Poker Jim, Gentleman, and Other Tales and Sketches

I was so overcome with emotion that I could hardly find voice to say a word. I finally managed, however, to give a brief eulogy of the dead man, revolving chiefly around the inc...

“But the baby was my special delight. He was a fat, roly-poly, sweet faced youngster as ever you saw. His skin was like a pink rose-leaf, and his mouth was as fresh--well, as fr...

The audience enjoyed my friend’s enthusiasm and seemed quite anxious to know how _I_ was enjoying it. I couldn’t enlighten it as intelligently as could have been wished, so I di...

Over the entrance of what was once the Iroquois Theater, hangs a head, which the sculptor probably intended for the Goddess of Music. As I gaze upon the head its outlines become...

“I was half dragged, half carried to the nearest telegraph pole and assisted to my feet beneath it. A rope was speedily found and tied about my neck. A boy was ordered to climb...

Life in the foothills of the Sierras may be monotonous, but it has its pleasant features, not the least of which was the fare of the humble Miner’s Rest. I found that Mr. Jim Tr...

“The third day, in the morning, everything is like dead at the _hacienda_. No one is stir, only sometimes the dogs they bark. By and by comes the Englishman out of the house, sp...

But Johnny pulled through the night without mishap and, worn and haggard, as morning dawned, he found himself upon the banks of the Batolan. Here he knew he must stop until nigh...

The material comforts of the Tuolumne House aside, there was never a cheerier, heartier, pluckier boniface than George Keyse. He was to the manner born, and could take a gun or...

I was very young when the idea of suicide first suggested itself to me;--my life had its troubles as far back as my memory extends. I have a vivid recollection of taking a certa...

The interest excited in my mind by that letter may be imagined. Here was a possible answer to the question I had been asking myself. The opportunity must not be lost. Under the...

“I had always been an ardent student of the classics, and was in the habit of reading for an hour or two before retiring. In selecting a book almost at random from the modest li...

“Oh, well, you see I have thus far been talking in a quite commonplace fashion. We have exchanged hardly more than mere conversational greetings. With most persons the conversat...

I breathed a sigh of relief, and strolled leisurely along after the stranger. I do not know why, but I felt that the boy was safe. I was sure I could not be mistaken in my inter...

The men of the regiment scarcely appreciated the gradual change in Johnny. He unfolded just as a plant unfolds. Growth was there, steadily going on. The major knew, and the colo...

No one knew how old Ah-wi-yah was--no one knew when she first came to the valley of Yosemite. There was none of all her people who could recall the time when she was not already...

Let it be understood that I am no more indebted to the “post-medical profession” than are many other physicians, but I am peculiar in that I always like to express my gratitude...

Jim’s field of operation was necessarily such that I did not often come in contact with him. I had endeavored to cultivate him at first, but he seemed to be decidedly averse to...

It requires some assurance to step out of the conventional in story writing. Especially does it require courage on the part of one whose ideals of what a story should be are far...

“And when through sheer fatigue I at last gave up the self imposed task that I knew was hopeless at the beginning, one of the boys approached me and tearfully whispered, ‘Please...