Preface [3-4]
It is an old superstition which relegates courage and heroism to what are called the good old days, and a modern ignorance which denies the present age its share of the heroic and chivalrous. Occasions may vary and opportunity take different forms, but there is nothing in the annals of the past which is entirely without parallel in present experience, and the demands upon suffering and endurance are now often more exacting by reason of more protracted insistence. The developments of modern life, which have widened the sphere of woman’s work, have opened up to her new avenues in this and other directions, only to show that those qualities, commonly supposed to be more characteristically male, are equally hers when opportunity offers and occasion calls. Never a day passes without the record of some brave deed appearing in the public press and the wondrous aggregation of the unrecorded baffles all calculation. In this harvest men and women and boys and girls gather fruits and laurels side by side, and even little children are found among the gleaners. [4] The following stories illustrate heroism in the home and the world of duty, most of them being records of actual experience under very diverse circumstances and conditions. It is hoped that they may enhearten in suffering, nerve in action, inspire in enterprise, and beget examples of heroism in the home and the world of duty which may in their turn enhearten, inspire, and beget examples for the generations that follow. […]
A. H. M.
Contents
A Desperate Business. By F. W. Orde Ward 9Delfina. By Mary E. Bamford 19
A Night of Terror in Formosa. By Caroline Zuyland 31
By One-Girl Power. By Grace Ellery Channing 45
A Bonanza Queen. By Gwendolen Overton 59
The Mongoose and the Cobra. By Bradley Gilman 75
Miss Benedict’s Rule. By S. Bowles 84
The Story of a Blizzard. By Franklin W. Calkins 97
“Melindy” and the Lynxes. By Charles G. D. Roberts 105
Sarah Brown’s Effort. By Elizabeth I. Samuel 116
The Taming of “Red Ed”. By Henry Gardner Hunting 125
The Coming-Out Party. By Annie Hamilton Donnell 137
Hero, or a Ride with Death. By F. W. Orde Warde 149
The Big Bear of the Tetons. By Ray McIntyre King 167
The Golden Eagle’s Nest. By Franklin W. Calkins 176
Cordelia. By Winifred M Kirkland 187
A Brush with Indians. By Franklin W. Calkins 199
The Girls at Overtown. By Mary Austin 207
The Hold-Up at the South Station. By Mariana M. Tallman 220
The Hour and the Man. By Grace S. Richmond 231
A Declaration of Independence. By Elia W. Peattie 246
A Christmas Bargain. Anonymous 263
The Girl from Down-Town. By Susan K. Glaspell 272
Gladys. By Francis Bent Dillingham 283
Lascelle’s Typist. By Clive R. Fenn 297
The Strike at “Bradford’s”. By Ida May Jackson 305
In Belle’s Room. By Annie Hamilton Donnell 316
Their Mountain Adventure. By Franklin W. Calkins 323
The Meeting of the Extremes. By Elizabeth McCracken 332
The Thatcher Luck. By Katharine H. Brown 343
“Your Loving Daughter Joyce”. By Elinor McDonald 359
Saracita’s Music Lessons. By Harriet Prescott Spofford 372