THRIFTY STOCK
AND OTHER STORIES
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
EVERED
The Story of the Famous Red Bull
“I read this through from first page to last without leaving my chair.It is a powerful story.”—William Lyon Phelps.
BLACK PAWL
“Ben Ames Williams has chosen a theme such as might have appealed to oneof the old Greek dramatists, and has handled it with a skill thatentitles him to high rank among the novelists of today.”—The New YorkTimes.
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
THRIFTY STOCK
AND OTHER STORIES
BY
BEN AMES WILLIAMS
AUTHOR OF “EVERED,” “BLACK PAWL,” ETC.
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
681 Fifth Avenue
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Copyright, 1923
By E. P. Dutton & Company
All Rights Reserved
PRINTED IN THE UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA
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To
ROBERT H. DAVIS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The following stories of this collection have been previously published:“Old Tantrybogus” and “One Crowded Hour,” in The Saturday EveningPost; “They Grind Exceeding Small,” in The Saturday Evening Post andCurrent Opinion, and in one of the O. Henry Memorial Volumes; “MineEnemy’s Dog,” “Not a Drum was Heard,” “Success” (under the title of “SoMy Luck Began”) and “Sheener,” in Collier’s Weekly; “His Honor,” “TheCoward” and “The Man Who Looked Like Edison,” in CosmopolitanMagazine; “Jeshurun Waxed Fat,” in The Century Magazine; “The Fieldof Honor,” in The American Magazine; “Thrifty Stock,” in McCall’sMagazine; and “The Right Whale’s Flukes,” in The Bellman. To theeditors of these magazines the author makes the customaryacknowledgement.{ix}{viii}
PREFACE
The first seven stories in this volume have either locale or charactersin common. The village called Fraternity is an actual one; and thesurrounding countryside has a beauty which grows with long acquaintance.It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the characters are—with oneexception—fictitious. The exception is Mr. A. L. McCorrison, betterknown as Bert McCorrison, who introduced me to the trout brooks and thewoodcock covers thereabouts. To him I here make affectionateacknowledgment for all that introduction has meant to me. He appears insome of the stories, under the name of Chet McAusland.
The third story in the book, “Old Tantrybogus,” is—so far as the dog isconcerned—a true story. I never saw old Job, but Bert has told me manythings about him, and his exploits are well attested. For the excessivelength of this story, an ancient fondness for dogs is my only apology.
The last two stor