THE WEDDING RING by HENRY VAN DYKE
1001 Stories From The Gilded Age
A happy young couple running a small store in Canada learn a valuable lesson about love.
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AKIN TO LOVE by LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY
1001 Stories From The Gilded Age
A single woman living happily alone on her own farm is approached yet again by the neighbor, who is also single, and who asks her again to marry him. After turning him away, a set of dire circumstances makes her reconsider her position.
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LOVE ON THE BON-DIEU by KATE CHOPIN
1001 Stories From The Gilded Age
"Love on the Bon-Dieu" was originally published as "Love and Easter" on Oct 30th, 1891, and included in the collection 'Bayou Folk" in 1894. The story focuses on Lalie, a poor Cajun girl who "has a frailness that indicated lack of wholesome and plentiful nourishment"- needless to say, she was living with her grandmother, who abused her, in a run down shanty. A young man named Azenore took pity on her when he met her at the church, and that turned into love.
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A DILL PICKLE by KATHERINE MANSFIELD
1001 Stories From The Gilded Age
This story is actually a dialogue between a man and a woman who had once been romantically involved and now find themselves meeting by chance in a small cafe. He has done well the past six years, she- not so well. He leads the conversation, which is all about his travels and the way he once felt for her, and manages to slight her a few times in the course of the conversation. Katherine Mansfield reveals a lot about both of them in just a few words- a real sign of a great classic short story writer.
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WHITE MAGIC by LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY
1001 Stories From The Gilded Age
A young lady is surprised to find that her older sister is about to marry a young man that she really doesn't care for, They both know the young man and he has always befriended the younger sister, so, not wanting to see him hurt, and desperate to find a solution, she goes to the local "old witch" to get a love potion for her sister to turn things around. The story takes place on Prince Edward Island in Canada, the scene of many of Montgomery's stories.
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A HAWAIIAN LOVE STORY
1001 Stories From The Gilded Age
The love story of Lolo and Kahikilani from the ancient annals of Hawaii.
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CHAMPAGNE by ANTON CHEKHOV
1001 Stories From The Gilded Age
A young married man working at a menial job at a remote train station drops a bottle of champagne while he and his wife try to celebrate a lonely New Year's Eve, and she advises him that it is a bad omen. Later, walking alone, he is filled with self-pity and convinces himself he does not love his wife. He begins to fulfill the prophecy.
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AT TWILIGHT by SUSAN GLASPELL
1001 Stories From The Gilded Age
A 73 year-old small college professor comes to the realization that he must retire soon, and finds inspiration from one of his best students.
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A BUSH LEAGUE HERO by EDNA FERBER
1001 Stories From The Gilded Age
Is is love of the game or love of the players that brings girls to baseball games? Edna Ferber's classic short story "A Bush League Hero" answers the question from one young ladies point of view.
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THAT HOMETOWN FEELING by EDNA FERBER
1001 Stories From The Gilded Age
Jon is back narrating 3 episodes per week, some old,some new- all great stories! Check out the answer to the question "Who coined the term "Gilded Age" below.... THAT HOMETOWN FEELING (FROM THE COLLECTION "BUTTERED SIDE DOWN" Published in the 1912 collection Buttered Side Down, this story captures the tension between the allure of the big city and the persistent pull of one's roots. The Summary: The story centers on characters who have moved away from their small towns to find success in the city, only to discover that the "hometown feeling" is something they can never quite outrun. It focuses...
info_outlineAttention: We will now be offering three Gilded Age short stories every week- Sun 12 Noon ET, Wed 4pm ET, Fri 4pm ET, with complete show notes, all narrated by Jon, some new, some old. I have a huge respect for the woman writers of this period and enjoy sharing their stories. If you like this change let others know with your review!
Answer to "Who coined the term 'Gilded Age?"below....
The Story: "A Bush League Hero"
Published in Ferber's 1912 collection Buttered Side Down, this story is a classic example of her "working-class" fiction.
The Summary: Despite the title, this is not a baseball story. It focuses on Ivy Keller, a young woman who returns to her small hometown after attending a "select school for young ladies" and finds herself intensely bored by the lack of excitement. The "hero" of the title is not a literal athlete but a local man, Jo Hertz, who manages a small-town clothing store. The story explores the contrast between Ivy's sophisticated pretensions and the quiet, unglamorous "heroism" of everyday work and small-town life.
The Hook: Ferber uses a bait-and-switch with the title to critique the era’s obsession with celebrity and "big league" glamour, instead finding dignity in the "bush league" (minor league) characters of rural America.
About Edna Ferber (1885–1968)
Edna Ferber was one of the most successful American writers of the early 20th century. A member of the famed Algonquin Round Table, she was known for her wit and her ability to capture the distinctly American spirit.
Literary Impact: She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1925 for So Big and wrote the novel Show Boat, which became a landmark musical.
Themes: Her work often featured strong, independent women navigating a changing society, reflecting her own experiences as a Jewish woman and a former journalist.
Who Coined the Phrase "Gilded Age"?
The term was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in the title of their 1873 satirical novel, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today.
The Meaning: The authors chose the word "gilded" (covered in a thin layer of gold) to suggest that the era's outward prosperity and "golden" expansion masked a core of corruption, greed, and social inequality.
The Source: They were inspired by a line in Shakespeare's King John: "To gild refined gold... is wasteful and ridiculous excess."
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