of story to do successfully, since ingenuity will atone
for many technical faults; but it usually lacks serious interest and is
short lived. Poe was the originator and great exemplar of the _Story of
Ingenuity_, and all of his tales possess this cleverness in some degree.

(_a_) The _Story of Wonder_ has little plot. It is generally the vivid
description of some amazing discovery (Poe's "Some Words with a Mummy,"
Hale's "The Spider's Eye"), impossible invention (Adee's "The Life
Magnet," Mitchell's "The Ablest Man in the World"), astounding adventure
(Stockton's "Wreck of the Thomas Hyde," Stevenson's "House with Green
Blinds"), or a vivid description of what might be (Benjamin's "The End
of New York," Poe's "The Domain of Arnheim"). It demands unusual
imaginative power.

(_b_) The _Detective Story_ requires the most complex plot of any type
of short story, for its interest depends solely upon the solution of the
mystery presented in that plot. It arouses in the human mind much the
same interest as an algebraic problem, which it greatly resembles. Poe
wrote the first, and probably the best, one in "The Murders in the Rue
Morgue;" his "The Mystery of Marie Roget" and "The Gold Bug" are other
excellent examples. Doyle, in his "Sherlock Holmes" stories, is a worthy
successor of Poe.

VIII. THE HUMOROUS STORY almost belongs in the category of _Stories of
Ingenuity_, so largely does it depend upon the element of the unusual;
but for that fact it should have been listed earlier, because it has
little care for plot. Indeed, these stories are the freest of all in
their disregard for conventions; with them it is "anything to raise a
laugh," and the end is supposed to justify the means. In general they
are of transient interest and crude workmanship, little fitted to be
called classics; but Mark Twain, at least, has shown us that humor and
art are not incompatible.

(_a_) The simplest form is the _Nonsense Story_, as it may be justly
called. Usually it has the merest thread of plot, but contains odd or
grotesque characters whose witty conversation furnishes all the
amusement necessary. If the characters do act they have an unfortunate
tendency to indulge in horse play. The work of John Kendrick Bangs well
illustrates this type of story. His books, "The House Boat on the Styx"
and "The Pursuit of the House Boat," are really only collections of
short stories, for each chapter can be considered as a whole.

(_b_) _The Burlesq