Produced by Suzanne Lybarger and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Library Edition THE WIT AND HUMOR OF AMERICA In Ten Volumes VOL. I [Illustration: MARSHALL P. WILDER Drawing from photo by Marceau] THE WIT AND HUMOR OF AMERICA EDITED BY MARSHALL P. WILDER _Volume I_ Funk & Wagnalls Company New York and London Copyright MDCCCCVII, BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY Copyright MDCCCCXI, THE THWING COMPANY CONTENTS PAGE Anatole Dubois at de Horse Show Wallace Bruce Amsbary 152 Billville Spirit Meeting, The Frank L. Stanton 188 British Matron, The Nathaniel Hawthorne 192 Champion Checker-Player of Ameriky, The James Whitcomb Riley 156 Colonel Sterett's Panther Hunt Alfred Henry Lewis 98 Cry from the Consumer, A Wilbur D. Nesbit 190 Curse of the Competent, The Henry J. Finn 14 Darby and Joan St. John Honeywood 166 Day We Do Not Celebrate, The Robert J. Burdette 134 Deacon's Masterpiece, The; or, The Wonderful "One-Hoss Shay" O.W. Holmes 9 Deacon's Trout, The Henry Ward Beecher 212 Disappointment, A John Boyle O'Reilly 191 Distichs John Hay 65 Down Around the River James Whitcomb Riley 29 Enough Tom Masson 213 Experiences of the A.C., The Bayard Taylor 116 Feast of the Monkeys, The John Philip Sousa 183 Fighting Race, The Joseph I.C. Clarke 214 Grammatical Boy, The Bill Nye 16 Grizzly-Gru Ironquill 174 John Henry in a Street Car Hugh McHugh 177 Laffing Josh Billings 171 Letter from Mr. Biggs, A E.W. Howe 69 Medieval Discoverer, A Bill Nye 31 Melons Bret Harte 1 Menagerie, The William Vaughn Moody 24 Mrs. Johnson William Dean Howells 74 Muskeeter, The Josh Billings 181 My Grandmother's Turkey-Tail Fan Samuel Minturn Peck 219 Myopia Wallace Rice 151 Odyssey of K's, An Wilbur D. Nesbit 209 Old Maid's House, The: In Plan Elizabeth Stuart Phelps 60