A Houseboat on the Styx: Being Some Account of the Diverse Doings of the Associated Shades (1902)

The ferryman of the Styx, Charon, is in a foul temper. All of the sudden he seems to have competition upon the waters coursing between Life and Death – for here is a beautiful, spacious houseboat on his river!

Ahoy! calls a shade from the strange boat. The House Committee wants to see you, Charon!

And who is this committee? answers the irritated ferryman.

Why, Sir Walter Raleigh, Cassius, Demosthenes, Blackstone, Doctor Johnson, and Confucius, of course!

John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922) has earned comparison with Mark Twain and L. Frank Baum for his humorous fantasies, most notably A Houseboat on the Styx – a trip into the Underworld where the giants of civilization still hold forth!