British and american short stories

Pearson English Readers^

British and American

Short Stories

D.H. Lawrence and Others

British and American

Short Stories

Level 5

R etold by G. C .T hornley

Series Editors: A ndy H opkins and Jocelyn Potter

P e a rs o n E d u c a tio n L im ite d

Edinburgh Gate, Harlow,

Essex C M 2 0 2JE, England

and Associated C om panies th ro u g h o u t th e world.

ISB N : 9 7 8 -1-4058-8239-2

First published in th e Longm an Simplified English Series I960

First published in the Longm an Fiction Series 1993

This com pilation first published 1997

First published by Penguin B ooks Ltd 1999

This edition first published 2008

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We are grateful to the follow ing for perm ission to reproduce copyright material:

M y U ncle Silas (H .E. B ates),‘Silas T h e G o o d ’ from M y U ncle Silas by H , E. Bates reprinted by

perm ission o f Pollinger Limited (w w w .pollingerltd.com ) on b eh alf o f the Estate o f H E Bates; The

G e n d e n u n in the Parlour, W illiam H einem ann L td/D oubleday & C o. Inc. (W. Som erset M augham ),

U n ited Agents LLP on behalf o f T h e Royal Literary Fund; T h e Barber's U ncle Faber & Faber Ltd

(W illiam Saroyan), T h e Barber w hose U ncle had his head b itten off by a circus tig er’ from Best

Stories o f W illiam Saroyan reprinted by perm ission o f Pollinger Lim ited (w w w .pollingerltd.com )

on behalf o f the Estate o f W illiam Saroyan and T h e Board ofTrustees o f Leland

Stanford Ju n io r University.

Text copyright €> Pearson Education Ltd 2008

Illustrations by David Frankland

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Contents

page

Introduction v

Silas T h e G ood H . E. Bates 1

M abel W. Somerset Maugham 6

T h e B arber’s U ncle William Saroyan 11

T he R o ck in g -H o rse W inner D. H. Lawrence 18

Springtim e on the M enu O. Henry 35

T he O p e n W indow H. H. Munro (Saki) 40

T he Incom e-T ax M an Mark Twain 44

T he U p p er B erth F. Marion Crawford 49

M y Bank A ccount Stephen Leacock 66

Activities 70

Introduction

In a short time Sarah forced back her tears. The cards must be typed.

But still in a faint, golden light from her dandelion dream, she fingered

the typewriter keys absently for a little while, her mind and heart on

the country walk with her young farmer. But soon she came back to the

streets of Manhattan, and the typewriter began to jump.

M any o f the stories in this collection are about ordinary people

living ordinary lives, ju st like Sarah in the paragraph above from

O. H en ry ’s story ‘S pringtim e on the M e n u ’. W hat could be m ore

ordinary than a y o u n g typist dream ing about her sum m er love?

O r a m an ’s em barrassm ent at trying to open a bank account for

the first time, as in S tephen L eacock’s ‘M y Bank A ccount’. Som e

o f the stories are lig h t-h earted and hum orous, others are darker

and m ore serious, w hile ‘T he R o ck in g -H o rse W in n er’ and ‘T h e

U pper B erth’ take us in to worlds o f m ystery and magic.

This collection brings together the w ork o f a num ber o f w ell￾know n British and A m erican w riters. Som e o f those included

here, like D. H. Law rence and M ark Twain, are better know n for

their full-length novels. O thers, like O. H enry and H. H. M unro,

are rem em bered m ainly for their short stories.

T he w riters com e from very different backgrounds, and their

different experiences and points o f view are clear from their

w riting. H erbert E rnest Bates (1905—74) w orked as a law yers

clerk before becom ing a w riter. H e w rote m ore than thirty

books, including the popular and w ell-know n The Darling Buds

o f May (1958), as well as plays and som e w onderful collections

o f short stories. M any o f his stories take people and places in

the English countryside as their subject matter. ‘Silas T h e G o o d ’

is typical o f the best o f his stories; it paints a gentle, hum orous

picture o f a co u n try character.

T h e w riterW illiam Som erset M augham (1874—1965) was born

in Paris to an Irish family. His m o th er died w hen he was eight.

After his fathers death tw o years later, he was sent to England to

live w ith an uncle. M augham studied m edicine in G erm any and

England before deciding to becom e a w riter. D u rin g the First

W orld W ar he developed a love o f travelling that stayed w ith him

for the rest o f his life. O n e o f his best know n novels is O f Human

Bondage (1915), and his excellent short stories show one o f the

strengths o f a true short-story w riter — the ability to attract the

readers attention quickly and keep it to the end.

W illiam Saroyan (1 9 0 8 -8 1 ) was b o rn in C alifornia to an

A rm enian family. M any o f his stories, including ‘T h e B arbers

U ncle’, contain A rm enian characters and describe their joy for

life despite their difficulties. Saroyan w rote a large num ber o f

short stories, m any o f w hich appeared first in magazines and th en

later in book form . H e also w rote for the stage.

David H erbert Lawrence (1885-1930) was one o f the greatest

English w riters o f his time. B rought up in a family w here his

father was a coal m iner and his m o th er a schoolteacher, he was

in a good position to observe the English class divisions that are

often a feature o f his w riting. Law rence also w rote poem s, m any

o f them based on his ow n experiences w hile he was on his travels

in Europe and the U nited States.

O. H enry is the pen nam e o f the A m erican short-story w r iter

W illiam Sydney P orter (1862-1910). After leaving school at the

age o f fifteen, Porter w orked in a bank. H e then spent som e dime

in prison for stealing money, and he gained m any o f his ideas

from conversations w ith o th er prisoners. His stories tell o f the

lives o f ordinary people and often have a surprising twist in the

ending — in ‘Springtim e on the M en u ’ the ending is a happy tone,

full o f hope for the future.

T he English w riter H ecto r H u g h M unro (1870-1916) also

w rote under the pen nam e o f Saki. H e lived for som e tim e

VI

in B urm a, Russia and France before settling in London. At the

b eg in n in g o f the First W orld War, at the age o f forty-four, he

jo in e d the arm y and was killed in action. H e w rote books and

plays, b u t is best know n for his clever and am using short stories.

Sam uel L anghorne C lem ents (1835—1910) w rote u n d er the

pen nam e o f M ark Twain, and is one o f A m ericas best know n

storytellers. H e grew up near the Mississippi, and for som e years

w orked as a steam ship pilot on the river before becom ing a w riter.

His m ost fam ous w orks are The Adventures o f Tom Sawyer (1876)

and The Adventures o f Huckleberry Finn (1884).

Francis M arion C raw ford (1854-1909) is best know n for his

ghost stories, o f w hich ‘T he U p p er B erth ’, a m ystery set on board

a ship, is a good exam ple. H e was b o rn in Italy to A m erican

parents, was educated in the U n ited States and Europe, and

w orked for som e tim e for a new spaper in India. M any o f his

stories are set in India.

Stephen B utler Laycock (1869-1944) was an E nglish-born

C anadian econom ist and w riter. H e studied in Toronto and

C hicago, and taught in the D ep artm en t o f Econom ics and

Political Science at M cGill University. A lthough he w rote about

these subjects as well as producing tw o books on the lives o f

fam ous people, he is best k now n for his collections o f hum orous

short stories. H e also w rote a b o o k about his ow n life, The Boy I

Left Behind M e (1946).

T h e stories in this collection are very different from each other,

and entertaining. M ost end happily and m any have an unexpected

tw ist at the end. All o f them have that m ost im p o rtan t feature for

a successful short story — they catch the readers attention from

the start.

Vll

S ila s T h e G o o d H . E. Bates

In a life o f 95 years, my U ncle Silas found tim e to try m ost

things, and there was a tim e w hen he becam e a gravedigger.

T h e churchyard at Solbrook stands a lo n g way outside the

village on a little hill above the river valley. A nd there, dressed in a

blue shirt and old brow n trousers, my U ncle Silas used to dig

perhaps o n e grave a m onth.

H e w orked all day there at the blue-brow n clay, w ith no one

for com pany except birds picking the w orm s o u t o f the th ro w n -

up earth. Small and ugly, he looked like a stone figure that had

dropped o ff the ro o f o f the little church, som eone w h o had lived

too long and m ight go on living and digging the graves o f others

for ever.

H e was digging a grave there once on the south side o f the

churchyard on a sweet, hot day in May, the grass already long and

deep, w ith golden flowers rising everyw here am ong the

gravestones.

By m idday he was fairly well dow n w ith the grave, and had

fixed his boards to the sides. T h e spring had been very dry and

cold, but now, in the shelter o f the grave, in the strong sun, it

seem ed like m idsum m er. It was so good that Silas sat in the

b ottom o f the grave and had his dinner, eating his bread and

m eat, and washing it dow n w ith the cold tea he always carried in

a beer bottle. After eating, he began to feel sleepy, and finally he

w ent to sleep there, at the bottom o f the grave, w ith his w et, ugly

m outh falling open and the beer bottle in o n e hand resting on

his knee.

H e had been asleep for 15 or 20 m inutes w h en he w oke up

and saw som eone standing at the top o f the grave, loo k in g dow n

at him . At first he thought it was a w om an. T h en he saw his

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