8 h 56 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 8 h 56 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the man correcting your boxing stance also has advice for the rest of your life?
In Sewell Ford's Shorty McCabe on the Job, a former prizefighter runs a physical culture studio in New York. His clients come to build their bodies and shake off city stiffness. But rich, restless people bring more than tight muscles through the door. When their troubles come out, Shorty finds himself helping with problems that exercise alone cannot fix.
This collection follows the fighter turned trainer through gym confessions and unlikely efforts to do good. Shorty tells his own stories in lively slang, with blunt advice and plain common sense. Each brisk tale brings its own small problem and resolution. The pleasure lies in his straight-talking voice, the comedy of clients dropping their fine manners, and the business of getting involved.
What you’ll discover
- A fighter turned helper Meet a former boxer whose work keeps drawing him into other people's affairs.
- Confessions at the studio Watch clients shed their fine manners as they talk about what troubles them.
- A voice with punch Enjoy Shorty's lively slang and the blunt advice he brings to awkward situations.
- City life in miniature Find comedy where New York clients, fitness fads, and plain common sense meet.
- One brisk tale at a time Follow a fresh small problem in each story, without committing to one long plot.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like fast, funny talk, short stories you can take one at a time, old New York, and tales where schemers and shy people get a chance to grow.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- An enemy must put things right
- Generosity means giving something up
- Listening comes before offering help
- A foolish appearance can hide promise
- Happiness does not follow one plan
- First impressions leave much unseen
- Shorty's voice carries the warmth
- Kindness works when it fits
Who’s who
- Shorty McCabePhysical culture teacher on 42nd Street who tells every story, judges each kind deed, and cannot resist helping a stranger.
- J. Bayard SteeleElegant former pool organizer with grand-duke whiskers, forced to hand out a dead man's money and paid a commission for it.
- Pyramid GordonRuthless financier whose will sets everything going, asking his friend and his oldest enemy to repair old injuries.
- Sadie McCabeShorty's warm, matchmaking wife, who drags him into other people's troubles and sees clearly what he misses.
- Swifty Joe GallagherShorty's loyal assistant at the studio, rough in manner, easy to impress, and ready to throw anyone downstairs.
- Mr. JudsonQuiet lawyer who manages the funds and delivers the will with a calm smile and a few clever traps.
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Shorty McCabe on the Job
by Sewell Ford · 1912
A physical culture man and a crooked promoter must spend a dead tycoon's millions on kind deeds, one grudge at a time.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What would you do with three million dollars if the only rule were to be kind to people you once wronged? A dead railroad schemer hands that job to a smooth swindler and a New York boxing teacher.
Shorty McCabe on the Job at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h4 h fast, 5 h 55 min slow
- Length
- 71,300 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1912by 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 will that pays a swindler to be kind
The book opens with Shorty boxing a minister when his assistant, Swifty Joe, brings in a card. It belongs to J. Bayard Steele, a polished man with grand-duke whiskers who once tried to sell phony radio stock to a friend's widow. Shorty cannot stand him. A lawyer named Judson has summoned them both, because their old enemy Pyramid Gordon has died in Rome.
Gordon's will is odd. He asks no forgiveness. He left a list of about twenty people he hurt in business, and he wants each of them to get a kind and generous turn. Steele, his oldest enemy, must do the deeds. Shorty must judge them. The fund is nearly three million dollars.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1912
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Ford, Sewell. Shorty McCabe on the Job. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/shorty-mccabe-on-the-job.
Ford, S. (2026). Shorty McCabe on the job. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/shorty-mccabe-on-the-job (Original work published 1912)
Ford, Sewell. Shorty McCabe on the Job. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/shorty-mccabe-on-the-job.
@book{ford2026shorty,
author = {Ford, Sewell},
title = {Shorty McCabe on the Job},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/shorty-mccabe-on-the-job},
note = {First published 1912}
}
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What is Shorty McCabe on the Job about?
It follows Shorty McCabe, a New York physical culture teacher, as he and the schemer J. Bayard Steele carry out a rich friend's will by doing kind deeds for people he wronged. Other chapters tell tales of people Shorty meets.
Who is Pyramid Gordon?
Pyramid Gordon is a ruthless financier who has died before the story begins. His will asks Steele and Shorty to do something kind for each person on a list of people he injured during his business career.
Is Shorty McCabe on the Job a novel or a story collection?
It is a collection of nineteen linked comic stories. Several chapters follow the will, while others intersperse separate episodes involving Shorty's friends and acquaintances. Shorty narrates them all, so they feel like one voice.
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.
More by Sewell Ford
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