AustLit

A long-running dispute between neighbours over who should fix their boundary fence is settled by a landed spinster who uses stratagem. Slight; interesting for the influence she holds - not usual old maid. (PB)

The behaviour forced upon a man by continually delaying to fix his suspender button on his trousers. Humour. (PB)

Slight romance of the trials and separations of two young lovers - first by her father then by her scheming and jealous relatives. Several unlikely reversals of fortune, including an inheritance from Australia, in a very short space. (PB)

Melodramatic occasionally humorous romance. An orphan flees from her guardian who would force her to marry his evil son, and by accident finds herself in the home of cheerful gentlewoman and her suspicious Scottish servant. The unexpected arrival of her guardian's clerk, the man she loves, at his aunt's house completes the coincidence. (PB)

Anecdote from Nova Scotia of a 'coloured man's' spirited retort to increasing rudeness from a coach driver. Unusual. (PB)

Humorous tale of an American woman married to an English cockney who emigrated to the US - and the misunderstanding about his rich aunt's loss of hearing (ear-ring). (PB)

Slight, comic romance whose marriage proposal is refused on the eve of leaving England convinces himself he is in love with another girl he flirted with before leaving and proposes by letter. She accepts, then he hears she has eloped, then discovers he is engaged to a different sister. Misunderstandings continue, including a double engagement. Forced humour. (PB)

An English mother forced to stay at a French inn with he child on a stormy night barricades her room only to find that she has locked herself in the room with a murderer beneath her bed. Describes the night of suspense and her ingenious method of self-defence. Tense. (PB)

The various awful applicants to a London gentleman who finds a ring in the park and advertises for its owner. A beautiful woman overcomes his suspicions. Humour. (PB)

Brother Gardner resolves a petty quarrel between two members over a dinner invitation not given. (PB)

US western sketch. A white child is rescued from an Indian when a grizzly bear confronts and kills the warrior. The bear later gently returns to the child - who is dead. (PB)

Pleasant light-hearted tale of romance and mesmerism set in England. Two college friends spend a December evening together with Jack Spense's aunt, and Tom Wilkinson's finacee, Amy Durant. Jack, a medical student, tells Tom of his experiments with mesmerism and they determine to try it on Amy to discover whether Tom has real cause for jealousy. The plot backfires ... (PB)

A hospital doctor hears the tale of a dying circus trapeze artist's love for the beautiful girl he trained, their marriage and her death when she is shot by the brutal husband she believed dead. (PB)

Pioneer's narrative of four days lost in the bush during a drought on a station shared with his mates near the Darling and Culgoa Rivers. Aborigines spear his horses and steal his provisions and he nearly dies of thirst and hunger before stumbling across a camp of Aborigines who return him to the station house. Vivid. (PB)

Five friends share a seat at the opera, each standing until his turn arrives to sit. Unfortunately the opera they attend has only four acts ... (PB)

A travelling bookseller manages to sell a businessman three copies of the same book - none of which he wanted. (PB)