HUMOROUS MASTERPIECES

FROM

AMERICAN LITERATURE

EDITED BY

EDWARD T. MASON

NEW YORK & LONDON

G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS

The Knickerbocker Press

1886

COPYRIGHT
G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
1886


Press of
G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
New York

CONTENTS.

BAYARD TAYLOR
Selections from the Experiences of the A.C.

WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER.
Dobbs His Ferry

JOHN WILLIAM DE FOREST.
Father Higgins's Preferment

JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE.
Fred Trover's Little Iron-Clad

OLIVER BELL BUNCE.
Mr. Bluff Discourses on the Country and Kindred Themes

CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER.
Garden Ethics

FRANCES LEE PRATT.
Captain Ben's Choice

LOUISA MAY ALCOTT.
Street Scenes in Washington
Selections from Transcendental Wild Oats

WILLIAM WIRT HOWE.
Conversational Depravity

CHARLES FARRAR BROWNE. ("Artemus Ward")
The Tower of London
Science and Natural History
From the "Lecture"

FRANK R. STOCKTON.
Our Tavern
A Piece of Red Calico

HARRIET PRESCOTT SPOFFORD.
Aunt Pen's Funeral

SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS. ("Mark Twain")
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

FITZ HUGH LUDLOW.
Ben Thirlwall's School-days
Selections from a Brace of Boys

THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH.
A Rivermouth Romance

BAYARD TAYLOR.

(BORN, 1825—DIED, 1878)

SELECTIONS FROM THE