The old people of the village came stooping along the street. Children, with bright faces, tripped merrily beside their parents, or mimicked a graver gait, in the conscious dignity of their Sunday clothes. Spruce bachelors looked sidelong at the pretty maidens, and fancied that the Sabbath sunshine made them prettier than on week days. When the throng had mostly streamed into the porch, the sexton began to toll the bell, keeping his eye on the Reverend Mr. Hoopers door. The first glimpse of the clergymans figure was the signal for the bell to cease its summons.

    From the famous proto-feminist tale "The Story of an Hour" to the subtly sexy "A Respectable Woman," Chopin sheds light on the frustrations, desires, and dreams of her own era and their reverberations today. Artist Gemma Correll's quirky illustrations provide a perfect modern counterpoint to Chopin's classic prose.(

    Considered at the time to be immature, it was a failure. Since that time it has come to be considered one of the earliest American realistic novels. Maggie is the story of a pretty child of the Bowery which is written with the same intensity and vivid scenes of his masterpiece -- The Red Badge of Courage. In her short life, Maggie "blossomed in a mud puddle", was driven to prostitution, and died by her own hand while still a teenager.Crane, who worked as a free lance reporter, was in many ways addicted to the low life of the cities. He died at the age of 29.

    Have you read 'A Clean Well-Lighted Place'?... It is masterly. Indeed, it is one of the best short stories ever written..."

    Capt. Delano boards the San Dominick, providing needed supplies, and tries to learn from her aloof and disturbed captain, Benito Cereno, the story of how this ship came to be where she is. Dealing with racism, the slave trade, madness, the tension between representation and reality, and featuring at least one unreliable narrator, Melville's novella has both captivated and frustrated critics for decades.

    It was during those three days that, for the first time, he had asked her to marry him. She said "maybe some day," she said "kiss me," she said "I'd like to marry you," she said "I love you"--she said-- nothing.

    A mysterious night-swimmer climbs aboard, and, in keeping the presence of this fugitive a secret, the skipper risks both his captaincy and the safety of his ship. A test of nerve in the Gulf of Siam ensues.

    This collects "Sonny's Blues", "The Rockpile" and "Previous Condition", all taken from Going to Meet the Man (Penguin, 1991).

    Her short story, "A Jury of Her Peers", was adapted from the play a year after its debut. It was first performed by the Provincetown Players at the Wharf Theatre in Provincetown, Massachusetts on August 8, 1916. In the original play, Glaspell played the role of one of the characters, Mrs. Hale. It is frequently anthologized in American literature textbooks. The play begins as the county attorney, the sherrif, Mr. Hale, Mrs. Peters, and Mrs. Hale enter the Wright's empty farm house. On prompting from the county attorney, Mr. Hale recounts his visit to the house the previous day, when he found Mrs. Wright behaving strangely and found her husband upstairs with a rope around his neck, dead. Mr. Hale notes that, when he questioned her, Mrs. Wright claimed that she was fast asleep when someone strangled her husband.Often hailed as one of the quintessential feminist plays, 'Trifles' earned Glaspell a Pulitzer Prize and renewed literary recognition.

    Emily is a member of a family in the antebellum Southern aristocracy; after the Civil War, the family has fallen on hard times.

    A noose is tied around his neck. In a moment he will meet his fate: DEATH BY HANGING. There is no escape. Or is there? Find out in . . . An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.

    This deluxe gift edition carefully reproduces thity-four of Arthir Rackham's enchanting and exquisuute paintings.

    H. Lawrence. The story describes a young middle-class Englishwoman who "had no luck." Though outwardly successful, she is haunted by a sense of failure; her husband is a ne'er-do-well and her work as a commercial artist doesn't earn as much as she'd like. The family's lifestyle exceeds its income and unspoken anxiety about money permeates the household. Her children, a son Paul and his two sisters, sense this anxiety; moreover, the kids even claim they can hear the house whispering "There must be more money." Paul tells his Uncle Oscar Cresswell about betting on horse races with Bassett, the gardener. He's been placing bets using his pocket money and has won and saved three hundred twenty pounds. Sometimes he says he is "sure" of a winner for an upcoming race, and the horses he names do in fact win, sometimes at remarkable odds. Uncle Oscar and Bassett both place large bets on the horses Paul names. After further winning, Paul and Oscar arrange to give the mother a gift of five thousand pounds, but the gift only lets her spend more. Disappointed, Paul tries harder than ever to be "lucky." As the Derby approaches, Paul is determined to learn the winner. Concerned about his health, his mother rushes home from a party and discovers his secret. He has been spending hours riding his rocking horse, sometimes all night long, until he "gets there," into a clairvoyant state where he can be sure of the winner's name. Paul remains ill through the day of the Derby. Informed by Cresswell, Bassett has placed Paul's bet on Malabar, at fourteen to one. When he is informed by Bassett that he now has 80,000 pounds, Paul says to his mother: "I never told you, mother, that if I can ride my horse, and get there, then I'm absolutely sure - oh absolutely! Mother, did I ever tell you? I am lucky!" "No, you never did," said his mother. The boy dies in the night and his mother hears her brother say, "My God, Hester, you're eighty-odd thousand to the good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad. But, poor devil, poor devil, he's best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking horse to find a winner.

    A general introduction providing historical and cultural background, a chronology of Davis' life and times, an introduction to each thematic group of documents, headnotes, extensive annotations, a generous selection of illustrations, and a selected bibliography make this volume the definitive scholarly text of this classic work of industrial fiction.---- Life in the iron-mills: the complete text --Introduction: cultural and historical background --A note on the text --Life in the iron-mills (1861 Atlantic Monthly edition) --Life in the iron-mills: cultural context --Work and class --The village blacksmith / Henry Wadsworth Longfellow --That aristocracy may be engendered by manufactures / Alexis de Tocqueville --Iron interests of wheeling / A.W. Campbell --Senate testimony from iron foundry proprietor / John Roach --In Soho on Saturday night (song) / Anonymous --Perils- immigration / Josiah Strong --The Anglo-Saxon and the world's future / Josiah Strong --Senate testimony on the kitchen garden movement / Anna Gordon --Ten nights in a bar-room (excerpt) / T.S. Arthur --The Quaker of the olden time / John Greenleaf Whittier --The Quaker settlement (from uncle tom's cabin) / Harriet Beecher Stowe --Looking Backward: 2000-1887 (excerpt) / Edward Bellamy --Art and artists --An inquiry into the art-conditions and prospects of America / James Jackson Jarves --Art thoughts (excerpt) / James Jackson Jarves --Hints to American artists / Anonymous --Conversations in a studio (excerpt)William Wetmore Story --The Stewart art gallery / Anonymous --The process of sculpture / Anonymous --The Greek slave / Anonymous --A sculptor's studio (from the marble faun) / Nathaniel Hawthorne --Roderick Hudson (excerpt) / Henry James --/ Senate testimony on the arts and art education in the United States / Wilson McDonald --Senate testimony on industrial art schools for women / Florence Elizabeth Cory --Women and writing: the public platform --Letter to George D. Ticknor / Nathaniel Hawthorne --The great lawsuit (excerpt) / Margaret Fuller --St. Elmo (excerpt) / Augusta Evans Wilson --Literary women / Caroline Kirkland --Ruth Hall (excerpt) / Fanny Fern --A New England girlhood (excerpt) / Lucy Larcom --Little Women (excerpt) / Louisa May Alcott --Life and letters of Harriet Beecher Stowe (excerpt) / Annie Fields.

    This chilling account of postpartum depression and a husband's controlling behavior in the guise of treatment will leave you breathless.