Off duty: A dozen yarns for soldiers and sailors — Context and Discussion

A Librarian’s Purpose and the Catalog Subjects

The catalog subjects list this work as 'Fiction; Short stories' and 'general-literature,' which accurately describe its contents but omit the specific editorial mission. Harper’s foreword reveals a targeted goal: to serve 'our wounded from abroad' and 'our sick boys who did not get “over there.”' She notes that 'in all camps there are many men not acquainted with books,' and her aim is 'to introduce them to some of our best writers.' This practical, morale-boosting intent is not captured by the broad subject headings. The excerpts themselves—such as the dialect-heavy opening of Irving Bacheller’s 'Keeping Up With Lizzie' and the tense Western standoff in the unnamed excerpt—suggest the stories were chosen for entertainment and accessibility, not literary experimentation. The catalog’s 'general-literature' tag thus understates the collection’s specific historical and social context as a wartime comfort item.

Voice and Structure Across the Excerpts

The excerpts display considerable variety in narrative voice. Bacheller’s story uses a folksy, dialect-rich narrator: 'Sam Henshaw’s girl had graduated an’ gone abroad with her mother.' In contrast, the Western excerpt employs a more conventional third-person style with dialogue tags like 'she entreated' and 'he said, brokenly.' The sheriff’s calm authority—'I’m the sheriff of Uinta County, ma’am'—contrasts with the outlaw’s melodramatic tenderness. This range suggests Harper deliberately mixed genres: humorous regional tales, adventure, and sentimental romance. The structure of each story is truncated in the excerpts, but the presence of chapter breaks (e.g., 'V') in the Western piece indicates some stories are longer, while others may be shorter. Without the full text, it is unclear how Harper ordered them, but the table of contents lists authors alphabetically by last name, a neutral arrangement that prioritizes author recognition over thematic grouping.

Recurring Details and Setting

Two recurring details stand out across the excerpts: the use of specific place names and the motif of injury or confinement. The Western excerpt names 'Uinta County' and 'Frémont,' grounding the story in a recognizable geography. The injured foot of the character Alice—'my horse fell on my foot and I couldn’t ride'—creates a situation of forced waiting, mirroring the hospital-bound soldiers Harper describes in her foreword. Similarly, the outlaw’s line 'I’ll see you again—somewhere—sometime' echoes the uncertainty of wartime separation. These details, while not explicitly about war, resonate with the collection’s intended audience. The setting of the Western story—a remote cabin in snow—also evokes isolation, a condition familiar to soldiers in camps or hospitals. Harper’s selection thus subtly aligns story elements with her readers’ experiences, even when the plots are not directly military.

Readers approaching Off Duty should note that the excerpts provide only fragments of each story. The foreword is the most complete document in the record, offering clear insight into Harper’s intentions. The stories themselves, by well-known authors of the period, are best read as samples of early twentieth-century popular fiction, selected for their ability to engage and distract. The collection’s value lies not in literary innovation but in its documentary evidence of how one librarian sought to meet the emotional needs of soldiers through storytelling.

I kept thinking about that old 1919 anthology, how the librarian chose stories to quietly companion weary soldiers. There’s something tender in that act—offering a short tale as a hand to hold. I felt the same gentle warmth rereading The Happy Prince, and Other Tales — Reading Companion, where kindness lingers long after the last page turns, like a lamp left on for someone walking home.