Dominie Dean. A Novel

Ellis Parker Butler

Humorous novel set in Riverbank, a fictionalized Muscatine, in a Mississippi River town. Pastor David Dean and his wife take up residence in this town, Iowa in the 1850s and learn how unaccepting a small town can be of new residents, even after a stay of decades. An interesting social history of mid nineteenth century life, emphasizing the dominance of crass commercial interests in the vicissitudes of small town life, written by an American author Ellis Parker Butler. He was the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays and is most famous for his short story Pigs Is Pigs, in which a bureaucratic stationmaster insists on levying the livestock rate for a shipment of two pet guinea pigs, which soon start proliferating geometrically.

In Pawn

Ellis Parker Butler

Excerpt from In Pawn: Lem Redding had a dimple in his cheek that appeared when he smiled. For a boy with a faceful of freckles he was pretty. He had dear, bright gray eyes, and his smile, aided by the dimple, made most folks love him at sight. His hair was brown, as his dead mothers had been; in fact he was much like that mother in more ways than one-far more like her than he was like Harvey Redding, his father. Lem was quick, agile, lively, and Harvey was plumb lazy. This book presents In Pawn (1921), from Ellis Parker Butler. Butler, the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays, is most famous for his short story Pigs is Pigs.

Kilo. Being the Love Story of Eliph Hewlitt, Book Agent

Ellis Parker Butler

Beloved humor writer Ellis Parker Butler hits it out of the ballpark with his first full-length novel, Kilo: Being the Love Story of Eliph Hewlitt, Book Agent. The plot centers around Eliph Hewlitt, a travelling book salesman of the horse-and-buggy era who finds the love of his life in Kilo, Iowa and he decides on the spot to marry her and settles down there, peddling books to the locals, but Sally Briggs, the woman whom hes fixated on, doesnt feel the same way. The comic adventure involves a lot of fire-extinguishers, local graft, the newspaper printer, and various other people of importance in the tiny town. Along the way, we meet several amusing individuals to whom Eliph is trying to sell his one-volume encyclopedia.

Mike Flannery On Duty and Off

Ellis Parker Butler

Ellis Parker Butler (1869-1937) was a contemporary of many big names in American fiction straddling the 19th and 20th centuries, but today hes almost completely forgotten. The selections in Mike Flannery On Duty and Off book include three humorous stories, Just Like a Cat, The Three Hundred and Fleas Will Be Fleas, by this American humorist, whose first success, Pigs is Pigs (1906), remained his greatest. Nevertheless, the Mike Flannery stories are among his best. Just Like a Cat is a story of Mikes problems when a dead cat arrives at the express office where he works. Mike tries to think of a word to replace dead in his report and that sets off a series of problems for him. The further stories of Mike Flannery, a character made famous as the agent of the Interurban Express Company in Butlers short story, Pigs is Pigs.

Perkins of Portland. Perkins the Great

Ellis Parker Butler

Ellis Parker Butler (1869-1937) was a contemporary of many big names in American fiction straddling the 19th and 20th centuries, but today hes almost completely forgotten. Butler, the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays. His writing spanned more than forty years and his stories, poems and articles were published in more than 225 magazines. Perkins of Portland are amusing tales showing the effectiveness of advertising some rather questionable products. Perkins and the narrator partner in promotions directed at a gullible and willing public. Unlike most tales of the kind, with moralistic endings where the sharps come to grief, Perkins and Co. become wealthy and quite pleased with themselves.

Philo Gubb, Correspondence-School Detective

Ellis Parker Butler

A hilarious parody of the detective genre Philo Gubb dreams of becoming a detective like Sherlock Holmes and quitting his job as a wallpaper-hanger. He enrolls in a correspondence course which offers lessons and various disguises. He soon gets involved in several cases and much to his surprise and those around him proves to be rather adept at solving crimes. Amazingly, he solves many puzzles and even catches some real thieves and other criminals usually by some mistake or turn of circumstance that puts the criminals in his lap. Each of these stories is a complete mystery so if you read just one, you will know its beginning and the unorthodox methods by which Philo Gubb solves it using his woeful deteckative skills. Philo Gubb, Correspondence-School Detective is one of the first and best detective parodies.

Swatty. A Story of Real Boys

Ellis Parker Butler

First published in 1920, Swatty: A Story of Real Boy is another breathtaking tale from American author Ellis Parker Butler (December 5, 1869 September 13, 1937). Butler, the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays, is most famous for his short story Pigs is Pigs in which a bureaucratic stationmaster insists on levying the livestock rate for a shipment of two pet guinea pigs that soon start proliferating geometrically. His writing spanned more than forty years and his stories, poems and articles were published in more than 225 magazines. Swatty: A Story of Real Boy is a challenging read. A good over view of life, recommended highly!

The Adventures of a Suburbanite

Ellis Parker Butler

A city man moves to the suburbs with humorous results gardening, automobiling, and golfing become new avocations. The book The Adventures of a Suburbanite includes two chapters on golf: The Royal Game and Advanced Golf. The subjects of humor in this book are mostly the two neighbors opposing opinions about all aspects of domestic and rural life, the gardening, and a variety of slapstick troubles with an automobile. Why is the neighbor so obsessed with his car? Where can we find a good gardener? Should we have a Santa Claus at our Christmas party? Yes, this is suburbia... much the same today as it was in 1911. Find out!

The Cheerful Smugglers

Ellis Parker Butler

Ellis Parker Butler was an American author in the first half of the 20th century. He was the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays, and is most famous for his short story Pigs is Pigs. His writing spanned more than forty years and his stories, poems and articles were published in more than 225 magazines. More of this popular authors fun, a bundle of absurd complications and ridiculous situations arising from a young married couples scheme to provide funds for their year-old sons education. They decide to finance their babys college education by collecting a toll on any goods brought into their home by friends or family members. The Cheerful Smugglers is a veritable Stocktonian story, as delightfully absurd in theme as it is realistic in characterization.

The Jack-knife Man

Ellis Parker Butler

Another lighthearted tale from American author Ellis Parker Butler (December 5, 1869 September 13, 1937) which revolves around old Peter Lane, who lives on a decrepit houseboat on the Mississippi River and mostly whiles away his time whittling with his jack-knife and not really doing much else. That is, until one night, a sickly woman knocks at his boat door holding her son in her arms. This encounter would change Peters life, as the old man befriends little Buddy and is determined to keep him and raise him as his own, provided he is able to keep a host of others from laying claim to the orphan. The two outcasts share many adventures over the storybook, enjoying a happy ending despite several difficulties.