27 Stories collected by James Qwilleran from his Moose County neighbors as he heard and recorded them. Great resource of life in the north central region during the 20s and 30s. Most of them were included in “The Cat Who…” books starting with #6 “Who Played Post Office. The decision to write, collecting the stories were talked about a lot (advertising?) in the books. Due to that I mostly skimmed over them, but it was nice to review the history behind them.
1) The Legend of the Rubbish Heap. A chronicle of the fortunes, misfortunes and feud of two pioneer families: the Limburgers and the Klingenschoens (Qwill’s line).
2) Secret of the Blacksmith’s Wife. A mysterious blacksmith and hidden pirate treasure.
3) Housecalls on Horseback. The life of a pioneer small town doctor using homemade medicines, simple instruments and prayer.
4) Hilda the Clipper. A crazy old lady who terrorized the town of Brrr with a pair of hedge clippers.
5) Milo the Potato Farmer. How to survive the mines closing, Prohibition and other financial hard times with bootlegging.
6) The Little Old Man in the Woods. After a young boy meets a strange little man in a pear orchard he learns the importance of trees to our world and begins to grow and protect trees.
7) My Great- Grandmother’s Coal Mine. After Maggie Sprenkle’s husband dies in a mysterious accident, she takes over the operating of his coal mine. A thing no woman of the era would do.
8) The True (?) History of Squunk Water. A potato farmer bought some green twigs that grew into huge vines. Sounds like a version of Jack and the Beanstock.
9) Whooping it up with the Loggers. Life of a lumberjack in the early 1900s.
10) “The Princess” and the Pirates. Story of how a cargo ship fought off pirates on the lake with horseradish.
11) Wildcattin’ with the Old Hog. The story of a runaway train and a wooden bridge.
12) The Scratching Under the Door. A sweet story about an orange cat named Punkin has a cute trick that saves her mistresses life years after she died.
13) The Dimsdale Jinx. A murder mystery involving a miner’s family and a doctor.
14) The Mystery of Dank Hollow. Scary story about a young man traveling home from a funeral through a foggy swamp.
15) Tale of Two Tombstones. A new use for tombstones during Prohibition.
16) The Pork-and-Beans Incident at Boggy Bottom. How a can of pork and beans stopped a young terrorist.
17) At Last, a Hospital in the Wilderness. The ladies of Moose County support the hospital’s needs by collecting money and donations to buy and make items needed by patients, nurses and the needy for medical and comfort purposes.
18) Emmaline and the Spiral Staircase. Old house with spiral stairs, star-crossed lovers, orphaned baby, infuriated father, future granddaughter, beautiful ghost.
19) The Curious Fate of the Jenny Lee. Mysterious disappearances, UFO sightings and commercial herring fishing in the 20s and 30s.
20) A Scary Experience on a Covered bridge. Sweet story about a schoolteacher having a scary experience in a covered bridge.
21) A Cat Tale: Holy Terror and the Bishop. A Siamese cat, a Bishop’s visit and a Bloody Mary.
22) Those Pushy Moose County Blueberries. Farming and concrete vs wild blueberries.
23) The Curse on the Apple Orchard. Suspicious natural disasters wipe out a prosperous family including a beautiful apple orchard.
24) Matilda, a Family heroine. A gray cat named Matilda regularly sees ‘visitors’, then she, and the barn she was in, survive a tornado.
25) How Pleasant Street Got It’s Name. When the market for tall sailing ships disappeared, the owner of a shipyard started building elegant houses. Needing a pleasant-sounding street name: Pleasant Street.
26) The Noble Sons of the Noose. After thirty-two miners are killed and their families evicted, the mine owner mysteriously disappears. A secret society claims to have secretly lynched him.
27) Phineas Ford’s Fabulous Collection. How the ‘scamadiddle’ became a collector’s item.