Short Stories of Various Types

You will find that the stories in this collection are of different types with settings that take you in imagination all over our own country and into foreign lands. Try writing a story with a surprise ending like "The Gift of the Magi," a character story with the theme of unselfish love, and its setting in a big city. Again, "John G," the story of adventure with an animal for the hero, might suggest to you an adventuresome incident in your own experience. If you have a vivid imagination, it might be interesting to write a fanciful story like "Feathertop." All of you have heard of true and thrilling incidents of the recent Great War. Try to weave one into a good war story as did Daudet or Mrs. Andrews. Almost every young person loves nature or the open country. After you have read Mr. Garland's, "The Camping Trip," see how well you can tell a story of your own experience in the out-of-doors. Or, best of all, see if you can equal the great Conan Doyle in a detective story.

I O. Henry: The Gift of the Magi

II Booth Tarkington: A Reward of Merit

III Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews: "American, Sir!"
IV Katherine Mayo: John G.
V Myra Kelly: Friends

VI Hamlin Garland: A Camping Trip

VII Dorothy Canfield Fisher: A Thread Without a Knot

VIII Francis Bret Harte: Chu Chu

IX Nathaniel Hawthorne: Feathertop

X Arthur Conan Doyle: The Red-Headed League
XI James Matthew Barrie: The Inconsiderate Waiter

XII Alphonse Daudet: The Siege of Berlin

XIII Selma Lagerlöf: The Silver Mine