e 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
Harper and Brothers; to Henry Holt and Company for "A Thread without a
Knot" from _The Real Motive_, by Dorothy Canfield Fisher; to Charles
Scribner's Sons for "Friends" from _Little Aliens_ by Myra Kelly, and
for the story, "American, Sir," by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews; to
Booth Tarkington for "A Reward of Merit" from _Penrod and Sam_. The
stories by Katherine Mayo, Bret Harte, and Nathaniel Hawthorne are used
by permission of, and by special arrangement with, Houghton Mifflin
Company, the authorized publishers.

Special acknowledgment should be made to Mr. Garland for so kindly
revising the selection from _Boy Life on the Prairie_, to meet our
needs; and to Mr. Carlson for the translation from the Swedish of Miss
Lagerloef's story.

CONTENTS

Page

Introduction 7
I. O. Henry: The Gift of the Magi 11
II. Booth Tarkington: A Reward of Merit 19
III. Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews: "American, Sir!" 48
IV. Katherine Mayo: John G. 68
V. Myra Kelly: Friends 77
VI. Hamlin Garland: A Camping Trip 97
VII. Dorothy Canfield Fisher: A Thread Without a Knot 114
VIII. Francis Bret Harte: Chu Chu 141
IX. Nathaniel Hawthorne: Feathertop 173
X. Arthur Conan Doyle: The Red-Headed League 203
XI. James Matthew Barrie: The Inconsiderate Waiter 238
XII. Alphonse Daudet: The Siege of Berlin 266
XIII. Selma Lagerloef: The Silver Mine 276
Notes 295
Suggested Reading List of Short Stories 317
Suggestions for Study 321

INTRODUCTION

The Short Story. In the rush of modern life, particularly in
America, the short story has come to be the most popular type of
fiction. Just as the quickly seen, low-priced moving picture show is
taking the place of the drama, with the average person, so the short
stories that are found so plentifully in the numerous periodicals of
the day are supplanting the