In this episode we’re sampling Kate Chopin.

1. ‘The Kiss’ is a short story about a calculating young woman managing a love triangle and  highlights themes of irony, pragmatism over romantic love, and the manipulation of social roles. 
2. Kate Chopin’s ‘A Pair of Silk Stockings’ explores the conflict between a woman's duty to family and her personal desires for independence and self-identity, common in Chopin's work. 
3. "A Reflection" is a brief, philosophical meditation contrasting the relentless "moving procession of human energy" with the stillness of those left behind. 

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This episode holds 3 essays and musings of Sir Richard Steele. These writings hail from as far back as we’ve ventured so far.  

Sir Richard Steele born in Ireland in 1672, was an essayist, dramatist, and politician.

Steele's work focused on reforming manners and morals with wit, mixing social observation with political commentary, and establishing a successful formula for mass-market journalism. His final years were marked by financial troubles and declining health, eventually leading to his 1729 death in Wales. 

• "The Storyteller and His Art" outlines key techniques for engaging storytelling.
• "Of Companions and Flatterers" explores the crucial difference between genuine friendship and deceitful flattery.
• "Sir Roger and the Widow" details the charming, benevolent but hopelessly smitten Sir Roger de Coverley's long, unrequited love for a beautiful, teasing widow. 

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On this episode of Narrated Archives is the story, The Scarlet Woman, by Louis Bromfield, which was published in McClure's magazine in January of 1927 and was awarded one of the prizes for best stories for October 1926 to September 27 by the O. Henry Memorial Prize Committee.

The Scarlet Woman centers on Vergie Winters, a simple milliner in a conventional American town, who falls in love with a respected, up and coming handsome lawyer who later becomes a Senator.

The story is praised for its intense focus on Vergie's struggle against rigid social conventions, highlighting the hypocrisy of small-town values through stark realism and emotional depth.

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In the depths of winter Narrated Archives is taking a trip to warmer climates with Robert Louis Stevenson.  We're heading to the South Seas with a selection from “In the South Seas”. 

The narrative describes arriving at the Marquesas, the stunning beauty of the islands and the excitement of encountering their inhabitants, which includes both initial trepidation and eventual camaraderie with the locals.

Then From “Essays of Travel:  Forest Notes” we have a description of idyllic relaxation in Idle Hours.

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This week, as we are smack dab in the throes of winter, Narrated Archives is leaning into the season with a selection from Henry David Thoreau, Winter Animals from Walden or Life in the Woods.  

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In this episode I’ve pulled a few stories and poems from an anthology called Prairie Gold, an anthology of Iowan authors and artists. Created during the social upheaval of World War I, the collection emphasizes cooperation and humanitarian ideals through pieces that showcase Iowa's landscapes, people, and culture. The book uses local legends and natural imagery to evoke pride and unity, offering a diverse array of personal narratives and reflections.

• “Bread” by Ellis Parker Butler will have you salivating for some fresh baked bread; 
• “A Field” by Minnie Stichter vividly chronicles a year in the life of an Iowa prairie ecosystem;
• “Old Bill” by  Henry C. Wallace pays tribute to a farm family’s loyal horse.
• Poems:  
  • “A Load of Hay” by James B Weaver, 
  • “Sonny’s Wish” by Bertha M. H. Shambaugh 
  •  “A Box From Home” by Helen Cowles LeCron.

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"The Enchanted Bluff" by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Willa Cather, a bittersweet story about a group of Nebraska boys on the cusp of adulthood, whose friendship and grand adventure plans are contrasted with the reality of their adult lives. The story reflects on dreams, the passage of time, and the lingering magic of youthful ambition.  Do their dreams and ambitions come true?

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This week we bring in the New Year with two optimistic New Year’s stories. 

• Cressy's New Year's Rent by Albert Lee revolves around a kind-hearted newspaper reporter who helps a poor tenant named Cressy on New Year’s Eve.  The story that reflects the author’s interest in human affairs and social themes.
• Uncle Richard’s New Year’s Dinner by Lucy Maud Montgomery, a celebrated Canadian author, best known for her classic novel Anne of Green Gables, shows how a young girl does a good deed for her uncle in secret.  Can this deed mend the rift between her father and uncle?

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This episode includes a few stories from “Short Stories From Life" a collection of short stories of under 1,500 words were compiled from “Life” magazine’s Shortest Story Contest published in 1916. The contest received over 30,000 entries from all around the world from which 81 of the best stories were published in a collection. 

• Arletta by Margaret Ade
• The Cat Came Back by Virginia West
• Hope by Edward Thomas Noonan
• North of Fifty-three by Mary Woodbury Caswell
• Thicker Than Water by Ralph Henry Barbour and George Randolph Osborne

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This episode of  Narrated Archives takes us back to the late 19th century and quiet yet complex world of Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman with a little Christmas story called "Young Lucretia". 

It’s a seemingly simple tale about a very young girl and her exploration of duty, the weight of family expectations, and the struggle for personal autonomy. 

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