(1892), _A Protégé of Jack Hamlin's, and Other Stories_ (1894), _The
Bell-Ringer of Angel's, and Other Stories_ (1894), _The Ancestors of
Peter Atherly, and Other Tales_ (1897), _Openings in the Old Trail_
(1902), and _Trent's Trust, and Other Stories_ (1903). The titles and
makeup of several of his collections were changed when they came to be
arranged in the complete edition of his works.[5]

Henry Cuyler Bunner (1855-1896) is one of the humorous geniuses of
American literature. He is equally at home in clever verse or the
brief short story. Prof. Fred Lewis Pattee has summed up his
achievement as follows: "Another [than Stockton] who did much to
advance the short story toward the mechanical perfection it had
attained to at the close of the century was Henry Cuyler Bunner,
editor of _Puck_ and creator of some of the most exquisite _vers de
société_ of the period. The title of one of his collections, _Made in
France: French Tales Retold with a U.S. Twist_ (1893), forms an
introduction to his fiction. Not that he was an imitator; few have
been more original or have put more of their own personality into
their work. His genius was Gallic. Like Aldrich, he approached the
short story from the fastidious standpoint of the lyric poet. With
him, as with Aldrich, art was a matter of exquisite touches, of
infinite compression, of almost imperceptible shadings. The lurid
splashes and the heavy emphasis of the local colorists offended his
sensitive taste: he would work with suggestion, with microscopic
focussings, and always with dignity and elegance. He was more American
than Henry James, more even than Aldrich. He chose always
distinctively American subjects--New York City was his favorite
theme--and his work had more depth of soul than Stockton's or
Aldrich's. The story may be trivial, a mere expanded anecdote, yet it
is sure to be so vitally treated that, like Maupassant's work, it