14 minSummaryRead it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if saving a few pennies turns your own household into a nest of cheerful smugglers?
In The Cheerful Smugglers, Ellis Parker Butler brings a private tariff into an ordinary family home. The household has its own rules, and its members find ways to slip things past them. Small savings become tempting prizes. What begins as a domestic arrangement gives everyone a reason to scheme, dodge and test how far those rules can stretch.
Butler builds his gentle satire around everyday American life, where each family member has habits, hopes and opinions. A plan made in one room must survive the people in the next. As small schemes grow larger than anyone intends, the fun lies in the gap between keeping order and keeping a few pennies. The stakes stay domestic, and the mood stays light.
What you’ll discover
- A tariff at home Discover the comic possibilities of a family that brings customs rules into its own household.
- Small savings, bigger schemes Follow the odd lengths people go to when a few pennies seem worth the trouble.
- Family plans under pressure Watch private schemes meet the competing habits and opinions of others in the family.
- Gentle mischief throughout Enjoy small rule-breaking and ordinary troubles without the weight of dark, serious drama.
- Everyday life, another time Find period flavor in shopping, travel and the household response to customs rules.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like domestic farce, quick banter and gentle jokes about marriage, money and politics. It suits listeners who want a cheerful tale full of schemes and young love.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A father turns saving into government
- Every purchase becomes an argument
- Kitty finds a way around duty
- Billy tests every possible loophole
- The detective becomes part of the game
- The law catches its own maker
- Rule breaking can express affection
- Money rules reveal who belongs
- People matter more than the tariff
Who’s who
- Tom FenelbyA cheerful, bald, proud young husband who invents the household tariff to pay for his baby son's future college education.
- Laura FenelbyTom's practical wife, who quietly runs the house and manages her husband while believing the tariff will be nice.
- BobbertsThe nine-month-old baby and only Territory of the Commonwealth, who cannot vote but rules every argument with his cries.
- KittyLaura's lively cousin, who arrives with three trunks, a quick tongue and a plan to rescue Laura from the tariff.
- Billy FenelbyTom's younger brother, a former football star and young lawyer who insists he dislikes girls and loves loopholes.
- BridgetThe fierce Irish cook, treated like one of the family, who wants her pay, her peace and no extra work.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook opens when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then USD 0.14 a day in your first year on the yearly plan and USD 0.27 a day after, or USD 0.66 a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
The Cheerful Smugglers in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Cheerful Smugglers
by Ellis Parker Butler · 1908
A father taxes his own household for his baby's college fund, and the houseguests find ways to dodge it.
Easy readUnder 2 hours to read20 languages
Learn a language with easy classicsSpanishFrenchGermanItalianJapanesePortugueseEnglishHow we measure levels
Excellent
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeRenews every year · Cancel anytimeHow it works
- Read, large type too
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
“Wherever I am, a young man is a necessity.”
In short
What happens when a father decides to run his home like a nation? Tom Fenelby looks at the little pottery pig that holds his baby's college money and finds only twenty-three dollars and thirty-eight cents after nine months of saving.
The Cheerful Smugglers at a glance
- Reading time
- About 1 h 50 min1 h 25 min fast, 2 h 10 min slow
- Length
- 25,800 words
- Library level
- Easy short sentences, plain words
- First published
- 1908by Ellis Parker Butler
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 baby's piggy bank inspires a household tariff
The story begins with a small failure. Tom and Laura have dropped pennies into a pottery pig for nine months, hoping to send Bobberts to college. When they count, the pig holds only twenty-three dollars and thirty-eight cents.
Tom is round faced, balding, and very proud of his own brain. His salary is twenty-five hundred dollars a year, and every cent is spent. He cannot set aside a large sum at once. But he could bear a cent here and a cent there. So he proposes an indirect tax, the way a nation raises money without anyone feeling the pinch.
Renews every year · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer. Your place follows you, and you can make the type as big as you like.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1908
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 2 h 5 min
- Level
- Easy read
Cite this edition
Butler, Ellis Parker. The Cheerful Smugglers. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-cheerful-smugglers.
Butler, E. P. (2026). The cheerful smugglers. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-cheerful-smugglers (Original work published 1908)
Butler, Ellis Parker. The Cheerful Smugglers. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-cheerful-smugglers.
@book{butler2026cheerful,
author = {Butler, Ellis Parker},
title = {The Cheerful Smugglers},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-cheerful-smugglers},
note = {First published 1908}
}
Free gifts
USD 580 in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
USD 170FREE - Every eBookIn 25 languages, any device
USD 120FREE - 15-minute summariesRead in 25 languages
USD 60FREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
USD 60FREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
USD 170FREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about The Cheerful Smugglers
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is The Cheerful Smugglers about?
It is a comic novel about a young suburban father who taxes everything entering his house to save for his baby's college. His wife, cook and two houseguests respond with schemes to avoid the duty.
What is the Fenelby Tariff?
It is Tom Fenelby's household tax, ten percent on necessities and thirty percent on luxuries brought into the house. The money goes into a bank for baby Bobberts' education, and a family Congress can change the rules.
Who is Bobberts and why is he called a Territory?
Bobberts is the Fenelbys' nine-month-old son. In Tom's mock government, grown-ups are States with votes, while the baby is a Territory who can speak in debates but cannot vote.
The author
Ellis Parker Butler
1869–1937 · American humorist
Ellis Parker Butler (1869–1937) was an American writer born in Muscatine, Iowa. He later lived in Flushing, New York, and died in Massachusetts. He wrote short stories and novels, including Pigs Is Pigs (1906) and Philo Gubb, Correspondence-School Detective (1918). His writing also appeared in American magazines.
“Wherever I am, a young man is a necessity.”
More by Ellis Parker Butler
See all their booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
