Read Little Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor, Volume II Page 1




  E-text prepared by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team(https://www.pgdp.net)

  LITTLE MASTERPIECES OF AMERICAN WIT AND HUMOR

  VOLUME II

  Bret Harte Copyright by Elliott & Fry]

  +--------------------------------------------+| LITTLE MASTERPIECES OF || AMERICAN WIT AND HUMOR || || Edited by THOMAS L. MASSON |+--------------------------------------------+| VOLUME II || || _By_ || || Bret Harte James Russell Lowell || Sol Smith Mary Mapes Dodge || John Godfrey Saxe Robert J. Burdette || || and others || || || |+--------------------------------------------+| New York || Doubleday, Page & Company || 1903 |+--------------------------------------------+

  Copyright, 1903, byDoubleday, Page & CompanyPublished, October, 1903

  CONTENTS

  _VOLUME II_

  PAGE

  SOL SMITH A Bully Boat and a Brag Captain 1

  AMBROSE BIERCE The Dog and the Bees 8

  OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES Dislikes 9

  G. H. DERBY ("Phoenix," "Squibob") Illustrated Newspapers 13 Tushmaker's Toothpuller 67

  MARY MAPES DODGE Miss Malony on the Chinese Question 22

  JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL The Courtin' 27 A Letter from Mr. Ezekiel Bigelow 59

  JOHN GODFREY SAXE The Coquette--A Portrait 31

  SAMUEL L. CLEMENS ("Mark Twain") Colonel Mulberry Sellers 33

  FREDERICK WILLIAM SHELTON Incidents in a Retired Life 43

  BRET HARTE Melons 49 The Society upon the Stanislaus 71

  CHARLES GODFREY LELAND Ballad 65

  JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE The V-a-s-e 74

  FRANK R. STOCKTON Pomona's Novel 76

  JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE Fred Trover's Little Iron-clad 96

  ROBERT JONES BURDETTE The Artless Prattle of Childhood 120

  ANONYMOUS St. Peter at the Gate 130

  HENRY GUY CARLETON The Thompson Street Poker Club 134

  GEORGE T. LANIGAN The Fox and the Crow 140

  HENRY CUYLER BUNNER Behold the Deeds! 141

  FRANK DEMPSTER SHERMAN A Rhyme for Priscilla 146

  THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH A Rivermouth Romance 149

  GELETT BURGESS The Bohemians of Boston 161

  MARION COUTHOUY SMITH The Composite Ghost 164

  BILL NYE A Fatal Thirst 175

  GEORGE W. PECK Peck's Bad Boy 178

  MISCELLANEOUS Susan Simpson 21 A Boston Lullaby 119 The House That Jack Built 127 An Insurance Agent's Story 144 An Epitaph 148 Some Messages Received by Teachers in Brooklyn Public Schools 171 The Trout's Appeal 174