In this volume, the stories written by John Hay are collected for the first time, with a substantial Introduction by Hay scholar George Monteiro. Included are "The Blood Seedling, " "Shelby Cabell, " "The Foster Brothers, " "Kane and Abel, " "Red, White, and Blue, " and "The Minstrel, " as well as additional manuscript material. Although Hay is best known as private secretary to Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State under Theodore Roosevelt, he was also a well-known writer whose literary works include the ten-volume Abraham Lincoln: A History (with John G. Nicolay), the novel The Bread-winners, poetry and the stories collected here.