Miscellaneous Tales by Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)

By Ambrose Bierce

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘Miscellaneous Tales’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce’.

Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Bierce includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

eBook features:
* The complete unabridged text of ‘Miscellaneous Tales’
* Beautifully illustrated with images related to Bierce’s works
* Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook
* Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Jul 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781786564405

Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) was an American novelist and short story writer. Born in Meigs County, Ohio, Bierce was raised Indiana in a poor family who treasured literature and extolled the value of education. Despite this, he left school at 15 to work as a printer’s apprentice, otherwise known as a “devil”, for the Northern Indianan, an abolitionist newspaper. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he enlisted in the Union infantry and was present at some of the conflict’s most harrowing events, including the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. During the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in 1864, Bierce—by then a lieutenant—suffered a serious brain injury and was discharged the following year. After a brief re-enlistment, he resigned from the Army and settled in San Francisco, where he worked for years as a newspaper editor and crime reporter. In addition to his career in journalism, Bierce wrote a series of realist stories including “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and “Chickamauga,” which depict the brutalities of warfare while emphasizing the psychological implications of violence. In 1906, he published The Devil’s Dictionary, a satirical dictionary compiled from numerous installments written over several decades for newspapers and magazines. In 1913, he accompanied Pancho Villa’s army as an observer of the Mexican Revolution and disappeared without a trace at the age of 71.

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The Complete Works of

AMBROSE BIERCE

VOLUME 16 OF 35

Miscellaneous Tales

Parts Edition

By Delphi Classics, 2013

Version 1

COPYRIGHT

‘Miscellaneous Tales’

Ambrose Bierce: Parts Edition (in 35 parts)

First published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by Delphi Classics.

© Delphi Classics, 2017.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 78656 440 5

Delphi Classics

is an imprint of

Delphi Publishing Ltd

Hastings, East Sussex

United Kingdom

Contact: [e-mail]

www.delphiclassics.com

Ambrose Bierce: Parts Edition

This eBook is Part 16 of the Delphi Classics edition of Ambrose Bierce in 35 Parts. It features the unabridged text of Miscellaneous Tales from the bestselling edition of the author’s Complete Works. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. Our Parts Editions feature original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of Ambrose Bierce, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

Visit here to buy the entire Parts Edition of Ambrose Bierce or the Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce in a single eBook.

Learn more about our Parts Edition, with free downloads, via this link or browse our most popular Parts here.

AMBROSE BIERCE

IN 35 VOLUMES

Parts Edition Contents

The Novellas

1, The Dance of Death

2, The Monk and the Hangman’s Daughter

3, The Land Beyond the Blow

The Short Story Collections

4, The Fiend’s Delight

5, Cobwebs from an Empty Skull

6, Present at a Hanging, and Other Ghost Stories

7, In the Midst of Life: Tales of Soldiers and Civilians

8, Can Such Things Be?

9, Fantastic Fables

10, Negligible Tales

11, The Parenticide Club

12, The Fourth Estate

13, The Ocean Wave

14, Kings of Beasts

15, Two Administrations

16, Miscellaneous Tales

The Poetry Collections

17, Black Beetles in Amber

18, Shapes of Clay

19, Fables in Rhyme

20, Some Ante-Mortem Epitaphs

21, The Scrap Heap

The Non-Fiction

22, The Shadow on the Dial, and Other Essays

23, The Devil’s Dictionary

24, Write It Right

25, Ashes of the Beacon

26, On with the Dance!: A Review

27, A Cynic Looks at Life

28, Tangential Views

29, Bits of Autobiography

30, Miscellaneous Articles and Reviews

31, Uncollected Essays

The Letters

32, The Letters of Ambrose Bierce

The Criticism

33, The Criticism

Biercian Texts

34, Biercian Articles and Reviews

The Biography

35, Ambrose Bierce: A Biography by Carey Mcwilliams

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Miscellaneous Tales

CONTENTS

THE SAMPLE COUNTER

OUR TALES OF SENTIMENT

THE GREAT STRIKE OF 1895

A THUMB-NAIL SKETCH

MORTALITY IN THE FOOT-HILLS

THE A. L. C. B.

A STORY AT THE CLUB

THE WIZARD OF BUMBASSA

THE FUTURE HISTORIAN

OBJECTIVE IDEAS

MY CREDENTIALS

THE FOOL

OUR SMART SETS

THE EVOLUTION OF A STORY

THE ALLOTMENT

LACKING FACTORS

A CALIFORNIAN STATESMAN

THE SAMPLE COUNTER

OUR HISTORICAL NOVELS

From The First Man in Rome.

NO sooner had Cæsar crossed the Rubicon than all Rome was ablaze with excitement and terror. Horatius, who all by himself had held the bridge until outnumbered, retreated to the Tiber, where he was joined by the new levies, imperfectly armed and equipped, and some of the Praetorian Guards. There, behind such defenses as they could improvise, they swore to resist until all were dead. Sacrifices were offered to the gods, and the augurs, removing the hearts of the victims, consulted the auricles.

Meantime Caesar’s leading legion, with Scipio Africanus marching proudly at its head, came into view beyond the Tarpeian Rock — the same from which the unhappy Sappho, one of the most prominent poets of her time, had cast herself — and advanced without delay in a shower of catapults.

Precisely what occurred during the next half-hour we are without the data to state with confidence: all the historical novels of the three or four centuries immediately following were destroyed in the accident at Pompeii; but at three o’clock in the afternoon of that fateful day Brutus lay dead upon the field of honor and the beaten forces of Horatius were in tumultuous retreat along the Claudian aqueduct. Then Cleopatra came forth from her place of concealment, resolved to throw herself at the feet of her conquering lover and intercede for the doomed city.

From Court and Camp.

Through a tangled wild as dense as death the martial forced his way, despite the wounds that the Russian forces had inflicted upon his aged frame. Suddenly he departed from the undergrowth and found himself in an open glade of inconsiderable dimensions, and before his vision stood the widely known figure of Napoleon, with folded arms and in a greatcoat falling to his heels. The king was apparently oblivious to his environment, but instinctively the bravest of the brave, ever considerate and genteel, drew back into cover, unwilling to interrupt the royal revery. Apparently Napoleon was immersed in meditations.

What these were we have not the temerity to conjecture. Waterloo had been fought and lost! — the last die had been cast to the winds and the dream of universal empire had gone down in gloom! Did he realize that all was over? Was he conjuring up the future and forecasting the judgment of posterity — the figure that he was destined to cut in the historical novels of a later age? Did visions of St. Helena float before his prophetic gaze? Alas, we know not!

At the sound of a breaking twig beneath the martial’s foot the king started from his revery and said in French: Live the France! Then, deriving a slender stiletto from his regalia, he plunged it into the left ventricle of his heart and fell dead before the martial, who was greatly embarrassed, could summon medical assistance.

Josephine was avenged!

From The Crusader

It was midnight beneath the walls of the beleaguered city. Sir Guy de Chassac de Carcassonne leaned heavily upon his great two-handed sword, fatigued with slaughter. Hardly had he closed his eyes in slumber when the seven Saracens chosen by Saladin for the perilous emprise stole forth from the postern gate and stealthily surrounded him. Then at a preconcerted signal they flashed their scimitars in air and rushed upon their prey I But it was fated to be otherwise. At the first stroke of the Toledo blades Sir Guy awoke. To pluck his long weapon from the soil was the work of a comparatively short time; then with one mighty circular sweep of the steel he clove them all asunder at the waist!

Jerusalem was delivered and remains a Christian city to this day!

From Blood and Beer.

The booming of the cannon awakened Bismarck with a start. Vaulting into the saddle with remarkable grace, he was soon in the thickest of the fray, and many a foeman fell beneath his genius. Yet even in the terrible din and confusion of battle his mental processes were normal, and he thought only of the countess, while absently dealing death about him. Suddenly he was roused from his revery by the impact of a battle-axe upon his helmet, and turning his eyes in the direction whence it seemed to have been delivered, he beheld the sneering visage of De Grammont on a black steed.

Here was an opportunity that might satisfy the most exacting — an opportunity to rid his country of a traitor and himself of a rival; to serve at once his ambition and his love. His noble nature forbade. Waving his enemy aside, he thoughtfully withdrew from the field, resolved to press his suit otherwise.

From The Iron Duchess.

As Wellington rode moodily away from the fatal field of Blenheim, meditating upon the wreck of his ambition, he encountered the seer whom he had met the day before.

Wretch! he exclaimed,