Chapter 20

Hawthorne, Nathaniel _Twice Told Tales._ "The Great Carbuncle" and "The Minister's Black Veil"

"Henry, O." _The Four Million_ _The Voice of the City._ "The Memento" and "While the Auto Waits"

"Hope, Anthony" _Dolly Dialogues_ _Comedies of Courtship_

Jewett, Sara Orne _Tales of New England_

Kelly, Myra _Little Citizens_ _Wards of Liberty._ "A Soul above Buttons" _Little Aliens_ _New Faces_

Kipling, Rudyard _Life's Handicap._ "Betram and Bimi," "The Man Who Was," and "Without Benefit of Clergy" _Second Jungle Book._ "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" _The Phantom Rickshaw._ "The Man Who Would Be King" _The Day's Work._ "The Brushwood Boy" and "William the Conqueror"

Lagerlöf, Selma _The Girl from the Marsh Croft_

Martin, Helen _The Betrothal of Elypholate._ Title Story

Maupassant, Guy de _The Odd Number._ "A Piece of String" and "The Necklace"

Mayo, Katherine _The Standard Bearers_ _Justice to All_

O'Brien, Edward J. (Editor) _Best Short Stories of 1917_ _Best Short Stories of 1918_

O'Brien, Fitz _The Diamond Lens._ Title Story, "What Was It? A Mystery," and "The Thing"

Page, Thomas Nelson _In Old Virginia_

Poe, Edgar Allan _Works._ "The Gold-Bug," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Purloined Letter," and "The Pit and the Pendulum"

Rinehart, Mary Roberts _Bab, Sub-Deb_

Shute, Henry _The Misadventures of Three Good Boys_

Stevenson, Robert Louis _Merry Men._ "Markheim" and "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" _New Arabian Nights._ "A Lodging for the Night" and "The Sire de Maletroit's Door"

Stockton, Frank _The Lady or the Tiger?_ Title Story

Tarkington, Booth _Penrod_ _Penrod and Sam_ _Monsieur Beaucair_

"Twain, Mark" _The Jumping Frog_

Van Dyke, Henry _The Blue Flower._ Title Story and "The Other Wise Man"

White, Stewart Edward _Blazed Trail Stories_

White, William Allen _The Court of Boyville_

Wister Owen _Philosophy Four._ Title Story

SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY

The Gift of the Magi

1. Does the introduction of "The Gift of the Magi" awaken your interest at once?

2. Della and Jim are very poor. Why is neither their home nor Della in her shabby clothes, ugly or sordid?

3. Do Jim and Della seem like real people you have known? What makes them so happy in spite of their being poor?

4. Is there something about this simple story that is beautiful and that would be true for people ages ago or years from now? How would you put this idea in words?

5. Were you prepared for the surprise ending of the story? Read over the story and see if O. Henry had really prepared from the very beginning for such an ending and yet had kept the reader from knowing.

6. After reading the Introduction, would you say that "The Gift of the Magi" is a true short story?

A Reward of Merit

1. Look over the story "A Reward of Merit" and gather up the real story or plot and see how briefly you can relate it in your own words.

2. Does the fact that the story is told so largely through the conversation of the boys make it more interesting to you?

3. Try writing a story of some escapade, adventure, or exciting event in which the story is largely told, and the characters revealed, by means of conversation between two boys or two girls.

4. Would you say that Mr. Tarkington, the writer of this story, has a sense of humor? Give instances of humor in the story.

5. In what ways does the story show a knowledge of boy life?

"American, Sir!"

1. What type of story would you call this?

2. The setting of the main incident brings before you what part of the Great War? Were any of your friends in that country? In the ambulance service anywhere? Locate on the map the places named in the story.

3. Find in the story some of the dramatic, graphic scenes that John has sketched for his uncle. See how well you can fill them out and express them. Why would this story make a good play?

4. What three people does Mrs. Andrews make real and likable to you? Does Uncle Bill conceal his real character? Of what other character in this book does he remind you?

5. Some of you may be able to write a stirring story of the brave deed of some real or imaginary ambulance driver for the Red Cross in Italy or France during the Great War.

John G.

1. What gives you the thrill in the story "John G."?

2. Does this story of Miss Mayo's gain or lack in interest, because it is founded on fact?

3. Who would you say was the main character or real hero of the story?

4. Where in the story would you say was the most critical and the most interesting point?

5. Could this incident make the foundation for a good moving picture scenario?

6. Write either a story or a scenario of an exciting and dangerous adventure in which a dog or a horse is the hero.

Friends

1. In what are you most interested in this story?

2. Is the setting of the story in the school or at home?

3. Do Mrs. Mowgelewsky and Morris seem like any living persons you have known?

4. Do you think the children in the first grade would like Miss Bailey as a teacher? What makes her a lovable person?

5. How do this story and others by Myra Kelly that you may have read, show that she sympathized with and understood these American children of foreign birth?

A Camping Trip

1. Does the interest of this story lie more in the nature or out-of-doors setting, or in the action or plot?

2. Note the number of birds mentioned in the story. How many of them do you know?

3. What are some of the beautiful or poetic pictures of nature given by the author? Did the scenes have any effect on the imagination and feeling of these real boys and add to their enjoyment?

4. Have you ever had a camping experience? In what ways was your experience like that of the boys in this story?

5. Write a story of a camping or other out-of-doors trip in which the characters have some narrow escape and which contains some description of nature.

The Thread without a Knot

1. Has the recent World War made any difference in the current idea in America that only foreign universities, art schools, and works of art are of any real value? Why did Mr. Harrison good-humoredly assent to this really false idea, when he was seeking higher education?

2. When does the story become really interesting to you? Why?

3. What American characteristics does Mr. Harrison illustrate?

4. Although the English girl's story is not told directly, can you gather what she thought of the young American? Does it remind you of what the French people thought of our American boys when they went to France during the recent war?

5. What characteristics of the English does the frank American bring out in his talk with the English girl?

6. What was the motive of the young American's conduct toward the English girl? Why was the American blameless, or _do_ you blame him?

7. Is the slang this young man uses characteristic of Americans in general?

Chu Chu

1. Where is this story located? What are some of the things that give it the atmosphere or flavor of California?

2. Is "Chu Chu" anything like "John G."? Tell the likenesses and differences between the two horses. Which do you admire more?

3. Why are there so many Spanish words in this story?

4. Do you think Consuelo is like other Spanish girls you have read or heard about? In what ways is she different from American girls?

5. Is the love story, or the action of the horse, the most interesting incident in the story?

6. Read the Introduction and see what Bret Harte added to the idea of the short story. Does it apply to this story?

Feathertop, A Moralized Legend

1. What do the words "moralized legend" mean? What _is_ the moral of the story?

2. This is a fanciful story. Do you like it as well as "The Gift of the Magi" or "A Reward of Merit" in which there are real people?

3. Does Hawthorne show his personality and boyhood training in this story as much as Mr. Garland showed his in "A Camping Trip"? (See biographical sketches.)

4. What do you think was the word that Feathertop whispered in Mr. Gookin's ear?

5. Which do you think more difficult to write, a story wholly from the imagination like "Feathertop," or one from experience like "A Camping Trip"?

The Red-Headed League

1. Do you think this a good detective story? What makes it better than the cheap ones you perhaps have bought at the news stands?

2. What do you know about Sherlock Holmes? (See biographical sketch of Conan Doyle.)

3. Where did the most thrilling moment come? Was this the place where you saw how the story was going to turn out? What might you call this point?

4. Relate a mystery from real life that you have heard of or read in a newspaper that is just as hard to find out about as those Conan Doyle explains in his stories.

5. When Sherlock Holmes explains how he knew things about people, as, for instance, how he knew that Wilson was a Freemason, does it all seem simple enough to you? Why then are there not more good Sherlock Holmeses?

6. Relate some sly bits of humor you find in the story.

The Inconsiderate Waiter

1. What kind of humor is shown in this story? Is it different from "A Reward of Merit"?

2. Is there anything touching in the story?

3. What do you think are the real qualities of the narrator of this story? Why does he try to conceal his real self?

4. What do you think was Mr. Barrie's purpose in making this waiter of an exclusive English club show himself to be a real human being?

5. After you have read the biographical sketch of Mr. Barrie, see if you can discover anything in the story that shows his personality.

The Siege of Berlin

1. What is it that holds your attention in this story, is it the character of the fine old soldier, the story itself, or both?

2. What qualities of a soldier does M. Jouve show to the last?

3. What noble qualities does war bring out in the women of a nation, as revealed by the granddaughter of the old soldier?

4. What recent attack on Paris does this one make you think of? In what ways is it similar? How different?

5. How near did the Germans get to Paris in the World War?

6. What places mentioned in this story were strategic points around which great and critical battles were fought during the World War?

7. Read the notes on this story carefully, and from what you have read or can find out from soldier friends who were in the late war, see how the battles of the Franco-Prussian War and the World War differed. For instance, were the same people victorious in each case?

8. Write a war story, using the most thrilling incident you have heard of the World War. Make the characters real and show some noble quality in them, such as heroism, generosity, or human kindness.

The Silver Mine

1. In what ways does this story of a hidden treasure differ from other stories of hidden treasure, such as "Treasure Island," for example?

2. Does the character of the minister as revealed in the story, so good and fine, yet so plain and humanly near to his people, make you think of any other minister you have known or read about?

3. How does the sacrifice of the minister influence the king to noble action?

4. In what ways do these Swedish people differ in their faults and good qualities or any of their human ways from the people of any other nation?