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1Way of All Flesh

By Samuel Butler

The Way of All Flesh (1903) is a semi-autobiographical novel by Samuel Butler which attacks Victorian-era hypocrisy. Written between 1873 and 1884, it traces four generations of the Pontifex family. It represents the diminishment of religious outlook from a Calvinistic approach, which is presented as harsh. Butler dared not publish it during his lifetime, but when it was published it was accepted as part of the general revulsion against Victorianism. This novel ranks number 12 of the 100 Great Novels of the 20th Century as chosen by the Modern Library Board of Editors (Summary from Wikipedia)

2Erewhon

By Samuel Butler

Erewhon, or Over the Range is a novel by Samuel Butler, published anonymously in 1872. The title is also the name of a country, supposedly discovered by the protagonist. In the novel, it is not revealed in which part of the world Erewhon is, but it is clear that it is a fictional country. Butler meant the title to be read as the word Nowhere backwards, even though the letters "h" and "w" are transposed. It is likely that he did this to protect himself from accusations of being unpatriotic, although Erewhon is obviously a satire of Victorian society. (summary from Wikipedia)

Compiled from the much larger 12 book set of "Butler's Lives of the Saints", this volume contains short biographies of the Saints, for each day of the year, followed by a reflection for each entry. (Summary by Maria Therese)

4Philo Gubb, Correspondence-School Detective

By Ellis Parker Butler

Philo Gubb, not being content with his job as wallpaper-hanger, has higher aspirations: to become a detective, just like Sherlock Holmes. To that end, he enrolls in a correspondence course, where he gets lessons through the mail as well as the necessary disguises for a detective. Philo Gubb, not being really clever or intuitive, or even looking good in those disguises, gets involved in one case after the other - and sooner or later happens to stumble on and solve the crime..Each of these stories is a complete mystery unto itself so if you read just one, you will know it's beginning and the unorthodox methods by which Philo Gubb, Correspondence-School Detective solves it using his woeful 'deteckative' (as he puts it) skills (Summary by Availle and Phil Chenevert)

5Native Races and the War

By Josephine Butler

Josephine Elizabeth Butler was a Victorian era British feminist who was strongly committed to liberal reforms. As a result of her efforts, international organisations including the International Abolitionist Federation were set up to campaign against state regulation of prostitution and the trafficking in women and children. This book reflects her abhorrence of slavery in all its forms and is particularly pertinent in our world of today. (Summary by Wikipedia)

6Ellis Parker Butler Short Story Collection, Vol 1

By Ellis Parker Butler

Ellis Parker Butler was an American author. He was the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays. These are eight of his humorous short stories about life. - Summary by KirksVoice

7That Pup

By Ellis Parker Butler

A puppy, unannounced and unordered, arrives in a crate at Mr. Murchison's house. Humorous events follow. - Summary by david wales

8Adventures of a Suburbanite

By Ellis Parker Butler

Why is the neighbor so obsessed with his car? Where can we find a good gardener? Should we have a Santa Claus at our Christmas party? Yes, this is suburbia... much the same today as it was in 1911. - Summary by Sarah Jennings

9Cheerful Smugglers

By Ellis Parker Butler

Saving for the baby's education: how can a young family be disciplined so as to regularly put money in the pig (bank)? Why, put a tariff on all items coming into the house, just like the U.S. Government does/did for items coming into the country! But the devil is in the details; what about taxing items brought in by visitors? Is the housemaid herself a taxable item? What items really are 'necessaries' versus luxuries? When visitors arrive these guests stoop to either 'smuggling' in their luggage items to avoid having to pay up to 30% of the value, or wear only what they came dressed in. The hosts are equally hypocritical, but all parties accuse the others of cheating. How will the education fund fare? Will the guest leave in a huff? Find out! (summary by Arnold Banner)

10Perkins of Portland

By Ellis Parker Butler

Amusing tales showing the effectiveness of advertising some rather questionable products. Perkins and the narrator partner in promotions directed at a gullible and willing public. Unlike most tales of the kind, with moralistic endings where the 'sharps' come to grief, Perkins and Co. become wealthy and quite pleased with themselves. (Summary by Arnold Banner)

His career spanned more than forty years, and his stories, poems, and articles were published in more than 225 magazines. His work appeared alongside that of his contemporaries, including Mark Twain, Sax Rohmer, James B. Hendryx, Berton Braley, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Don Marquis, Will Rogers, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Despite the enormous volume of his work, Butler was, for most of his life, only a part-time author. He worked full-time as a banker and was very active in his local community. A founding member of both the Dutch Treat Club and the Authors League of America, Butler was an always-present force in the New York City literary scene. ( Wikipedia)

12Note-Books of Samuel Butler

By Samuel Butler and Henry Festing Jones

Early in his life Samuel Butler began to carry a note-book and to write down in it anything he wanted to remember; it might be something he heard some one say, more commonly it was something he said himself. In one of these notes he gives a reason for making them:<br></br>“One’s thoughts fly so fast that one must shoot them; it is no use trying to put salt on their tails.”<br></br>So he bagged as many as he could hit and preserved them, re-written on loose sheets of paper which constituted a sort of museum stored with the wise, beautiful, and strange creatures that were continually winging their way across the field of his vision. As he became a more expert marksman his collection increased and his museum grew so crowded that he wanted a catalogue. In 1874 he started an index, and this led to his reconsidering the notes, destroying those that he remembered having used in his published books and re-writing the remainder. The re-writing shortened some but it lengthened others and suggested so many new ones that the index was soon of little use and there seemed to be no finality about it. In 1891 he attached the problem afresh and made it a rule to spend an hour every morning re-editing his notes and keeping his index up to date. At his death, in 1902, he left five bound volumes, with the contents dated and indexed, about 225 pages of closely written sermon paper to each volume, and more than enough unbound and unindexed sheets to made a sixth volume of equal size. - Summary by Henry Festing Jones

13Jack-Knife Man

By Ellis Parker Butler

A lighthearted tale which revolves around old Peter Lane, who lives in a houseboat on the Mississippi River and mostly whiles away his time whittling with his jack-knife and not really doing much else. That is, until one night, a sickly woman knocks at his boat door holding her son in her arms. This encounter would change Peter's life, as the old man befriends little Buddy and is determined to keep him and raise him as his own, provided he is able to keep a host of others from laying claim to the orphan. <br><br> (Note - While the online text for this book appears that there is no chapter 7, no chapters have been omitted from this recording.) - Summary by Roger Melin

The wry humor of Ellis Parker Butler, who gave us the classic Pigs Is Pigs, takes us into his own married life where Marthy and Hiram live quietly in their Colorado town. They don't have trouble with anyone of their neighbors. Why should they, as they don't have any kids that could cause the neighbors trouble? And oh, luckily they don't have kids because how could Hiram otherwise afford to give his wife, Marthy a new silk dress? Really lucky. The neighbors kids are cute and all but ugh, they are much better off without kids and their expenses and sicknesses and trouble. Except that one boy, well, he's cool, Hiram wouldn't mind having him around and teaching him how to fish. Or maybe the neighbors youngest daughter, shes so nice. All of this superiority changes when they expect a child of their own and then the poor little thing is born. Funny, poignant and oh, so true! (summary by Carolin and Phil Chenevert )

Marjorie Fielding is born premature and spends her first months of life in an incubator. Her mother is a modern, broad-minded woman eschewing old fashioned views of childrearing to embrace a scientific method. Science has its place but can it be taken too far? Little Marjorie gives us her perspective. - Summary by Scotty

Marine Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler's expose of American Corporate Imperialism. Butler said, “I served in all commissioned ranks from second lieutenant to Major General. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street, and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism. I suspected I was just part of the racket all the time. Now I am sure of it.” - Summary by John Greenman and https://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/major-general-smedley-butler

Article I, section 5, of the United States Constitution gives each house of Congress power to judge the elections, returns, and qualifications of its members, and to punish members for "disorderly behavior." Between 1793 and 1990, more than 200 senators faced challenges to their credentials based on their qualifications for office and alleged irregularities in their elections; or discipline for offenses ranging from public corruption, to giving aid and comfort to the Confederacy, to bringing dishonor upon the Senate in myriad other ways, or for pure political spite. As researched and written by staff of the Congressional Research Service, these are their stories. The arc of the book, each case told in chronological order, traces not only the tenor and politics of the times, but the evolution of the Senate's own thinking about what it means to be a United States Senator. - Summary by Joanne Turner.

This story will allow both young and old to learn about some of Mexico's history, customs, daily life, and beautiful places through the eyes and experiences of Juanita, a young Mexican girl, and her friends. (Summary by Sue Gill)

This book tells about life in Mexico in the early 20th century, through the eyes of a little girl, Juanita. As the story follows her, the reader learns about cultural practices, historical events, and famous landmarks. (Summary by Mike Dunn)

20Wild North Land, The Story of a Winter Journey with Dogs across Northern North America

By William Francis Butler

This book was published in 1910.<br><br> Not only do Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun, but it seems that sometimes they venture into the frozen north as well, in winter, on foot, and alone. The author summarizes his "long tramp" across the Canadian wilderness thus:<br><br> "I started in the autumn of 1872 from the Red River of the North, and, reaching Lake Athabasca, completed half my journey by the first week of March in the following year. From Athabasca I followed the many-winding channel of the frozen Peace River to its great cañon in the Rocky Mountains, and, journeying through this pass—for many reasons the most remarkable one in the whole range of the Rocky Mountains—reached the north of British Columbia in the end of May. From thence, following a trail of 350 miles through the dense forests of New Caledonia, I emerged on the 3rd of June at the frontier station of Quesnelle on the Frazer River, still 400 miles north of Victoria."<br><br> - Summary by Steven Seitel

This is a novel that describes the life of three friends while they are attending Rugby School. The work illustrates for the reader many of the boys' pranks, challenges, sorrows, and victories and, as well, gives a good sense of school life in the middle of the 19th Century. Anyone who looks back with fondness on his or her younger days of schooling will enjoy this work. (Summary by KevinS)

22Swatty: A Story of Real Boys

By Ellis Parker Butler

The fun adventures of Georgie, Swatty, and Bony, as they encounter flooding rivers, emotional girls, burning buildings, rotten stumps, mean teachers, a haunted house, dark caves, murderers, and ice jams. (Summary by Dale Barkley)

23Analogy of Religion to the Constitution and Course of Nature

By Joseph Butler

Joseph Butler's great work is the Analogy, published in 1736, and from that day read and admired by every highly-cultivated mind. He was induced to write by a state of things very remarkable in the history of religion. Debauchery and infidelity were almost universal, not in any one class of society but in all. England had reached the culminating point of irreligion, and the firm re-establishment of Episcopacy had as yet done nothing to mend the nation’s morals. Piety was deemed a mark of ignorance and vulgarity, and multitudes of those who professed it were persecuted to dungeons and death. <br><br> It was considered settled, especially in polite circles, that Christianity, after so long a prevalence, had been found out to be an imposture. The clergy, as a body, did nothing to dispel this moral gloom, but rather increased it by their violent and scandalous conduct. In the sad language of Bishop Warburton, “Religion had lost its hold on the minds of the people.” <br><br> To the Analogy no reply has ever been attempted. Extensive as is its diffusion, and great as is its acknowledged influence, infidelity has had the highest inducements to attempt to set it aside. Written for a present purpose, and most signally accomplishing it, it is yet so written as to endure, in full value, through all coming time. It is undoubtedly “the most original and the most profound work extant, in any language, on the philosophy of religion,” “the most argumentative and philosophical defence of Christianity ever submitted to the world.” - Summary by Preface

24Kilo: Being the Love Story of Eliph' Hewlitt, Book Agent

By Ellis Parker Butler

Traveling salesman Eliph' Hewlitt finds the love of his life in Kilo, Iowa and decides to settle down there. - Summary by Dale Barkley

25In Pawn

By Ellis Parker Butler

Inspired by "Lives of the Saints", fat, lazy, good-for-nothing Harvey Redding decides to give up the junk-collecting business, and become a Saint. Meanwhile, deeply in debt to his sister, he has left his son Lem with her ("in pawn") until he is able to pay her back. (Summary by Dale Barkley)

26First Year in Canterbury Settlement

By Samuel Butler

Samuel Butler travelled to the South Island of New Zealand in 1860, landing at Lyttleton, the main port for the Canterbury Settlement. Although the son of a Church of England clergyman, Butler arrived in Canterbury intent on making his fortune from sheep farming. "A First Year in Canterbury Settlement" colourfully describes his experiences including his travels on horseback up the Canterbury rivers to eventually find the high country sheep run where he established his station "Mesopotamia". Samuel Butler returned to England in 1864, having made a profit from the sale of Mesopotamia. Samuel Butler is best known for his novels "Erewhon" and "The Way of All Flesh". (Summary by Gail Timmerman-Vaughan)

Story of the Civil War as told by a private soldier's perspective of daily routines, challenges, anxieties, skirmishes, battle. (summary by soloist)

28Best Ghost Stories

By E. F. Benson, Ambrose Bierce, Algernon Blackwood, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Ellis Parker Butler, Daniel Defoe, M. R. James, Rudyard Kipling, Leopold Kompert, Brander Matthews, Vincent O'Sullivan, Arthur B. Reeve and Various

Collected together here by master anthologist Joseph Lewis French are some of the finest ghost stories ever to be put to paper. From the early influential tales of Daniel Defoe and Edward Bulwer-Lytton to more contemporary masters of the terror tale such as M. R. James, Algernon Blackwood and E. F. Benson, this collection brings together a bounty of riches sure to keep you awake into the dark, dreadful night! - Summary by Ben Tucker

LibriVox volunteers bring you 19 recordings of An Exception by Ellis Parker Butler.<br> This was the Weekly Poetry project for November 19, 2023. <br> ------<br> Ellis Parker Butler was an American author. He was the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays. His career spanned more than forty years, and his stories, poems, and articles were published in more than 225 magazines. His work appeared alongside that of his contemporaries, including Mark Twain, Sax Rohmer, James B. Hendryx, Berton Braley, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Don Marquis, Will Rogers, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. - Summary by Wikipedia