Included here are two Melville short stories, I and My Chimney which recounts the efforts of a wife to remodel an ancient farm house by replacing the central chimney with a grand hallway; and Bartleby, the Scrivener A Story of Wall-Street where the narrator, an elderly Manhattan lawyer with a very comfortable business helping wealthy men deal with mortgages, deeds, and bonds, relates the story of the strangest man he has ever known. Herman Melville was an American writer of novels, short stories and poetry. Melville was a schoolteacher for a short time and a seaman. On his first voyage he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. His first book, Typee, was an account of that time and became a bestseller and Melville became known as the "man who lived among the cannibals." Public indifference to Moby Dick put an end to his career as a popular author. It was not until the "Melville Revival" in the early 20th century that his work won recognition.