Off duty: A dozen yarns for soldiers and sailors

In Short

This anthology gathers twelve distinctive short stories by prominent authors, curated in 1919 to sustain the spirits of men in military camps and hospitals. The collection features a blend of humor, Western adventure, and poignant allegory, ranging from the domestic satire of Irving Bacheller to the tragic beauty of Oscar Wilde. By introducing soldiers to classic American and international writers, the book provides a vital service: it transforms long, lonely hours of convalescence or waiting into an opportunity for intellectual engagement, proving the enduring power of a well-told story to provide solace.

The Story

The anthology opens with the lighthearted social commentary of "Keeping Up With Lizzie," where the absurdity of provincial social climbing is punctured by the practical realities of travel and auto-mechanics. This sets a tone of grounded, often rugged, humanity that carries through the volume. The collection quickly shifts into the high-stakes world of the American frontier and the sea. In "The Tide Takes a Hand," we follow Murray O’Neil, a man whose steady presence keeps a panicked crowd in check as a ship battles the sea, showcasing the quiet authority of a leader in crisis.

The narrative arc of the book explores the spectrum of human emotion. We encounter the middle-aged "gay dog" Jo Hertz in Edna Ferber’s story, a man whose life has been hollowed out by familial duty, yet who attempts a pathetic, late-blooming quest for youth. This melancholy is balanced by the boisterous, slapstick energy of "Ole Skjarsen’s First Touchdown," where a well-meaning but dim-witted lumberjack becomes a football sensation through sheer, uncomprehending brute force.

As the reader ventures deeper into the collection, the themes of struggle and sacrifice take center stage. We are transported to the snowy wilderness of the Bitter Roots, where two men, previously at odds, find common ground in the shared act of reading. This spirit of resilience continues in stories like "The Outlaws of Poker Flat," where the outcast characters face the merciless indifference of nature, and the tale of the Irish hero Jack, who risks his life in a battle of wits to secure his mother’s future.

The collection reaches its emotional climax with stories of profound, often unrequited, depth. We see the bravery of an outlaw in the frozen peaks who risks death to save his own life, yet finds his humanity stirred by the presence of a woman who offers him shelter. Finally, the book concludes with Oscar Wilde’s allegory of the Nightingale, who sacrifices her very life to create a perfect rose for a student who values logic over love. The student’s rejection of the flower—and his cold, practical dismissal of the sacrifice—serves as a final, biting commentary on the disconnect between true devotion and the shallow expectations of the world. Through these varied voices, the book travels from the trivialities of the town square to the absolute, life-altering edges of human experience.

How It Unfolds

The domestic stage The collection begins by lampooning the pretensions of small-town life, where expensive habits and European travels fail to impress those who value character over material display.

The test of character The action moves to the frontier and the open ocean, where characters like O’Neil and various Western travelers face sudden, life-threatening instability and must rely on internal fortitude.

The struggle for self Midway through, the stories pivot to explore the internal lives of men who feel left behind by time or culture, capturing their clumsy, often heartbreaking attempts to assert their own agency.

The bond of the woods Deep in the snowy solitude of the mountains, enemies are forced into isolation, discovering that literature serves as a shared bridge when their own limited education fails them.

The cost of devotion The narrative concludes by examining the high price of idealism, contrasting the quiet, sacrificial love of the natural world with the cynical, utilitarian values of the modern student.

The People

The characters in these stories are defined by their yearnings and the barriers—often of their own making—that keep them from satisfaction. Sam Henshaw and his daughter, Lizzie, are driven by a desire for social status, only to find that their performative wealth leaves them isolated. In contrast, Jo Hertz is a man trapped by a deathbed promise to his mother; he wants the simple freedom of a life lived for himself, but he ends up a "Loop-hound," a middle-aged bachelor desperately trying to mimic the energy of a youth he never truly experienced.

Then there is Ole Skjarsen, the "prehistoric mudhead," who wants only to follow instructions but lacks the capacity to understand them, eventually becoming a weapon of pure instinct on the football field. In the wilderness, the nameless outlaw is a man of "unconquerable courage" who finds himself forced into a life of crime, yet he remains a figure of tragic nobility in the eyes of the woman he protects. Finally, the Student in the concluding story represents the failure of the intellect; he is a man who prizes logic above all else, eventually rejecting the ultimate, sacrificial gift of love because it does not fit his narrow, practical worldview.

In Its Own Voice

“The dead have no right to lay their clammy fingers upon the living.”

Jo Hertz reflects on the suffocating weight of a deathbed promise that has ruined his adult life.

“It is so beautiful that I am sure that it has a long Latin name.”

The Student, obsessed with dry classification, fails to see the beauty of the rose and instead focuses on its scientific utility.

“I’ll just naturally stick to my slicker, if you don’t mind. I’m wet and my hands are too grimy to eat with a lady.”

The fugitive, despite his desperate situation, maintains a code of manners that marks him as a man of underlying decency.

What It's Really About

At its core, this collection investigates the tension between the artificial structures of society—social standing, academic logic, and family duty—and the raw, primal demands of the human spirit. The stories consistently question whether a life defined by "accomplishments" and "logic" is truly more valuable than one defined by raw courage, sacrifice, and the capacity to feel. There is a recurring argument here that human beings are often at their most profound when stripped of their comforts, forced into the wilderness or the face of tragedy, where the pretenses of civilization fall away to reveal either the nobility or the emptiness of the individual.

Why Read It Today

Reading these yarns feels like stepping into a time capsule. For the reader who enjoys the flavor of early 20th-century American prose—with its distinct regional dialects, turn-of-the-century optimism, and flashes of Victorian sentimentality—the collection is a delight. You will find the colloquialisms of the frontier and the clipped, precise observations of writers like Ferber and Wilde sitting comfortably side by side.

However, the reader should be prepared for the attitudes of the era. The period’s views on social class, gender roles, and the "othering" of immigrant populations are present throughout the text, reflecting the common prejudices of 1919. While some readers may find these attitudes jarring, they are vital for understanding the historical context of the book’s creation. The collection is not a cohesive novel, but rather a sampler, making it perfect for those who want a varied reading experience in short, manageable chunks. What stays with you long after the final page is the quiet, persistent message of the curator: that in our most lonely and difficult moments, stories act as a bridge, reminding us of our shared humanity, our capacity for resilience, and the sometimes painful, often beautiful, necessity of choosing our own way forward.