AustLit

A Philadelphia lawyer looks up his old classmate, recently appointed to an exclusive New York ministry. The minister hears the tale of the lawyer's ward who wishes to marry a man of character without money, while the lawyer wishes her to marry his son. The minister is interrupted to marry a young couple in the next room - the lawyer's ward and her fiancee. Pleasant tale: goodness versus slickness. (PB)

A Melbourne house and land agent agrees to sit up with his employer to witness the arrival of family ghosts - his dead wife and son. With the assistance of Mark Sinclair he uncovers the murdress of the wife - the ugly old housekeeper, and the continued existence of the son who has returned from sea to uncover his mother's murderer. He suspects his father at first and thus feigns to be a ghost, but the father's innocenc is proven on his deathbed. Dreams are an intrguing feature of this story. (PB)

A mock-sermon taken from 'Old Mother Hubbard'. Humour (clever of its kind). (PB)

English romance and a young woman's coming of age. Alice Allonby leaves the home of her father, a village rector recently remarried, to earn her living and escape the supervision of her stepmother. As governess to two young girls she meets Walter Goulding and falls in love. Soon after she leaves her position and returns home - where a long awaited visit from Walter reveals that he is her step-mother's true love, separated by a misunderstanding over her inheritance. Alice's father dies soon after and Walter marries her stepmother - leaving Alice with the experience of love and loss she had left home to gain. A little tired and convoluted but competently written. Includes fleeting reference to the women's rights movement - a disclaimer of belonging to it. (PB)

Modern retelling of David and Goliath. (PB)

US tale of precognition. A sceptic has a strange vision one night of a railroad accident and his rescue of a young girl. When the vision comes true he is converted from scepticism. Slight. (PB)

Pleasant romance. Lillian Leighton, 17, is informed by her uncle that he wishes her to marry the son of a wealthy friend. Lillian wishes for love, and finds it with a young artist visiting the area. She is forbidden to see him again when their meetings are discovered - but fortunately discovers that he is the very man her uncle intends her to marry. Light; includes a happy little scene of Lillian covered in mud in search of some water-lilies. (PB)

Domestic tale. A newly married couple's first fight helps them face the reality not the romance of life. Very thin; argument credible. (PB)

A child's chatter with a visiting female agent of the Missionary Society creates ire in the visitor's breast. humour; study of social hypocrisy etc. (PB)

Humorous tale of the breach of a romance when the French doctor's fiancee discovers that he has not stolen the relic he gave her as a gift. The terms of his forgiveness are a genuine certified relic from the Pope - hence the letter to an Abbe. (PB)

In Louisiana a negro pursued by hounds is cornered in a bayou filled with alligators. He has revenge in death and carries them into the waters with him. Evocative. (PB)

Lessons learned for life from watching a team of horses work together. (PB)

A Dutch plantation owner's wife in Java has a Malay boy whipped on suspicion of stealing a bracelet, despite his father's pleas. He is found innocent and several months later the father takes a bloody revenge. Brief; strong impact. (PB)

Light romance. An honest manly doctor and an elegant gentleman contest for the hand of a lovely widow at Lucerne - but it is her daughter who really settles the issue. (PB)

A Jewish second-hand dealer advises a customer truthfully - and loses a sale. (PB)

On the use of excessive exaggeration. (PB)

A couple, occupied with each other, bid goodnight and the young woman stumbles through the darkened house to her room only to find she is in the wrong house and in the room with two foreigners, a knife and a pistol. Her terror as she waits for them to fall asleep to make her escape makes it seem longer ... and her lover is faithful. Pleasant, slight. (PB)

Evocation of a steamer's steady engines, the closeness of the sea, and the unexplained disappearances of the ship. Mood piece. (PB)

Slight, tragic romance. The narrator, a young clergyman, falls in love with Mable Chisolm but her father insists she marry an older, richer preacher. She obeys but dies of a 'broken heart' before the wedding. Hackneyed. (PB)