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 one of the old Greek dramatists, and has handled it with a skill that entitles him to high rank among the novelists of today.”--_The New York Times._ E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY THRIFTY STOCK AND OTHER STORIES BY BEN AMES WILLIAMS AUTHOR OF “EVERED,” “BLACK PAWL,” ETC. [Illustration: colophon] NEW YORK E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 681 FIFTH AVENUE Copyright, 1923 By E. P. Dutton & Company _All Rights Reserved_ PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA To ROBERT H. DAVIS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The following stories of this collection have been previously published: “Old Tantrybogus” and “One Crowded Hour,” in _The Saturday Evening Post_; “They Grind Exceeding Small,” in _The Saturday Evening Post_ and _Current Opinion_, and in one of the O. Henry Memorial Volumes; “Mine Enemy’s Dog,” “Not a Drum was Heard,” “Success” (under the title of “So My Luck Began”) and “Sheener,” in _Collier’s Weekly_; “His Honor,” “The Coward” and “The Man Who Looked Like Edison,” in _Cosmopolitan Magazine_; “Jeshurun Waxed Fat,” in _The Century Magazine_; “The Field of Honor,” in _The American Magazine;_ “Thrifty Stock,” in _McCall’s Magazine_; and “The Right Whale’s Flukes,” in _The Bellman_. To the editors of these magazines the author makes the customary acknowledgement. PREFACE The first seven stories in this volume have either locale or characters in common. The village called Fraternity is an actual one; and the surrounding countryside has a beauty which grows with long acquaintance. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the characters are--with one exception--fictitious. The exception is Mr. A. L. McCorrison, better known as Bert McCorrison, who introduced me to the trout brooks and the woodcock covers thereabouts. To him I here make affectionate acknowledgment for all that introduction has meant to me. He appears in some of the stories, under the name of Chet McAusland.