Her description of the country schoolmaster, "a puppet
cut out of shingle and jerked by a string," and the local color in
general of this and other stories give her a leading place among the
writers of her period who combined fidelity in delineating frontier
life with sufficient fictional interest to make a pleasing whole of
permanent value.
George William Curtis (1824-1892) gained his chief fame as an
essayist, and probably became best known from the department which he
conducted, from 1853, as _The Editor's Easy Chair_ for _Harper's
Magazine_ for many years. His volume, _Prue and I_ (1856), contains
many fictional elements, and a story from it, _Titbottom's
Spectacles_, which first appeared in Putnam's Monthly for December,
1854, is given in this volume because it is a good humorous short
story rather than because of its author's general eminence in this
field. Other stories of his worth noting are _The Shrouded Portrait_
(in _The Knickerbocker Gallery_, 1855) and _The Millenial Club_
(November, 1858, _Knickerbocker Magazine_).
Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) is chiefly known as the author of the
short story, _The Man Without a Country_ (December, 1863, _Atlantic
Monthly_), but his venture in the comic vein, _My Double; and How He
Undid Me_ (September, 1859, _Atlantic Monthly_), is equally worthy of
appreciation.
Pages:
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27