George Ade (February 9, 1866 - May 16, 1944) was an American writer, newspaper columnist, and playwright. His literary reputation rests upon his achievements as a great humorist of American character during an important era in American history: the first large wave of migration from the countryside to burgeoning cities like Chicago, where, in fact, Ade produced his best fiction. He was a practicing realist during the Age of (William Dean) Howells and a local colorist of Chicago and the Midwest. His work constitutes a vast comedy of Midwestern manners and, indeed, a comedy of late 19th century American manners. Ade's fiction dealt consistently with the "little man," the common, undistinguished, average American, usually a farmer or lower middle class citizen. (He sometimes skewered women, too, especially women with laughable social pretensions). The 20 fables contained in this edition heralded a new form in American humor and literature. In them Ade utilized the slangy language of the Gay 90's to make the American public aware of the quaint and the unusual in the lives of the small stage performers, college students, boarding house inhabitants, and farm boys of the day. Singling out these archetypal figures with humor, warmth and verve, this collection of short stores represents one of the most highly original pieces of investigation and interpretation in American cultural history. It is in every way a brilliant book. The Fable of How Uncle Brewster was Too Shifty for the Tempter The Fable of the Grass Widow and the Mesmeree and the Six Dollars The Fable of the Honest Money-Maker and the Partner of His Joys, Such as They Were The Fable of Why Sweetie Flew the Track The Fable of the Ex-Chattel and the Awful Swat that was Waiting for the Colonel The Fable of the Corporation Director and the Mislaid Ambition The Fable of What Happened the Night the Men Came to the Women's Club The Fable of Why Essie's Tall Friend Got the Fresh Air The Fable of the Michigan Counterfeit Who Wasn't One Thing or the Other The Fable of the Adult Girl Who Got Busy Before They Could Ring the Bell on Her The Fable of the Man-Grabber Who Went Out of His Class The Fable of the Inveterate Joker who Remained in Montana The Fable of the Cruel Insult and the Arrival of the Lover from No. 6 The Fable of the Lodge Fiend, and the Delilah Trick Played by His Wife The Fable of the Apprehensive Sparrow and Her Daily Escape The Fable of the Regular Customer and the Copper-Lined Entertainer The Fable of Lutie, the False Alarm, and How She Finished about the Time that She Started The Fable of the Cotillon Leader from the Huckleberry District with the Intermittent Memory The Fable of the He-Gossip and the Man's Wife and the Man The Fable of the Author Who was Sorry for What He Did to Willie