY GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS (1824-1892) [From Putnam’s Monthly, December, 1854. Republished in the volume, Prue and I (1856), by George William Curtis (Harper & Brothers).] In my mind’s eye, Horatio. Prue and I do not entertain much; our means forbid it. In truth, other people entertain for us. We enjoy that hospitality of which no account is made.…

[From Godey’s Lady’s Book, December, 1846.] 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 husband had twice filled the office of governor. Her daughter having completed her education at the best boarding-school in Philadelphia, and…

By Caroline M.S. Kirkland (1801-1864) [From The Gift for 1845, published late in 1844. Republished in the volume, Western Clearings (1845), by Caroline M.S. Kirkland.] 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 mouth of the most puckered and solemn kind. His figure and…

[From The Columbian Magazine, October, 1844.] 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, and was sitting alone in the dining-room with my feet upon the fender and at my elbow a small table which I…

By George Pope Morris (1802-1864) [From The Little Frenchman and His Water Lots, with Other Sketches of the Times (1839), by George Pope Morris.] Look into those they call unfortunate, And, closer view’d, you’ll find they are unwise.–Young. Let wealth come in by comely thrift, And not by any foolish shift: ‘Tis haste Makes waste:…