Beadle's Dime Novels No. 21

About this issue

This Beadle and Company pulp publication presents two distinct works. The first section comprises Dime Exhibition Speaker No. 12 and Dime Dialogues No. 10—school recitation and dramatic texts featuring patriotic and moral pieces ("The National Flag," "Emancipation of Sciences," "Good Manners") alongside comedic sketches and dialogues performed by varying cast sizes. The second section begins the serialized novel Sybil Chase; or, The Valley Ranche by its titular author, a California frontier narrative. The story opens with landscape description of a mountain valley harboring a gold-mining settlement, then introduces a mysterious golden-haired woman at an isolated ranche. When a cavalcade of miners arrives with an injured man named Laurence, the woman displays intense emotional distress—evidently recognizing him from her past. Despite his broken arm and weakened condition, she coldly refuses him hospitality, directing the party to seek aid elsewhere, shocking the guides with her callousness.