The Money Box

William Wymark JacobsProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 23K words
Chapters: 3

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Money Box by W. W. JacobsAuthor: Jacobs, W. W. (William Wymark), 1863-1943,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Apr 1, 2004

Editor's review

W. W. Jacobs was a master of the English short story, celebrated above all for humorous tales of ordinary city life with a twist of suspense. The Money Box follows the vein he made his own: a plot built around a money box, characters drawn from modest walks of life, witty dialogue, and endings that tend to turn on irony and reversal. The story is short, its language colloquial, and it reads lightly, yet through the laughter it catches human greed, wishful thinking, and self-deception. It is friendly to general readers and serves as a good entry point into late nineteenth-century British popular short fiction; for writers, it is also a model for how to move a plot through dialogue and plant payoffs within a small scene. One caveat: this is a public-domain electronic reprint, plainly produced, with no modern introduction or notes, so readers must enter the period context on their own. Overall, it is a piece to finish easily in spare moments and worth returning to for its narrative craft.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy English short stories and O. Henry-style twist endings
Newcomers wanting light access to late nineteenth-century British popular fiction
Writing enthusiasts studying short-form narrative technique and dialogue
Language learners seeking short English fiction for reading practice

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer long, complex plots or deep social analysis
Beginning English readers who need modern notes and introductions
Those uninterested in humorous everyday subjects and old-fashioned settings

Reading tips

Read straight through the first time for plot and dialogue; on a second pass, watch how foreshadowing and the twist are set up.
Read the dialogue aloud to appreciate how Jacobs uses colloquial speech to shape character and create humor.
After finishing, retell the story's structure and ending in your own words to test your grasp of its narrative rhythm.
Compare it with other English humorous short stories, noting similarities and differences in subject and resolution.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this story suitable for English beginners?

The language is generally colloquial with short sentences, but it contains late nineteenth-century British idiom and period background, and the electronic edition has no notes. Readers with some English who are willing to look words up can try it; complete beginners are advised to start with a simplified or annotated edition.

What are the main attractions of the story?

Its attractions lie in Jacobs-style humor and suspense: small schemes around a money box build layer by layer, the dialogue is vivid, and the ending often brings an unexpected turn, offering gentle satire of human nature in an easy read.

Does this electronic edition include an introduction or notes?

According to the available information, this is a public-domain electronic reprint, plainly produced, with no mention of a modern introduction, notes, or translator's statement. Readers must supply the background themselves and consult dictionaries and related materials for unfamiliar expressions.

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About the author

William Wymark Jacobs Author · British · 1863–1943

William Wymark Jacobs (1863–1943) was a British short-story writer, born in London in 1863 and died there in 1943. In his early years he lived around the Thames docks and was familiar with the lives of sailors and dockworkers, which led him to write a great many humorous sea stories, often in a light and witty tone. His best-known work, The Monkey's Paw, is a classic horror short story included in The Lady of the Barge (1902); noted for its tight suspense and sudden twists, it is still widely anthologized in horror collections. The library holds 109 of his works, including The Lady of the Barge and Others, Ship's Company, A Tiger's Skin, Captains All, and Night Watches; his common category is inspirational growth. Public information is limited and details of his life are largely unavailable, yet his fiction is distinctive in subject, blending humor with horror, and has had a lasting influence on later short-story writing.