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In this delightfully funny novella, a group of high-spirited Oxford students collaborate on a serial story based off a stray letter found by one of them, signed "Kathleen." When they decide to track down the real Kathleen and her family—and make it a competition among themselves to do so—hilarity ensues!
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"Say," he said kindly, "don't you worry none about that there Christmas tree an' no holly. We'll have a thump-walloper of a day, anyhow!"
It is conceivable that Abner Sawyer's experience with thump-wallopers had been limited.
A stiffly-starched, elderly bank president agrees to host an orphan boy from the city for Christmas—and finds himself more and more bewildered at the boy's cheerfulness and liking for everyone and everything, and at the changes he effects on the household and on the banker himself.
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When a quiet, well-respected politician suddenly begins behaving very strangely, his political opponents believe they've found a perfect way to discredit him—but what they discover when they spy on his Christmas Eve party takes them by surprise!
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In this lovely holiday novella, Christmas cards illustrated by a minister's warm-hearted wife find their way into the right hands to restore the happiness of two troubled families.
Today, a special feature: two obscure but delightful short stories by American authors, discovered in the public-domain treasure trove of the Internet Archive. Ebooks from this site are converted from scans and are frequently filled with typos, but still readable if you make want to make the effort! However, the stories can also be read online, similarly to Google Books.
Twenty-Three and a Half Hours' Leave by Mary Roberts Rinehart
In this delightfully funny story set during World War I, a young sergeant makes a rash bet that he will have breakfast with the general, plunging himself and his outfit into a series of comic mishaps. (There is also a 99-cent edition on Amazon that looks to be well-formatted.)
The Spring Concert by Booth Tarkington
Springtime, a band concert, and a bit of matchmaking, all wrapped in Tarkington's lovely nostalgic descriptions of times gone by.
O. Henry is perhaps most famous for his beloved Christmas story, "The Gift of the Magi," and deservedly so. But did you know he wrote several more Christmas stories? Here, to kick off the holiday season, is the complete list, available to read online at Project Gutenberg:
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In this sprightly, entertainingly-written Western, two men, a good-humored old-timer and a young Easterner, are seeking the capital to develop a copper mining claim—but must contend with enemies bent on thwarting their purpose and claiming the copper ore for themselves.
Project Gutenberg
A delightful and fascinating account of a woman's experiences with homesteading in early 20th-century Wyoming, told through a series of letters to a friend and former employer in Denver.
A free edition is not currently available on Kindle.
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Told entirely through the lively letters of its heroine, Jerusha "Judy" Abbott, to her unknown benefactor whom she has dubbed "Daddy-Long-Legs," this entertaining and beloved story follows Judy's experiences adjusting to the world outside the orphanage where she grew up, her studies at college, and eventually her introduction to romance.
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A lawyer traveling by train with important documents is forced by circumstances to sleep in the wrong berth—and wakes to find the documents gone, the man in the other berth murdered, and himself a suspect!
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In this charming Western romance, Eastern society girl Beatrice Lansing finds herself caught between the English nobleman suitor her mother is anxious for her to marry and an aggravatingly attractive cowboy neighbor while on a visit to her brother's Montana ranch.
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Traumatized as a child by outlaws' murder of his sheriff father, young Roy Beaudry must finally face his worst fears when summoned back to help an old friend of his father's who has tangled with the same old enemies—a task complicated by Roy's feelings for a daughter of the outlaw family.
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In this Victorian-era mystery by an author known as the "Mother of Detective Fiction," inquisitive Miss Amelia Butterworth, a forerunner of other lady detectives of literature such as Miss Marple, takes it upon herself to investigate a murder after observing strange goings-on at the house next door.
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A classic and beloved girls' novel, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm follows the memorable character of Rebecca Rowena Randall, a spirited, curious young girl sent to live with two spinster aunts, through mishaps, adventures and friendships at school and at home as she grows to young womanhood.
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In this light, charming little Edwardian-era romance, telegraph operator Natalie Rogers strikes up a conversation with another operator over the wire, and soon develops a long-distance friendship with the young man she knows only as "C." When they are finally brought together in real life, will the friendship lead to something more...?
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A collection of short stories, each a "love story" in its own way, ranging from a bittersweet World War I romance to the delightfully funny "Jane," a tale of a temperamental and not-so-ill patient in a hospital with the staff on strike. Most of the stories feature the hospital setting familiar to Rinehart from her own training as a nurse.
Project Gutenberg
Widowed Mrs. Pepper and her five lively children struggle to make ends meet, and eventually enter upon new adventures after making friends with a wealthy old man and his young son.
A free edition is not currently available at Amazon.
Project Gutenberg
Written in the form of the protagonist's journal, Stepping Heavenward chronicles one woman's sometimes tempestuous, sometimes joyful journey from girlhood on through marriage and motherhood, and her struggles and successes with faith and family life.
NOTICE: Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.
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In one of the most famous pieces of American literature, young Huckleberry Finn and a runaway slave named Jim escape their old lives and set out to raft down the Mississippi River, encountering a plethora of strange and often humorous adventures along the way.
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A fascinating and emotional diary from a young Louisiana girl whose family was divided by the Civil War, and who lived through the hardships of war and occupation.
(This early version, published in the author's lifetime and now in the public domain, is apparently not her full diaries, which have since been published in their entirety.)
