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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if your fitness trainer spots your vanity faster than your weak muscles?
Shorty McCabe leaves the prize ring behind and runs a physical culture studio in New York. His wealthy, restless clients come for health, but their troubles reach beyond exercise. Tempers flare, appearances matter too much, and idle young men need a purpose. Shorty meets their muddles with blunt advice and a good heart.
In Sewell Ford's comic stories, Shorty tells each episode himself, using quick slang and short, rhythmic sentences. His voice carries you from the street to the drawing room, through a growing city marked by sharp differences in wealth. The laughs come with sharp observation: money can buy comfort, but it does not settle every difficulty.
What you’ll discover
- A fighter with heart Meet a retired boxer whose firm, friendly manner leaves little room for flattery.
- More than muscle Watch a trainer tackle tempers, vanity, and confusion as readily as physical weakness.
- New York across classes Follow Shorty between city streets and drawing rooms, where wealth shapes everyday encounters.
- Street talk with rhythm Enjoy a narrator who speaks as though you stand just across the counter.
- Brisk stories, warm laughter Find quick comic episodes that pair a boxer's bluntness with a generous heart.
Who will love it
Readers who love a talkative narrator, quick jokes and old New York streets will enjoy it. It suits anyone who likes comic misadventures, kind-hearted rogues and stories where plain good sense beats money.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A lost bet opens a door
- Homer outruns his own story
- The Boss wants something real
- Play reaches where care cannot
- Kindness creates an unexpected attachment
- Sadie needs friendship beyond money
- Worth has nothing to do with rank
- Shorty's voice makes kindness visible
- Friendship supplies what money cannot
Who’s who
- Shorty McCabeA retired lightweight champion who tells the stories himself, runs a gym, and cannot stop rescuing friends.
- Leonidas DodgeA smooth-talking seller of polish with lemon yellow hair, who turns any crowd to his purpose.
- The BossA rich, quiet sportsman who hires Shorty as sparring partner and hunts the world for something real.
- PinckneyA pale society young man with bright black eyes who is trained by Shorty and loves a joke.
- Sadie SullivanShorty's childhood neighbor, now a rich widow, who wants real friends and a place in society.
- JarvisA gentle giant from Blenmont who wants to prove himself to Lady Evelyn and escape his mother's schemes.
- Swifty Joe GallagherShorty's loyal, rough-looking assistant at the Studio, who is ambitious for the gym's grandeur.
- Baron PatchouliA fat, boastful Austrian who courts Sadie for her money and takes Shorty for her guardian.
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Shorty McCabe
by Sewell Ford · 1906
A broke ex-boxer in old New York trades quips with con men, brigands and millionaires and keeps rescuing his friends.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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In short
What happens when a retired boxer with an empty wallet gets talked into a scheme by a stranger with lemon yellow hair? In Shorty McCabe, Leonidas Dodge hands Shorty a case of brass polish, and within a day they are minding a frightened invalid.
Shorty McCabe at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 45 min3 h 45 min fast, 5 h 40 min slow
- Length
- 68,100 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1906by 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 lost bet leads Shorty to Homer Fales
Shorty McCabe has been out of the ring for two years since a clean knockout ended his career. Money is tight. A tip on a horse named Butterfly comes along at fifteen to one, and he bets his last roll and loses it.
On the train home he meets Leonidas Dodge, who lost on the same horse. Dodge has yellow hair, a faded silk hat and a polish he says cleans silver and works as shaving soap. Soon Shorty is carrying his sample case. At a bachelor apartment building, more than a hundred job seekers crowd around Homer Fales, a professional invalid who blames a leaky heart valve for every effort he avoids.
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Details
- First published
- 1906
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 25 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Ford, Sewell. Shorty McCabe. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/shorty-mccabe.
Ford, S. (2026). Shorty McCabe. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/shorty-mccabe (Original work published 1906)
Ford, Sewell. Shorty McCabe. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/shorty-mccabe.
@book{ford2026shorty,
author = {Ford, Sewell},
title = {Shorty McCabe},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/shorty-mccabe},
note = {First published 1906}
}
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What is Shorty McCabe about?
It follows a retired boxer in old New York as he trains rich clients and gets drawn into schemes with brigands, an elephant, a fake baron and a lonely widow. Each chapter is a comic adventure.
Who is Shorty McCabe?
Shorty is a former lightweight champion who tells the stories himself. After he leaves the ring he becomes a rich man's sparring partner, then runs a physical culture studio and helps friends in trouble.
Who are the Boss and Pinckney?
The Boss is the wealthy sportsman who hires Shorty and hunts for adventure. Pinckney is a pale young man trained by Shorty who becomes his friend and a leader of fashionable society.
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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