[TABLE OF CONTENTS]
    
      THE TALES AND THE PERSONS
     
    INTRODUCTION by Irving Howe
    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