Households, Hubbub, & Humor: Comic Tales of American Domestic Disasters

In the hands of these classic American humorists, even the simplest household task can become a spectacular catastrophe. A cook turns a respectable home upside down. A burglar alarm causes more trouble than any burglar. Weddings descend into chaos, automobiles become runaway hazards, and the well-meaning Peterkin family proves that common sense is anything but common. Filled with wit, satire, unforgettable characters, and laugh-out-loud predicaments, these twenty-six tales celebrate the timeless humor found in family life, social pretensions, neighborhood feuds, and everyday disasters. Featuring the work of renowned authors and hidden gems of classic American fiction, including: Wanted, A Cook, by Alan Dale Mrs. Peterkin Wishes to Go to Drive, by Lucretia P. Hale Our New Bedstead, by Frederick S. Cozzens The Educational Breakfast, by Lucretia P. Hale The Boys around the House, by M Quad The Wolf at Susan's Door, by Anne Warner The Weddin' , by Jennie Betts Hartswick Mrs. Peterkin’s Tea-Party, by Lucretia P. Hale Tempest in a Tub, by James M. Bailey The Widow Bedott's Visitor, by Frances M. Whicher The Trawnbeighs, by Charles Macomb Flandrau Araminta and The Automobile, by Charles Battell Loomis The McWilliamses & the Burglar Alarm, by Mark Twain How We Bought a Sewin' Machine and Organ, by Marietta Holley The Colonel's Clothes, by Caroline Howard Gilman Hezekiah Bedott's Opinion, by Frances M. Whicher Why the Peterkins had a Late Dinner, by Lucretia P. Hale The Peterkins Snowed-Up, by Lucretia P. Hale The Peterkins are Obliged to Move, by Lucretia P. Hale A Kitchen Colonel, by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman The Peterkins at the Farm, by Lucretia P. Hale The Old Maid's House: In Plan, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps The Lady Who Put Salt in Her Coffee, by Lucretia P. Hale Lucilla's Diary, by Lucretia P. Hale The Peterkins’ Christmas-Tree, by Lucretia P. Hale Aunt Pen's Funeral, by Harriet Prescott Spofford