"It was before the Idiot's marriage, and in the days when he was nothing more than a plain boarder in Mrs. Smithers-Pedagog's High-class Home for Single Gentlemen, that he put what the School-master termed his "alleged mind" on plans for the amelioration of the condition of the civilized." This humorous story by the editor of Puck magazine describes how the Idiot sets out to improve the lot of civilized man through his inventions - the lot of barbarian man already being well tended to by missionaries and other do-gooders.

Latest episodes of the podcast The Inventions of the Idiot by John Kendrick Bangs

• 00 - Dramatis Personae
• 01 - Chapter 1: The Culinary Guild
• 02 - Chapter 2: A Suggestion for the Cable-cars
• 03 - Chapter 3: The Transatlantic Trolley Company
• 04 - Chapter 4: The Incorporation of the Idiot
• 05 - Chapter 5: University Extension
• 06 - Chapter 6: Social Expansion
• 07 - Chapter 7: A Beggar's Hand-book
• 08 - Chapter 8: Progressive Waffles
• 09 - Chapter 9: A Clearing-house for Poets
• 10 - Chapter 10: Some Electrical Suggestions
• 11 - Chapter 11: Concerning Children
• 12 - Chapter 12: Dreamaline