The Thin Santa Claus, and Pigs is Pigs

Ellis Parker Butler (1869-1937) was an American author. He was the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays, and is most famous for his short story Pigs is Pigs (1906), in which a bureaucratic stationmaster insists on levying the livestock rate for a shipment of two pet guinea pigs, which soon start proliferating geometrically. Working from his home in Flushing (Queens) New York, he was-by every measure and by many times-the most published author of the pulp fiction era. His career spanned more than forty years and his stories, poems and articles were published in more than 225 magazines. Despite the enormous volume of his work, Butler was, for most of his life, only a part-time author. He worked full-time as a banker and was very active in his local community. His other works include Kilo: Being the Love Story of Eliph' Hewlitt Book Agent (1907), Mike Flannery On Duty and Off (1909), The Thin Santa Claus (1909), and The Water Goats and Other Troubles (1910).