Introduction -- pt.1. The tentative period: Rip Van Winkle / W. Irving -- Peter Rugg, the missing man / W. Austin -- The French village / J. Hall -- The inroad of the Nabajo / A. Pike -- pt.2. The period of the new form: The white old maid / N. Hawthorne -- The notary of Perigueux / H.W. Longfellow -- The fall of the house of Usher / E.A. Poe -- The inlet of peach blossoms / N.P. Willis -- The bee-tree / C.M.S. Kirkland -- What was it? A mystery / F.-J. O'Brien -- The outcasts of Poker Flat / F.B. Harte -- Miss Eunice's glove / A.F. Webster -- Who was she? / B. Taylor -- The love-letters of Smith / H.C. Bunner -- The eve of the Fourth / H. Frederic.