7 h 29 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 29 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Love is a game of pursuit and surprise—and good manners do not keep rivalry out.
In A Young Man in a Hurry, and Other Short Stories, Robert W. Chambers brings you into a world of educated, well-dressed Americans. Mostly city people, they fall in love, quarrel, and try to get ahead. Courtship brings misjudgments and small traps; ambition gives friends and rivals reasons to compete.
This collection explores romance, money, and social standing around the turn of the century. Chambers keeps the tone bright and teasing, with clear language and crisp sentences. His eye for dress, rooms, and faces gives these tales their period flavor. The pleasure lies in watching love and rivalry unfold with a smile.
What you’ll discover
- Courtship with small traps Meet young men and women who discover how easily attraction and misunderstanding go together.
- Rivals with something at stake Follow competition in love, work, and social standing as ambition drives the comedy.
- A well-dressed world Notice the clothes, rooms, and faces that reveal Chambers's keen eye for detail.
- Wit without solemnity Enjoy a bright, teasing approach to quarrels, manners, and the business of falling in love.
- An evening's light entertainment Settle into short tales whose clear language and crisp sentences keep the reading light.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy romantic comedy, quick wit, and stories of love across class lines. It suits readers who like woods, trout streams, and old New York.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A mistake brings strangers together
- Mourning leaves room for new life
- Trust matters more than hidden claims
- A promise becomes a personal question
- Kindness reaches beyond a property fence
- A gentle request reaches a defiant man
- Kindness interrupts a private revenge
- A storm breaks through estrangement
- Decency can mend what pride breaks
Who’s who
- Constance ElliottThe fire warden's daughter in The Fire Warden, a schoolteacher and brave rider who defends her poor neighbors and sells her beloved mare.
- John BurlesonA young landowner and former doctor who wants to live in peace with the angry villagers of Fox Crossroads.
- Eileen O'HaraThe nearly blind daughter of a bitter lumberman, who keeps a locked steel box until she finds an honest man.
- Dr. LansingA young doctor at the Sagamore Club who is determined to help Eileen and to guard his cousin from danger.
- Dan McCloudA ruined college man living in a hunting lodge, who drinks, poaches, and defies the whole village of Foxville.
- Ellice EltonA poor girl who serves as pathmaster of Foxville and wants to collect a road tax from a violent neighbor.
- HaltrenA man exiled in a Florida wilderness who risks his life to save a launch carrying his estranged wife.
- Kathleen HaltrenA bright, proud wife who is brought by a storm to the camp of the husband she left four years before.
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A Young Man in a Hurry, and Other Short Stories
by Robert W. Chambers · 1904
A young man leaps into the wrong cab in a snowstorm and finds himself racing south with a stranger.
Medium level2–5 hours to read16 languages
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“We’re a headlong family.”
In short
A young man jumps into a cab in a snowstorm, sure that it is his. Beside him sits a girl in furs who has never seen him before.
A Young Man in a Hurry, and Other Short Stories at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 25 min3 h 30 min fast, 5 h 15 min slow
- Length
- 62,600 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1904by Robert W. Chambers
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 wrong cab sends two strangers south
A young man bursts out of a railway office, races down a marble staircase, and dives into a cab waiting in the snow. He is late for the Eden Limited. He strikes a match to read his watch, and a second match shows the face of a girl he has never seen.
She orders him out and calls him a coward. He begs her not to stop the cab, because stopping would ruin somebody's life. Then she learns he is bound for the same train, and her anger turns into a truce.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1904
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 50 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Chambers, Robert W. A Young Man in a Hurry, and Other Short Stories. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-young-man-in-a-hurry-and-other-short-stories.
Chambers, R. W. (2026). A young man in a hurry, and other short stories. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-young-man-in-a-hurry-and-other-short-stories (Original work published 1904)
Chambers, Robert W. A Young Man in a Hurry, and Other Short Stories. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-young-man-in-a-hurry-and-other-short-stories.
@book{chambers2026young,
author = {Chambers, Robert W.},
title = {A Young Man in a Hurry, and Other Short Stories},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-young-man-in-a-hurry-and-other-short-stories},
note = {First published 1904}
}
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What is A Young Man in a Hurry and Other Short Stories about?
It is a collection of eleven stories by Robert W. Chambers. Most are love stories set in New York, the Sagamore woods, and Florida, and they use mistaken identity, class difference, and country-club rivalry for comedy and warmth.
What is the Sagamore Club in these stories?
The Sagamore Club is a fictional preserve of rich anglers in the forests of Sagamore County. It appears in several tales as a place of trout, game laws, old feuds over land, and meetings between city people and villagers.
Who wrote A Young Man in a Hurry and when?
Robert W. Chambers wrote it, and the stories date from around the turn of the twentieth century. Chambers was an American illustrator and novelist who died in 1933 and is also known for The King in Yellow.
The author
Robert W. Chambers
1865–1933 · American novelist and illustrator
Robert W. Chambers was an American writer whose 1895 collection The King in Yellow became a cornerstone of weird fiction, casting its influence over H.P. Lovecraft and generations of horror writers since. He was a successful popular novelist in his day, but this early work is what endures.
“We’re a headlong family.”
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