Nonsense Novels

Nonsense Novels, by Stephen
Leacock

The Project Gutenberg Etext of Nonsense Novels, by Stephen Leacock
#7 in our series by Stephen Leacock
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
this or any other Project Gutenberg file.
We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your own disk,
thereby keeping an electronic path open for future readers.
Please do not remove this.
This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to view
the etext. Do not change or edit it without written permission. The
words are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they
need to understand what they may and may not do with the etext. To
encourage this, we have moved most of the information to the end,
rather than having it all here at the beginning.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These Etexts Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get etexts, and further
information, is included below. We need your donations.

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3)
organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541
Find out about how to make a donation at the bottom of this file.

Title: Nonsense Novels
Author: Stephen Leacock
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
Release Date: November, 2003 [Etext #4682] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on February 27,
2002]
The Project Gutenberg Etext of Nonsense Novels, by Stephen Leacock
*******This file should be named nsnvl10.txt or nsnvl10.zip*******
Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, nsnvl11.txt
VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, nsnvl10a.txt
This etext was produced by John Mark Ockerbloom
.
Project Gutenberg Etexts are often created from several printed editions,
all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US unless a
copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not keep etexts in
compliance with any particular paper edition.
The "legal small print" and other information about this book may now
be found at the end of this file. Please read this important information,
as it gives you specific rights and tells you about restrictions in how the
file may be used.

Etext transcriber's notes:
This electronic edition was prepared from the edition published by John
Lane in New York and London in 1920. For this "plain vanilla" etext
edition, accents have been removed and italicised passages marked by
underlines. British pound signs have been removed, and the term
"pounds" spelled out instead. Pagination and line layout have not been
preserved. Some inconsistencies and obvious printer's errors in spelling
and punctuation have been silently corrected, but spellings and usage
that are simply older, less common, or more Canadian than modern
American usage have been left intact. Running headers and footers,
some front matter, and some repeated titles, have been omitted.

NONSENSE NOVELS
BY STEPHEN LEACOCK
PREFACE
THE author of this book offers it to the public without apology. The
reviewers of his previous work of this character have presumed, on
inductive grounds, that he must be a young man from the most westerly
part of the Western States, to whom many things might be pardoned as
due to the exuberant animal spirits of youth. They were good enough to
express the thought that when the author grew up and became educated
there might be hope for his intellect. This expectation is of no avail. All
that education could do in this case has been tried and has failed. As a
Professor of Political Economy in a great university, the author admits
that he ought to know better. But he will feel amply repaid for his
humiliation if there are any to whom this little book may bring some
passing amusement in hours of idleness, or some brief respite when the
sadness of the heart or the sufferings of the body forbid the perusal of
worthier things.
STEPHEN LEACOCK

McGill University Montreal

CONTENTS

I. Maddened by Mystery: or, The Defective Detective
II. "Q." A Psychic Pstory of the Psupernatural
III. Guido the Gimlet of Ghent: A Romance of Chivalry
IV. Gertrude the Governess: or, Simple Seventeen
V. A Hero in Homespun: or, The Life Struggle of Hezekiah Hayloft
VI. Sorrows of a Super Soul: or, The Memoirs of Marie Mushenough
VII. Hannah of the Highlands: or, The Laird of Loch Aucherlocherty
VIII. Soaked in Seaweed: or, Upset in the Ocean
IX. Caroline's Christmas: or, The Inexplicable Infant
X. The Man in Asbestos: an Allegory of the Future

I. -- Maddened by Mystery: or, The Defective Detective
THE great detective sat in his office. He