INTRODUCTION v
_Alexander Jessup_
THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN AND HIS WATER LOTS (1839) 1
_George Pope Morris_
THE ANGEL OF THE ODD (1844) 7
_Edgar Allan Poe_
THE SCHOOLMASTER’S PROGRESS (1844) 18
_Caroline M.S. Kirkland_
THE WATKINSON EVENING (1846) 34
_Eliza Leslie_
TITBOTTOM’S SPECTACLES (1854) 52
_George William Curtis_
MY DOUBLE; AND HOW HE UNDID ME (1859) 75
_Edward Everett Hale_
A VISIT TO THE ASYLUM FOR AGED AND DECAYED PUNSTERS (1861) 94
_Oliver Wendell Holmes_
THE CELEBRATED JUMPING FROG OF CALAVERAS COUNTY (1865) 102
_Mark Twain_
ELDER BROWN’S BACKSLIDE (1885) 109
_Harry Stillwell Edwards_
THE HOTEL EXPERIENCE OF MR. PINK FLUKER (1886) 128
_Richard Malcolm Johnston_
THE NICE PEOPLE (1890) 141
_Henry Cuyler Bunner_
THE BULLER-PODINGTON COMPACT (1897) 151
_Frank Richard Stockton_
COLONEL STARBOTTLE FOR THE PLAINTIFF (1901) 170
_Bret Harte_
THE DUPLICITY OF HARGRAVES (1902) 199
_O. Henry_
BARGAIN DAY AT TUTT HOUSE (1905) 213
_George Randolph Chester_
A CALL (1906) 237
_Grace MacGowan Cooke_
HOW THE WIDOW WON THE DEACON (1911) 252
_William James Lampton_
GIDEON (1914) 260
_Wells Hastings_