davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The San Francisco call., 1905-01-01
{. HUMOR
by q New Funmaker

~UR friends across the water-the
English, the French, the Ger
.mans-shake their heads, raise
their shoulders or. grunt according to
their respective codes when they say
that they cannot appreciate or UNDER
stand American humor. They have
tried manfully; the French have even
gone so far as to declare "Huckleberry
Finn" to be the creation par excellence
of American letters. Our friends over
the pond will not, therefore, see any
thing meritorious or even laughable in
the latest work of the latest American
humorist, "Cabbages and Kings" by o.
Henry, This because "Cabbages and
Kings is in the richest and most typi-
cal vein Of that same x-quantity whose
value is not yet discovered to Europe.
Mr.. Henry (and let it. be understood
that this is a pseudonym) possesses a
variety of fun entirely new and pecu-
liar to itself. Incident. as with Mark
Twain, bulks large in the makeup of
his humorous writings. but TO- REIN
force this he brings to bear a most
marvellous argot. not slang but rather
the patois of the man on the street.
This patois has little relation to the
classic, slang of George Ade or the
Bowery boy hodge-podge once so popu-
The San Francisco call., 1905-01-01
New Books Received

FAR FROM THE MADDENING
GIRLS-Guy wetmore Carryli Nc
Clure, Phillips & Co., New York; IL
lustrated.
CABBAGES AND KINGs-O. Henry:
Mcclure, Phillips & Co.. New York.
THE COUNTRY HOME--E. P.
Powell; Mcclure. Phillips & Co.. New
York; Illustrated.
FRENCH HOME COOKING-Ber-
the Julienne Low: Mcclure. Phillips &c
Co., New York.
VERROCCHIO - Maud Grut<well;
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York; IL
lustrated; price, 81.
MEDIAEvAL ART-W. r. Lethabys
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York; IL
lustrated; price, 81.
vIOLIN-Paul Stoeving; Charles
Scribner's Sons, New York; illustrated;
price, 81 25.
CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS.
Bryan ]. Clinch: Whitaker & Ray Co.;
San Francisco: illustrated: two. vol
umes; price, IS.
MUSINGS AND PAsTELS-Bert
Fink: j. p. Morton & Co., Louisville,
Ky. :.
JULIUS CAESAR - The First
Folio Shakespeare-edited by Char
lotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke;
Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., New York;
price, cloth, so cents.
OMAR CAYENNE-Gelett Burgess;
Frederick A. Stokes Company, New
York.
PHILOSOPHY IN A NUTSHELL
Alice Kingsbury Cooley; published
privately, San Francisco.
THE SIN OF DAVID-Stephen
Phillips; The Macmillan Company,
New York; price, 81 25.
The San Francisco call., 1905-01-01
SWORDS
and Laces Again

~F that class of interesting and
improbable stories of love and
(: war which seem to catch the eye
of a goodly majority of readers for
:f1eeting moment and then slip into the
limbo of forgotten things is Charles G.
u. Roberts latest, 1.-The Prisoner of
Mademoiselle'f To-day it fiourishes
on the bookstalls; tomorrow, like the
flower, it withereth and is known no
more.
While the forest primeval still stood
in Acadia there came to. the shores of
the French colony O. young colonial
from Boston, on plunder bent. For
saken by his ship through the vagaries
Of fortune, this young gentleman falls
a prisoner to a very charming young
lady, the ward of the Governor, and
by her is surreptitiously confined in a
deserted blockhouse. OF course, his
life is in immediate danger of speedy
termination. and nothing but the wiles
OF the fair maid avail to keep the
Moose from the young Bostonians
neck. Equally obvious is the fact that
the girl is to be forced into a mar
riage against her. inclination. With
the two and two Of circumstance thus
arranged what can be the sum of the
novels plot bat four. and how can two
loving hearts be other than one in
the final reckoning? Ring the bell for
the curtain.
Nowadays when the seasoned reader
picks UP a book like THE Prisoner Of
Mademoiselle' his chief enjoyment
comes from reading the first three
chapters and then closing the book,
without even a thumb keeping the
place, to construct the remainder of
the story out of the fund of his ex-
perience with others OF the ilk. 1t is
said that Poe forecasted the plot of
one of Dickens novels while 1t was
still in it's early serial publication.
That was worth while in Poe's day,
but in the present year OF grace and
heyday of novel writing one need not
have written Mystery of Marie
Roget" to repeat that notable per-
Torrance with. ease.
IL. C. Page s. Co.. New York; illus
trated; price 81 50.)
The San Francisco call., 1905-01-01

lar with the PUBLIC ear, for it is a new
tongue evolved out of the authors owr
sparkling wit-something that might ba
spoken were people only clever enough
to devise it: extemporaneously. Witt
this rarely humorous diction, then, ane
with incidents the. most ludicrous aboui
which to hang a tale, o.. Henry tells
stories that are bubbling over with
laughter. Such stories are 'Cabbages
and. Kings"
Though the book poses as a novel it is
little else than a:collection of. shorter
tales all conforming: to the. unity .of
place and loosely bound together by
the presence throughout all of. the
stories cf the same characters 1t hes
to- tell Of the broad farce that rules
,betweeh. the tropics OF Cancar and of
Capricorn. Even as the Walrus spoke
TO the Carpenter: .
T; =. or shoes and ships and sealing wax
= And cabbages and kings.
so.the author of this droll book finds
fun.in the equally. inconseouential and
diversified aspects; of life and politics
that hold sway over the eruptive little
republics. down on the isthmus neck
:. Runaway Presidents, vagrant CONNER
IIdt WOlNCSt
cials of republics and the oyetindui-
gent; labor stunning American Consul
All bring grist to Mr. Henry's mill.
Sometimes QUICK tragedy flashes out
or hints at its. near presence, but the
usual order lis rollicking farce. Spon-
/. taneous does not aptiy characterize the
particular bouquet Of the writer's ha-
NOR: it is explosive; to repress the
laugh would be to cause. serious inter-
nal disorder. on the part of the one so
doing. The man. who could read
through the. story of the Irishrnan VINO
shipped to Guatemala to lead an In
surrection and ended by grading the
tropics with a pick and shevel"-the
man who could read this and keep
stony face should be accorded the ,serv-
ices of a. specialist in neurotic diseases.
Mcclure, Phillips & Co., New York;
!: price 81 5o.).
The San Francisco call., 1905-01-01
A MORAL
Plus a Dull Tale

1T is hard for the sophisticated
y reader to be wholly serious over
4 Sarah P. Greene's story, Deacon
Lysander'' 1 believe this is due to
the fact that the author has taken
herself so seriously, for like the books
of old time, moral, with an upper case
NJ, looms large in the foreground, and
Deacon Lysander his sprightly wife
and the other characters of the story
seem to be moved entirely by the
finger of the Deity instead of by any
individual volition. Faith, hope and
charity one expects to find printed
at the finis line, "and the greatest of
these is charity"
Uncle Lysander is what would be
rudely called a come on" by the glib
tongued piccaroon. of a large city. He
carries, monkey-wrench and saw in
the bottom of his carpet bag when he
goes to Washington, D. c., and wears
"Kube" whiskers and a beaver hat.
His wife. Candace. is second Saman-
tha. Together they. leave the good
old farm back Hampshire way in
quest of gayety and happiness The
nations capital seems to offer the
most promising field and thither they
betake themselves in their simple.
Arcadian innocence, beaming with
kindness and love for their fellow man.
They find trouble. The boarding
house where they have located them
selves proves to be a broken down
school for young ladies and the three
proprietresses are veritable vixens.
Between turning the other cheek. to
the assaults of these Misses Dove and
hunting the wide city Ger to see If
there are not some darky children TO
whom they may gratuitously feed
cream puffs or refunding a poor, mis-
guided woman her losses at the races,
Deacon Lysander and Deacon Ly-
sanders good wife are keptfbusy put
ting the Sermon on the Mount into
practice.
Stories such as this are valuable
form the viewpoint of ethics and the
religious life, and / doubt not that
many a person will be the better fol-
reading the same. but as fiction fol
fiction readers this genre Of literature
is not success. Perhaps the fault
lies with the fiction reader-who car
say?
Baker & Taylor Company, New
York; illustrated; price 81 25.)
The San Francisco call., 1905-01-01

lain as well seems to invite not the an.
scient scheme of divine punishment. ~
This merging of the antithet1. per-
sonages established by the Avs g1
romance as necessary fixtugegs in any
tale of romantic flavor PRODUCES an ef-
:. feet not althogether saE.SSacto1E. Here
is young artist come to japan 10
study. At first his interest AID then
his sympathy is stirred for a KeaiSiful
little japanese girl who loves m n with
alteration and he marries her ictsy
en- reggie with every intention. 4f max
ing her his honored Wife. SION tisN,
barriers of race and iffcominusity ty { OF,
thought and language begin tointrudel
themselves between the artist, and his
girl wife. Through no fault of the girl
her husbands love begins to wane;y
thoughts of another woman, one of his
own race, supplant the nearer wiews IN
his heart; he wishes TO rid himself hf
his japanese wife and marry an Eng
lish woman. Ruthlessly, almost brtrfaI-'
ly, he tears cut the heartstrings of his
blindly loving little woman, leaves her
and her bab-r TO hope in vain for his
return and sails away to England,
there to gain the hand of the woman
of his desire. The forsaken girl in
chrysanthemum land takes her own
life.
This is not romance that Mr. Hol-
land has written; it Is a transcript
from realism and should not, there
fore. be given the name and the form
of romance. II it is a romance then
should we see retribution instead Of
reward visited upon the head of the
man who breaks Mio-San's heart As it
is, the author leaves the reader very Bit
terly disposed toward that cruelty self
ish and unthinking artist and wonder
ing just where the tale can sink an
anchor in solid ground of appreciation.
Frederick A. Stokes Company, New
York; illustrated; price. $1.5o)
The San Francisco call., 1905-01-01

apologies for the neglect it incurred
This hook is Mrs. Frances Hodgson
Burnett's I'm the Closed Room" In this
weird little study of childhood the au-
thor has put into story form that beau
tiful idea which the poet Wordsworth
brings to us in his "Intimations of
Immortality" children are so
much nearer the mystical source of our
being than are adults; that in them
there is half realized memory OF
events that befell them when they were
not of this life: that the unknown, yet
so fresh in their experience, has few
of the terrors of the unknowable. With
delicateness of touch and tende-
insight into the very fundamentals of
the psychology of childhood Mrs. Bur
nett has woven about this central
theme a story which has in it an ir-
resistible appeal to our tenderest emo
tions, which brings home to each OF
us a realization of the beauty that is
innocent childhood
Mcclure, Phillips & Co., New York;
illustrated: price 81 50)
Her Fiance'' is the title Of a little
book of short stories about college girls
from the facile pen of Josephine Dodge
Daskam. There are four of them,
bright, snappy and full of the typical
flavor of camaraderie that obtains
In Smith. Wellesley and Vassar. That
each of them has something to do with
the tender passion does no. .sisqualify
them for classification as college girls
Stories Mrs. Bacon's sketchy way of
III l1< drift
conversation makes all of her stories
breezy and volatile things which do
nothing more than amuse, but do that
admirably. In this collection, the sketch
of the college tiirt that bears the title
of the book, Her Fiance," and The
Adventures of an Uncle detailing
the amazing things that result from
introducing a bachelor into college So
ciety-these two are clever bits OF
short story work
(Henry Altemus & CO.. Philadelphia;
illustrated.)
"The First American King" by
Ge6rge Gordon Hastings, Is after the
manner of Looking Backward" and
Caesars Column" books which had
a tremendous vogue in their day. The
story narrates the events which befal
two men who suffer long sleep and
awake toward the end. or the present
century TO find that the United States
is enjoying the rule of its first King
The author very Icleverly shows wha'
he believes to be the inevitable outcome
of present day Industrial and sociologi
cal tendencies. Riches are the touch
stone to the aristocracy Of this hypo
thetical kingdom and the richest mar
in the world, William Rockingham
attains the highest place in the nation
Throughout the whole story the writes
shows admirable consistency in devel
oping results from present causes ant
his book is one well worth reading from
a standpoint other than that OF spur'
fiction.
(The Smart Set Company. New York
price SD
General Charles King runs Cyru
Townsend Brady close race for tn
honor OF being the most prolific stor.
writer OF two continents; indeed. it ha
been all of six months since Mr.. Brad.
published a story and In that time hi
Warrior compatriot in letters ha
franked two novels with his poten
name. The last one, Comrades II
Arms" is as good as any General KIM
has written and in that point he ha
The San Francisco call., 1905-01-01

thor Of this thin sheaf OF verse has
EoSm one or tY31very dalicate lullabies.-
Set to music kfhey would be sweet
pother-songs. Here is. one of them:
The day is done and fn-the west
The after glow Is cleaning;
= And. sweet, the nestlng6 are at rest
N.sth downy wings are dreaming.
: Fhe owl boots in the thicket drear,
In the elm his vigils Keeping,
While mother sings In tones clear
And baby lies half sleeping
Sleep sleep, gently sleep,
While owls their vigiis keep
Idly dreaming
Moonbeams cleaning
While my baby lies asleep
.(The Grafton Press. New York;
price SD
The San Francisco call., 1905-01-01
VILLAIN
and Hero Combined

HLIvE HOLLANDS new novel.
"A Japanese Romance" throws
to the winds all of the conven-
tions Of. fiction writing. For in this
story the hero and the villain are
.one;. that is. very villainous hero.
who is likewise scarcely an heroic VII
lain, plays the leading part in little
tragedy of love-. As the hero he gains
his inevitable reward; as the villain
he misses his Inevitable punishment;
SO at the end the tally counts UP all
in favor of the hero and being a vii
The San Francisco call., 1905-01-01
SWEET
Poems Of Childhood
. HERE are two kinds of poems of
u childhood: those written for chill

- HERE are two kinds of poems of
childhood: those written for chill
dren themselves to read and those
which the grown-up likes to linger
over. What Eugene Field wrote and
what James Whitcomb Riley writes are
the poems of children that are meant
to sing themselves to the hearts Of
children of larger growth. To do this
successfully is to do much. Two books
of rhymes upon my table come from
writer's who have done this thing sue
cessfully. The reading of their little
books is great pleasure.
Rowland c. Bowman has collected
his verses about children (not for chill
dren. mind you into a thin volume
called "Freckles and Tan" Twenty
five brief bits OF rhyme that reflect the
heart interests of small todgers through
the whole gamut Of emotions from love
for Our Old Ma-Cat'' to "Rootin' for
the Peg" Each of Mr.. Bowman's
verses has to give some message of
innocent fun or spell some token of
endearment. All of them carry back
to the time when knickers and pima
fores were our badges of citizenship
and the world was very beautiful.
Here is how the writer sweeps away
the intervening years:
Now my memory turns boyward.
Back way back to- Billy Hood.
Back where duty used to bind me
To the bucksaw and the wood;
Back. where Billy used to call me
From his yard across the way:
'Hoo-oo! Hoo-oo! Hi. there. Fat-tee-eeI
Come on over here and play;
Come On over hero to our house.
Bring your sling shot and club;
There's bullfrog in the cellar
Sittin' underneath the tub"
Then I'd holler back to Billy:
sT'd come over II I could,
Rut can't come just at present.
must stay and buck the wood
(Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago;
;J1,asfrafedl
The San Francisco call., 1905-01-01
Hh1olf- -EIOur W1fb 1be Ro92aEcef8-

work. Another calendar. of sinister
import, is Look Before You Leap
which is on sale at the New BOOK
Store. The tale told by the degener-
alton OF the .shoes should COMBAT
President Rooseyelt's ardent theory
concerning race suicide.
The San Francisco call., 1905-01-01
BRIEFS
q Recent Books

- LITTLE story which came out
in holiday time, but which was
overlooked in the hurry Of re-
viewing that weighed down the writer
of these columns, deserves his tardy
The San Francisco call., 1905-01-01

Lyrics of Childhood" by Edward
Mayhugh. contains more varied verse
than Bowman's. Besides giving some
typical boys rhymes about The Bum
ble- Bee, How to Burn q Heap" and
kindred bits of infant wisdom the au-
The San Francisco call., 1905-01-01
SCRAPS
About the Writers


NE of the most important retail
~ book stores in the. Middle West
evolved novel idea for the dis.
play of "OTd Gorgon Graham, the
new book by George Horace Lorimer.
author of Letters From Self-Made
Merchant to His Son." window. dis
play illustrative largely Of the pork
hacking industry was arranged. Hams
and bacon, as well as likenesses or
little pigs. were strung up around piles
of the books. over all hung the sign
Graham & Co, Pork Packers.
The result brought not only large
sales but some complications. One old
German woman came ir and insisted
upon knowing the price-.of the hams.
and actually ordered one sent to her
home. After the display: had. been
closed people came in for several days
asking whether this store. were not the
new packing-house which they had
heard was established on Cleveland's
main street.
o. Henry, who has brought out his
first novel in "Cabbages and Kings"
rollicking tale of humorous doings in a
Small NS0IIdl <iiIlcI1Cdil ACP0OANs 10 -
true soldier of fortune. He is still a
very young man, but he has lived a
varied life. He has been cowboy,
sheep herder, merchant, salesman, min
er and a great many other nameless
things in the course of a number OF
very full years spent doing our West,
Southwest, Mexico, South and Central
America. Mr.. Henry (Which, of course,
is not his name) went about with a
keen eye, and supplemented 1t by
ready note book, into which he 5otted
down his impressions and things note
worthy that happened his way. He
carried an abundant good fellowship
and humor with him, and saw the
bright and amusing side of things, as
his stories bear sufficient witness. The
conjunction and contrast of absurdity
and dignity in both the plot and word
ing of his stories make them something
quite as original as the work of Mark
Twain, Bill Nye, or George AIDE. In
fact, Mr.. Henry has quite justified his
title as the new American humorist.
Frank Danby;" which name appears
on the title page of "Baccarat," just
published, new novel that has al
ready attracted wide attention by rea-
son of it's literary quality and dramat-
ic situations of English society. is the
pseudonym of Mrs. Julia Frankau, the
wife of a wealthy London merchant
and a leader In London society-liter-
ary, artistic and theatrical. She lives
In a beautiful home in Charges street,
.A ic xxrfHa W kn0xvn for her
entertainments. She is the author or
several other novels. but none which
met with the success of Pigs in Glow
err" published early this year, and OF
her new novel ''Baccarat."
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-14
Gas Explosion in Norfolk.

A dispatch from Norfolk, Va. last night
says: A gas explosion in the house of Carl
F'ingst, a tailor at 10 Charlotte street, last
night badly burned Pfingst, his wife and
two children. The firemen were called TO
put out squirt of blazing gas from a hole
in the pipe. They found the windows blown
out and the room in a state of wreck from
the force of the explosion.
The Pfingsts have just returned from a
trip to Germany and moved into the house
yesterday. workman sent by the gas
company to put in the gas meter made the
necessary connections and left the house in
the afternoon. The occupants smelled
escaping gas and traced the odor TO the
kitchen. Pfingst lit a gas jet for the pur-
pose of making an investigation and the ex-
plosion followed, with a terrible shock. The
man was badly burned about the face; his
wife's hair caught fire and her eyebrows
were burned off and ahe two children Were
burned about the feet.
Suffering from his own burns Pfingst
blaze. but was unsuccessful and the fire
for a time threatened the house
The flremen believed that the family that
occupied the house formerly had tapped the
pipe for the purpose OF using hose drop
light attachment and that in leaving the
house they removed the cock from the pipe
and plugged the hole with a cork. This
probably blew out some time after the gas
had been turned on, filling the room with
gas.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-14
Civil Engineers Killed.

A dispatch from Cortland, n. Y, last night
says: Three young civil engineers in the en-
ploy of the Delaware, Lacka wanna and
Western railroad were killed by a work
train tonight while returning to Cortland
on a hand car. They were ]. NJ Rowe of
Binghamton n. Y; II. o. Besecker of Les
tershire, \. Y, and J. Funk of Bingham
ton.
The three engineers arrived here only
this morning and had spent the day at
work on the Cincinnati division ofa the
Lackawanna railroad. Completing their
labors for the day they boarded hand
car and began the journey to Cortland
When three miles from here they were
over.aken by a work train, also bound
for this city. The engine of the work train
was in the rear and a Waterman was
stationed on the forward car to keep a
sharp lookout on the track ahead.
Tonight the Waterman said the train was
running due west at the time of the acct
dent, and that he could not see the hand
car, being blinded by the rays of the setting
sun.
The engineers did not see the approaching
train in time to jump, and they were killed
almost instantly.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-14
PRINTERS WIN IN % TOWNS.
Workers on Strike Now in About
Twenty Cities.

dispatch from Indianapolis last night
says: President James Lynch of the In
ternational Typographical Union says
The following unions have secured eight
hour agreements since September ., when
the first notices were sent out from head
quarters: Elmira, N. Y: Lafayette. Ind;
Lockport, N Y; Ottumwa, Iowa; Ottawa,
Ill. Frankfort, Ky; Cleburne. Tex; Olean,
N. Y; Jacksonville, H.; Traverse. City,
Mich; Coshocton, Ohio; Mount Vernon, n.
Y; Pontiac, H.. Marshalltown, Iowa: Can
on City, Col; Tiffin and Fostoria, Ohio;
Oelwein, Iowa; Dunkirk, n. Y; Coffeyville,
Kan; Houghton, Mich. Berlin. n. H.; Her
ring, I'll.
We are now on strike in the following
cities: Albany, n. Y: Peoria, H.: Grand
Rapids. Mich; Syracuse. n. Y; Toledo,
Ohio; Richmond, Va; Jersey City. n. J.;
Newark. n. j.; Niagara Falls, n. Y; Sar-
atoga Springs, n. Y; Ann Arbor, Mich;
Sioux Falls, S. D.; Aurora, Ill; Water
town, n. Y; Indianapolis. Chicago and
Detroit All of these unions have secured
agreements with a number of offices.
Mr.. Lynch said the situation everywhere,
as shown by the kilograms which pour
ing into his office is highly satisfactory.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-14
DID PRESIDENT GET BEERp
The Pittsburg w. c. T. u Members
Just Want to Know

dispatch from Pittsburg last night says:
Did President Roosevelt accept a case con-
tanning sixty bottles of beer?
The Allegheny County Women's Chris
tan Temperance Union has written to the
chief executive asking him this question
The matter was brought up today at the
annual meeting, when newspaper clipping
was read TO the effect that a new brew
Ing company in the west had sent case
Of beer and had been thanked on behalf
of the President by Secretary Loeb in a
letter written on White House stationery.
The secretary of the Womeu's Christian
temperance Union was instructed to open
up correspondence with the President
direct.
we must not take snap judgment" said
Mrs. ii. NJ. Forest, president of the county
union. we must first find out If the story
is true. II it is, there will be something
doing"