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The stories

The collection consists of twenty-two short stories, one of which is in four parts:

• The Book of the Grotesque
• Hands, concerning Wing Biddlebaum
• Paper Pills, concerning Doctor Reefy
• Mother, concerning Elizabeth Willard
• The Philosopher, concerning Doctor Parcival
• Nobody Knows, concerning Louise Trunnion
• Godliness, a Tale in Four Parts
  • I, concerning Jesse Bentley
  • II, also concerning Jesse Bentley
  • III Surrender, concerning Louise Bentley
  • IV Terror, concerning David Hardy
• A Man of Ideas, concerning Joe Welling
• Adventure, concerning Alice Hindman
• Respectability, concerning Wash Williams
• The Thinker, concerning Seth Richmond
• Tandy, concerning Tandy Hard
• The Strength of God, concerning the Reverend Curtis Hartman
• The Teacher, concerning Kate Swift
• Loneliness, concerning Enoch Robinson
• An Awakening, concerning Belle Carpenter
• "Queer," concerning Elmer Cowley
• The Untold Lie, concerning Ray Pearson
• Drink, concerning Tom Foster
• Death, concerning Doctor Reefy and Elizabeth Willard
• Sophistication, concerning Helen White
• Departure, concerning George Willard.