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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 206 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 206 pagesAbout this book
In Shorty McCabe’s New York studio, people come to build muscle and stay to have their pretensions knocked into shape.
Odd Numbers: Being Further Chronicles of Shorty McCabe gathers Sewell Ford’s funny tales of a retired prizefighter with a sharp eye and a kind heart. Shorty runs a physical culture studio, where well-off New Yorkers bring their worries along with their bodies. He meets each small trouble with plain sense, dry jokes, and little patience for airs.
Shorty tells these stories in his own quick, slangy voice, as though you sit across from him after a workout. His clients, ambitious young strivers, and friends from his fighting days bring different corners of New York into view. In this crowded, restless city, money and polish do not always count for as much as people hope.
What you’ll discover
- Shorty talks his way through Enjoy a narrator whose street sense and brisk slang give each encounter its spark.
- A studio full of characters Meet clients who arrive for exercise and stay to talk through their troubles.
- Common sense against pretense Watch Shorty cut through show and money with humor rather than polite admiration.
- New York in motion Step into a crowded city full of ambition, new money, and restless energy.
- Humor with a heart Find dry jokes alongside a kind-hearted view of people and their small problems.
Who will love it
Readers who love quick, funny voices, short tales with a neat turn at the end, and old New York in all its variety. Fans of tender comedy and warm-hearted fixers will find a friend in Shorty.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- An odd request deserves a hearing
- Kindness matters more than family pride
- People need room to surprise others
- Not everyone will play along
- Usefulness can take an unexpected form
- Real needs come before pretty theories
- Hope can hide work and nerve
- Appearances cannot measure a person's worth
- Listening leads Shorty toward practical help
Who’s who
- Shorty McCabeA former prizefighter who runs a physical culture studio on 42nd Street and tells every tale in his own quick slang.
- Sadie McCabeShorty's lively wife, who takes in strangers, plans other people's futures and keeps a sharp eye on her husband.
- PinckneyShorty's elegant society friend, who dreams up kind schemes and keeps a household full of twins and governesses.
- Swifty JoeThe studio's young assistant, who listens at every door and answers most remarks with a sneeze-like grunt.
- Goliah DaggettAn Iowa wheat millionaire in an old ulster who needs a stranger's help to buy a very fancy hat.
- Maizie May BlickensA fast-talking girl from Dobie, Minnesota, who arrives in New York with money and big plans for her wardrobe.
- MarmadukeA penniless, riddling gentleman who calls himself an anachronism and claims the Forest of Arden as his home.
- Pyramid GordonA heavyweight Wall Street broker who trains at the studio and treats every matter as cold business.
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Odd Numbers: Being Further Chronicles of Shorty McCabe
by Sewell Ford · 1909
Shorty McCabe meets a shy Iowa farmer at a Fifth Avenue hat shop and gets pulled into the strangest errand of his week.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“New York is a great place for rejuvenating grandmothers”
In short
Picture yourself at a shop window on Fifth Avenue, staring at a heliotrope hat the size of a summerhouse. A small man in an old ulster steps up and asks what it costs.
Odd Numbers: Being Further Chronicles of Shorty McCabe at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 35 min3 h 35 min fast, 5 h 25 min slow
- Length
- 65,100 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1909by Sewell Ford
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A stranger needs help buying a hat
Shorty McCabe is strolling up Fifth Avenue when he stops at a milliner's window and meets a huge heliotrope hat wrapped in purple gauze. A short, wrinkled man in an old ulster steps up beside him and asks what he thinks the price might be.
The man is Goliah Daggett, from South Forks, Iowa. He wants the hat for his wife, but he is too shy to walk into a shop full of women alone. He would like a manicurist in his hotel barbershop to try it on first, because she looks like his wife might have looked years ago. Shorty sees a crank, yet he notices the twinkle in those small gray eyes.
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Shorty McCabe meets a shy Iowa farmer at a Fifth Avenue hat shop and gets pulled into the strangest errand of his week.
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Details
- First published
- 1909
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 25 min
- Level
- Medium level
- Paperback
- 206 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Hardcover
- 206 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print paperback
- 338 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print hardcover
- 338 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Delivery and returns
- Printed when you order. Usually here in 12 to 14 days.Arrives Tue 1 Dec to Mon 7 Decto United States, printed for you at cost
For Christmas, order by Thu 12 Nov
Cite this edition
Ford, Sewell. Odd Numbers: Being Further Chronicles of Shorty McCabe. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/odd-numbers-being-further-chronicles-of-shorty-mccabe.
Ford, S. (2026). Odd numbers: Being further chronicles of Shorty McCabe. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/odd-numbers-being-further-chronicles-of-shorty-mccabe (Original work published 1909)
Ford, Sewell. Odd Numbers: Being Further Chronicles of Shorty McCabe. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/odd-numbers-being-further-chronicles-of-shorty-mccabe.
@book{ford2026odd,
author = {Ford, Sewell},
title = {Odd Numbers: Being Further Chronicles of Shorty McCabe},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/odd-numbers-being-further-chronicles-of-shorty-mccabe},
note = {First published 1909}
}
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What is Odd Numbers by Sewell Ford about?
It is a collection of nineteen comic tales told by Shorty McCabe, a former boxer who runs a physical culture studio in New York. Each tale brings in an odd character and shows Shorty helping out in his own way.
Who is Shorty McCabe?
Shorty is a retired prizefighter and the narrator of every chapter. He runs a gym on 42nd Street, speaks in quick slang, and is married to Sadie. He looks tough but has a soft heart for people in trouble.
Is Odd Numbers a true story?
No, the tales are fiction, written about a century ago. They draw on real New York settings such as Fifth Avenue, Broadway hotels, tenements, roadhouses and yacht clubs, which gives the humor its flavor of everyday city life.
The author
Sewell Ford
1868–1946 · American humorist
Sewell Ford was an American writer who lived in the United States from 1868 to 1946. He wrote fiction in the early twentieth century. His books included Shorty McCabe, Shorty McCabe on the Job, Odd Numbers: Being Further Chronicles of Shorty McCabe, and Torchy and Vee.
“New York is a great place for rejuvenating grandmothers”
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