Short Stories of Various Types

Short Stories of Various Types,
by Various,

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Various, Edited by Laura F. Freck
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Title: Short Stories of Various Types
Author: Various
Editor: Laura F. Freck
Release Date: March 15, 2007 [eBook #20831]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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STORIES OF VARIOUS TYPES***
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Transcriber's Note:
This text contains both footnotes and endnotes.
The three footnotes are marked with an upper case letter (i.e., [A]).
The endnotes are marked with both a page number and a note number
(i.e., [126-1]).

Merrill's English Texts
SHORT STORIES OF VARIOUS TYPES
Edited with an Introduction and Notes by
LAURA F. FRECK, Head of the English Department in the High
School, Jamestown, New York

[Illustration: JAMES MATTHEW BARRIE]

Charles E. Merrill Company New York and Chicago

Merrill's English Texts
This series of books includes in complete editions those masterpieces
of English Literature that are best adapted for the use of schools and
colleges. The editors of the several volumes are chosen for their special

qualifications in connection with the texts issued under their individual
supervision, but familiarity with the practical needs of the classroom,
no less than sound scholarship, characterizes the editing of every book
in the series.
In connection with each text, the editor has provided a critical and
historical introduction, including a sketch of the life of the author and
his relation to the thought of his time, critical opinions of the work in
question chosen from the great body of English criticism, and, where
possible, a portrait of the author. Ample explanatory notes of such
passages in the text as call for special attention are supplied, but
irrelevant annotation and explanations of the obvious are rigidly
excluded.
CHARLES E. MERRILL COMPANY

Copyright, 1920 by Charles E. Merrill Co.

TO THE TEACHER
These stories have been chosen from authors of varied style and
nationalities for use in high schools. The editor has had especially in
mind students of the first year of the high school or the last year of the
junior high school. The plots are of various types and appeal to the
particular interests and awakening experiences of young readers. For
instance, there will be found among these tales the detective story by
the inimitable Conan Doyle; the true story of adventure, with an animal
for the central figure, by Katherine Mayo; the fanciful story by the
great stylist Hawthorne; tales of humor or pathos; of simple human
love; of character; of nature; of realism; and of idealism. The settings
give glimpses of the far West, the middle West, the East, of several
foreign countries, of great cities, of little villages, and of the open
country.
Each story should be read for the first time at a single sitting so that the

pupil's mind may receive the single dramatic effect in its unity of
impression as the author desired, and more especially that the pupil
may enjoy the story first of all as a story, not as a lesson. The pupil of
this age, however, will not arrive at the other desirable points to be
gained unless he then studies each story with the help of the study
questions, of the related biographical sketch, and of the introductory
notes, as the teacher feels they are needed for the closer study of the
particular story.
The stories may be studied happily in connection with the student's
composition work. For example, when he has read an adventure story
and his mind is stirred by it, why not assign for his next composition, a
story of an adventure in which he has been interested or has figured?
The mechanics of composition, moreover, are more interestingly
learned in connection with an admired author's work.
It is to be hoped that the students may be led to read other stories by the
same and by different authors. A supplementary list of short stories has
been added to the book for this purpose.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Acknowledgment for permission to use the stories printed in this book
is gratefully made to Doubleday, Page and Company for "The Gift of
the Magi" from Stories of the Four Million by O. Henry; to Hamlin
Garland for "A Camping Trip" from Boy Life on the Prairie, published
by