FOOTNOTES:[21]Copyright, 1919, by The Pictorial Review Company.Copyright, 1921, by Frances Gilchrist Wood.
[21]Copyright, 1919, by The Pictorial Review Company.Copyright, 1921, by Frances Gilchrist Wood.
[21]Copyright, 1919, by The Pictorial Review Company.Copyright, 1921, by Frances Gilchrist Wood.
Note.This address list does not aim to be complete, but is based simply on the magazines which I have consulted for this volume.
Adventure, Spring and Macdougal Streets, New York City.Ainslee's Magazine, 79 Seventh Avenue, New York City.American Boy, 142 Lafayette Boulevard, Detroit, Michigan.American Magazine, 381 Fourth Avenue, New York City.Argosy All-Story Weekly, 280 Broadway, New York City.Asia, 627 Lexington Avenue, New York City.Atlantic Monthly, 8 Arlington Street, Boston, Mass.Black Cat, 229 West 28th Street, New York City.Catholic World, 120 West 60th Street, New York City.Century, 353 Fourth Avenue, New York City.Christian Herald, Bible House, New York City.Collier's Weekly, 416 West 13th Street, New York City.Cosmopolitan Magazine, 119 West 40th Street, New York City.Delineator, Spring and Macdougal Streets, New York City.Dial, 152 West 13th Street, New York City.Everybody's Magazine, Spring and Macdougal Streets, New York City.Freeman, 32 West 58th Street, New York City.Good Housekeeping, 119 West 40th Street, New York City.Harper's Bazar, 119 West 40th Street, New York City.Harper's Magazine, Franklin Square, New York City.Hearst's Magazine, 119 West 40th Street, New York City.Holland's Magazine, Dallas, Texas.Ladies' Home Journal, Independence Square, Philadelphia, Pa.Liberator, 34 Union Square East, New York City.Little Review, 24 West 16th Street, New York City.Little Story Magazine, 714 Drexel Building, Philadelphia, Pa.Live Stories, 35 West 39th Street, New York City.McCall's Magazine, 236 West 37th Street, New York City.McClure's Magazine, 76 Fifth Avenue, New York City.Magnificat, Manchester, N. H.Metropolitan, 432 Fourth Avenue, New York City.Midland, Glennie, Alcona County, Mich.Munsey's Magazine, 280 Broadway, New York City.Outlook, 381 Fourth Avenue, New York City.Pagan, 7 East 15th Street, New York City.Parisienne, 25 West 45th Street, New York City.People's Favorite Magazine, 79 Seventh Avenue, New York City.Pictorial Review, 216 West 39th Street, New York City.Popular Magazine, 79 Seventh Avenue, New York City.Queen's Work, 626 North Vandeventer Avenue, St. Louis, Mo.Red Book Magazine, North American Building, Chicago, Ill.Saturday Evening Post, Independence Square, Philadelphia, Pa.Scribner's Magazine, 597 Fifth Avenue, New York City.Short Stories, Garden City, Long Island, N. Y.Smart Set, 25 West 45th Street, New York City.Snappy Stories, 35 West 39th Street, New York City.Sunset, 460 Fourth Street, San Francisco, Cal.To-day's Housewife, Cooperstown, N. Y.Top-Notch Magazine, 79 Seventh Avenue, New York City.Touchstone, 1 West 47th Street, New York City.Woman's Home Companion, 381 Fourth Avenue, New York City.Woman's World, 107 South Clinton Street, Chicago, Ill.
Note.Only stories by American authors are listed. The best stories are indicated by an asterisk before the title of the story. The index figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 prefixed to the name of the author indicate that his work has been included in the Rolls of Honor for 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, and 1919 respectively. The list excludes reprints.
(56) Abdullah, Achmed(for biography, see 1918).Evening Rice.Aitken, Kenneth Lyndwode. Born at Hamilton, Ont., Canada, July 13, 1881. Education: N. Y. Public Schools and Ridley College, Ont. Profession: Electrical Engineer. Was Manager, City Electric Plant, Toronto, for four years. Chief interests: writing and photography. First story: "Height o'Land," Canadian Magazine, 1904. Died in California Dec. 5, 1919.From the Admiralty Files.Anderson, C. Farley.Octogenarian.Anderson, Jane.Happiest Man in the World.(3456)Anderson, Sherwood(for biography, see 1917).*Door of the Trap.*I Want to Know Why.*Other Woman.*Triumph of the Egg.Anderton, Daisy. Born in Bedford, Ohio. High School education. First story: "Emmy's Solution," Pagan, Feb., 1919. Author of "Cousin Sadie," a novel, 1920. Lives in Bedford, Ohio.Belated Girlhood.(3456)Babcock, Edwina Stanton(for biography, see 1917).*Gargoyle.(6)Barnes, Djuna(for biography, see 1919).*Beyond the End.*Mother.
Benét, Stephen Vincent.Born in Bethlehem, Pa., July 22, 1898. Education: Yale University, M. A. Chief interests: "Reading and writing poetry, playing and watching tennis, swimming without any participial qualification, and walking around between this and the other side of Paradise with a verse in one hand and a brick for my elders in the other like the rest of the incipient generation." First story: "Funeral of Mr. Bixby," Munsey's Magazine, July, 1920. Author of "Five Men and Pompey," 1915; "Young Adventure," 1918; "Heavens and Earth," 1920.Summer Thunder.Bercovici, Konrad.Born June 23, 1882. Dobrudgea, Rumania. Educated there and in the streets of Paris. "In other cities it was completed as far as humanly possible." Profession: organist. Chief interests: people, horses, and gardens. First short story printed at the age of twelve in a Rumanian magazine. Author of "Crimes of Charity" and "Dust of New York." Lives in New York City.*Ghitza.Boulton, Agnes.Born in London, England, Sept. 19, 1893, of American parents. Lived as a child near Barnegat Bay, N. J. Educated at home. First story published in the Black Cat. Married Eugene O'Neill, the playwright, 1918. Lives in Provincetown, Mass.Hater of Mediocrity.(2346)Brown, Alice(for biography, see 1917).*Old Lemuel's Journey.(56)Brownell, Agnes Mary(for biography, see 1918).*Buttermilk.Quest.Relation.Bryner, Edna Clare.Born in Tylersburg, Penn., and spent her childhood in the lumbering region of that state. Graduate of Vassar College. Has been engaged in teaching, statistical work, reform school work, and eugenic, educational, and housing research. Chief interests: Music and friends in the winter; Adirondack trails in the summer. First story: "Life of Five Points," Dial, Sept., 1920. Lives in New York City.*Life of Five Points.(1456)Burt, Maxwell Struthers(for biography, see 1917).*Dream or Two.*Each in His Generation.*When His Ships Came In.(56)Cabell, James Branch(for biography, see 1918).*Designs of Miramon.*Feathers of Olrun.*Hair of Melicent.*Head of Misery.*Hour of Freydis.
Camp, (Charles) Wadsworth.Born in Philadelphia, Oct. 18, 1879. Graduate of Princeton University, 1902. Married, 1916. On staff of N. Y. Evening Sun, 1902-5; sub-editor McClure's Magazine, 1905-6; editor of The Metropolitan, 1906-9; European correspondent, Collier's Weekly, 1916. Author: "Sinister Island," 1915; "The House of Fear," 1916; "War's Dark Frame," 1917; "The Abandoned Room," 1917; etc. Lives in New York City.*Signal Tower.Carnevali, Emanuel.Tales of a Hurried Man. I.Chapman, Edith.Classical Case.(2345)Cobb, Irvin S.(for biography, see 1917).Story That Ends Twice.Corley, Donald.*Daimyo's Bowl.(6)Cram, Mildred(for biography, see 1919).*Odell.Spring of Cold Water.Wind.Crew, Helen Coale.Born in Baltimore, Md., 1866. Graduate of Bryn Mawr College, 1889. First short story, "The Lost Oasis," Everybody's Magazine, Nov., 1910. Lives in Evanston, Ill.*Parting Genius.Delano, Edith Barnard.Born in Washington, D. C. Married in 1908. Author: "Zebedee V.," 1912; "The Land of Content," 1913; "The Colonel's Experiment," 1913; "Rags," 1915; "The White Pearl," 1916; "June," 1916; "To-morrow Morning," 1917. Lives in East Orange, N. J.Life and the Tide.(456)Dobie, Charles Caldwell(for biography, see 1917).*Christmas Cakes.*Leech.Dodge, Louis.Born at Burlington, Ia., Sept. 27, 1870. Educated at Whitman College, Ark. Unmarried. In newspaper work in Texas and St. Louis since 1893. Author: "Bonnie May," 1916; "Children of the Desert," 1917. Lives in St. Louis, Mo.Case of MacIntyre.(36)Dreiser, Theodore(for biography, see 1919).*Sanctuary.(5)Ellerbe, Alma and Paul(for biographies, see 1918).Paradise Shares.(4)Ferber, Edna(for biography, see 1917).*Maternal Feminine.*You've Got To Be Selfish.Fillmore, Parker.Born at Cincinnati, O., Sept. 21, 1878. Graduated from University of Cincinnati, 1901. Unmarried. Teacher in Philippine Islands, 1901-4. Banker in Cincinnati since 1904. Author: "The Hickory Limb," 1910; "The Young Idea," 1911; "The Rosie World," 1914; "A Little Question in Ladies' Rights," 1916; "Czecho-Slovak Fairy Tales," 1919; "The Shoemaker's Last," 1920. Lives in Cincinnati, O.Katcha and the Devil.Finger, Charles J.Born at Willesden, England, Sept. 25, 1871.Common School education. Railroad Executive. Has traveled widely in South America, including Patagonia, and Tierra del Fuego. Spent more than a year upon an uninhabited island, accompanied only by "Sartor Resartus." First story: "How Lazy Sam Got His Raise," Youth's Companion, 1897. Author of "Guided by the World," 1901; "A Bohemian Life," 1902. Lives in Fayetteville, Ark.*Ebro.Jack Random.(6)Fish, Horace(for biography, see 1919).*Doom's-Day Envelope.Follett, Wilson.*Dive.(4)Folsom, Elizabeth Irons(for biography, see 1917).Alibi.(12345)Gerould, Katharine Fullerton(for biography, see 1917).*Habakkuk.*Honest Man.(5)Gilbert, George(for biography, see 1918).Sigh of the Bulbul.(1345)Gordon, Armistead C.(for biography, see 1917).*Panjorum Bucket.Halverson, Delbert M.Born on a farm near Linn Grove, Ia. Educated at the State University of Iowa. First story: "Leaves in the Wind," Midland, April, 1920. Lives in Minneapolis, Minn.Leaves in the Wind.(4)Hartman, Lee Foster(for biography, see 1917).*Judgment of Vulcan.(56)Hergesheimer, Joseph(for biography, see 1918).*Blue Ice.*Ever So Long Ago.*Meeker Ritual (II).*"Read Them and Weep."
(25)Hughes, Rupert(for biography, see 1918).*Stick-in-the-Muds.Hunting, Ema S.Born at Sioux Rapids, Iowa, Oct. 8, 1885. Educated at Fort Dodge High School, Ia., and graduate of Grinnell College, 1908. Author of "A Dickens Revival." Writer of one-act plays and children's stories. First short story: "Dissipation," Midland, May, 1920. Lives at Denver, Col.Dissipation.Soul That Sinneth.Hussey, L. M.Born in Philadelphia. Studied medicine and chemistry. Director of a laboratory of biological research. First story: "The Sorrows of Mr. Harlcomb," published in the Smart Set about 1916. At present occupied with writing a novel. Lives in Philadelphia, Pa.Lowden Household.Two Gentlemen of Caracas.(6)Irwin, Wallace(for biography, see 1919).Beauty.Johns, Orrick.Big Frog.(256)Johnson, Arthur(for biography, see 1918).*Princess of Tork.(3)Knight, (Clifford) Reynolds.Born at Fulton, Kan., 1886. Educated at Washburn College, Topeka, and University of Michigan. Has been engaged in railroad and newspaper work. Taught in the Signal Corps Training School at Yale during the war. Now on the editorial staff of the Kansas City Star. Chief interests: Books and music. First published story: "The Rule of Three," The Railroad Man's Magazine, Oct., 1911. Author: "Tommy of the Voices," 1918. Lives in Kansas City, Mo.*Melody Jim.Komroff, Manuel.Thumbs."Kral, Carlos A. V."Born in a country town in southern Michigan, Dec. 29, 1890, of Czech-Yankee descent. Has lived continuously since three years of age in one of the large cities of the Great Lakes. Graduated from a public high school, but was educated chiefly by thought and private study.Landscape with Trees, and Colored Twilight with Music.(6)La Motte, Ellen Newbold.Born in Louisville, Ky., of northern parentage. Privately educated. Graduated from the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1902. Since engaged in social work and public health work. Was in charge of the Tuberculosis Division of the Baltimore Health Dept. for several years. Has been living chiefly in Paris since 1913. Was in France with a year's service in a Field Hospital attached to the French Army. Spent a year in China and the Far East, 1916-7. Chief interests: the under dog, either the individual or nation. First short story: "Heroes," Atlantic Monthly, Aug., 1916. Author: "The Tuberculosis Nurse," 1914; "The Backwash of War," 1916; "Peking Dust," 1919; "Civilization," 1919. "The Backwash of War" was suppressed by the British, French and American governments. It went through four printings first, and is now released again.Golden Stars.McCourt, Edna Wahlert.*Lichen.(6)MacManus, Seumas.Conaleen and Donaleen.Heartbreak of Norah O'Hara.Lad from Largymore.Mann, Jane.Born near New York City of Knickerbocker ancestry. After college preparatory school had several years of art education. Chief interest: wandering along coasts, living with the natives, seeing what they do and hearing what they say. First published story: "Men and a Gale o' Wind," Collier's Weekly, Nov. 8, 1913. Lives in Provincetown, Mass.Heritage.Mason, Grace Sartwell.Born at Port Allegheny, Pa., Oct. 31, 1877. Educated privately. Married to Redfern Mason, the musical critic, 1902. Author: "The Car and the Lady," 1909; "The Godparents," 1910; "Micky and His Gang," 1912; "The Bear's Claws" (with John Northern Hilliard), 1913; "The Golden Hope," 1915. Lives at Carmel, Cal.*His Job.(6)"Maxwell, Helena"(for biography, see 1919).Adolescence.Mears, Mary M.Born at Oshkosh, Wis. Educated at State Normal School, Wis. Unmarried. Journalist since 1896. Author: "Emma Lou—Her Book," 1896; "Breath of the Runners," 1906; "The Bird in the Box"; "Rosamond the Second." Lives in New York City.Forbidden Thing.(36)Montague, Margaret Prescott(for biography, see 1919).*Uncle Sam of Freedom Ridge.(6)Murray, Roy Irving.Born at Brooklyn, Wis., July 25, 1882. Graduated from Hobart College, 1904. First story: "Sealed Orders," McBride's Magazine, Dec., 1915. Is a master at St. Mark's School, Southborough, Mass.Substitute.(6)Muth, Edna Tucker.*Gallipeau.
O'Brien, Frederick.Born in Baltimore. Educated in a Jesuit school. Shipped before the mast at the age of 18. Tramped over Brazil as a day laborer, and through the West Indies. Returned to America and read law in his father's office. Wandered without money over Europe, and was a sandwichman in London. On the staff of the Paris Herald for a few months. Travelled over the western states as a hobo, was a bartender in a Mississippi levee camp, acted as a general with Coxey's Army, became a crime reporter for the Marion Star, owned by Senator Harding, Sub-editor of the Columbus Dispatch, Labor Editor of the N. Y. Journal, an investigator of crime in the Chicago slums, a freelance in San Francisco, and editor of the Honolulu Advertiser. Lived with the natives in Hawaii, published a newspaper in Manila, spent eight years as Far Eastern correspondent of the N. Y. Herald, went through the Russo-Japanese War, returned to Europe as a correspondent, spent some years on a fruit ranch in California, engaged in politics, owned two newspapers, and finally lived as a beachcomber in Tahiti, the Society Islands, the Paumoto Islands and Marquesan Islands. During 1920 he was in New York and wrote "White Shadows in the South Seas." He has now returned to Asia, leaving another book, "Drifting Among South Sea Isles," which is to be published immediately.*Jade Bracelet of Ah Queen."O'Grady, R."is a pen name of a lady who lives in Des Moines, Ia. She is a graduate of the State University of Iowa, and is now engaged in newspaper work.Brothers.O'Hagan, Anne.Born in Washington, D. C. Graduate of Boston University. Since engaged on newspaper and magazine work. First story published about 1898. Chief interests: Suffrage and housekeeping. Married in March, 1908, to Francis A. Shinn. Lives in New York City.Return.(45)O'Higgins, Harvey J.(for biography, see 1917).Story of Big Dan Reilly.*Story of Mrs. Murchison.Strange Case of Warden Jupp.(5)Oppenheim, James(for biography, see 1918).*Rending.Osbourne, Lloyd.Born in San Francisco, April 7, 1868. Stepson of Robert Louis Stevenson. Educated at University of Edinburgh. Married 1896. Has been U. S. A. Vice-Consul-General at Samoa. Author: "The Wrong Box" (with R. L. Stevenson), 1889; "The Wrecker" (with R. L. Stevenson), 1892; "The Ebb Tide" (with R. L. Stevenson), 1894; "The Queen vs. Billy," 1900; "Love, the Fiddler," 1905; "The Motor-maniacs," 1905; "Wild Justice," 1906; "Three Speeds Forward," 1906; "Baby Bullet," 1906; "The Tin Diskers," 1906; "Schmidt," 1907; "The Adventurer," 1907; "Infatuation," 1909; "A Person of Some Importance," 1911; and other novels and short stories. Has written and produced several plays. Lives in New York City.East is East.(345)O'Sullivan, Vincent(for biography, see 1917).*Dance-Hall at Unigenitus.(123)Post, Melville Davisson.Born in Harrison County, W. Va., Apr. 19, 1871. Graduate of West Virginia University in arts and law, 1892. Married 1903. Admitted to the Bar in 1892. Member of the Board of Regents, State Normal School. Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Commission for West Virginia, 1898. Member of the Advisory Committee of the N. E. L. on question of efficiency in administration of justice, 1914-15. Author: "The Strange Schemes of Randolph Mason," 1896; "The Man of Last Resort," 1897; "Dwellers in the Hills," 1901; "The Corrector of Destinies," 1909; "The Gilded Chair," 1910; "The Nameless Thing," 1912; "Uncle Abner: Master of Mysteries," 1918; "The Mystery at the Blue Villa," 1919; "The Sleuth of St. James's Square," 1920. Lives at Lost Creek, West Virginia.Yellow Flower.Reindel, Margaret H.Born in Cleveland, O., Dec. 2, 1896. Graduated from Western Reserve University, 1919, and spent a year at Columbia University. Now working in a New York department store. First story published: "Fear," The Touchstone. Lives in New York City.Fear.Rice, Louise.*Lubbeny Kiss.Roche, Arthur Somers.Born in Somerville, Mass., Apr. 27, 1883. Son of James Jeffrey Roche. Educated at Holy Cross College and Boston University Law School. Married. Practised law for two years. Engaged in journalism since 1906. Author: "Loot," 1916; "Plunder," 1917; "The Sport of Kings," 1917. Lives at Castine, Me.*Dummy-Chucker.(3)Roche, Mazo De La.Explorers of the Dawn.(234)Rosenblatt, Benjamin(for biography, see 1917).*Stepping Westward.Rumsey, Frances.Born in New York City in 1886. Educated in France. Has lived chiefly in England and France, and now passes her time between Normandy, London, and New York. Married. First short story: "Cash," Century Magazine, August, 1920. Author: "Mr. Gushing and Mademoiselle du Chastel," 1917. Translator: "Japanese Impressions," by Couchoud,1920.*Cash.(5)Russell, John(for biography, see 1918).Wreck on Deliverance."Rutledge, Maryse."Born in New York City, Nov. 24, 1884. Educated in private schools, New York and Paris. Chief interests: painting, tenting, canoeing, and hunting in Maine. Married to Gardner Hale, the mural fresco painter. First story published in the Smart Set about 1903. Author: "Anne of Tréboul," 1904; "The Blind Who See"; "Wild Grapes," 1912; "Children of Fate," 1917. Divides her time between Paris and New York City.House of Fuller.Ryan, Kathryn White.Born in Albany, N. Y. Convent school education. Married. Lived in Denver until 1919. First story published: "The Orchids," Munsey's Magazine, May, 1919. Lives in New York City.Man of Cone.Saphier, William.Born in northern Rumania in 1883. Comes of a long line of butchers. Primary school education in Rumania. Student at the Art Institute of Chicago for a short time. Painter and machinist. Editor of "Others," 1917. Illustrator: "The Book of Jeremiah," 1920; "Pins for Wings," by Witter Bynner, 1920. First published story: "Kites," The Little Review. Lives in New York City.Kites.(356)Sedgwick, Anne Douglas(for biography, see 1918).*Christmas Roses.(6)Sidney, Rose.Born in Toledo, O., 1888. Educated in private schools and at Columbia University. "My profession consists largely in trying to make odd holes and corners of the earth into temporary homes for my army officer husband." First published story: "Grapes of the San Jacinto," The Pictorial Review, Sept., 1919. Now living in California.*Butterflies.(123456)Singmaster, Elsie(for biography, see 1917).Miss Vilda.Salvadora.(345)Springer, Fleta Campbell(for biography, see 1917).*Civilization.*Rotter.(23456)Steele, Wilbur Daniel(for biography, see 1917).*Both Judge and Jury.*God's Mercy.*Out of Exile."Storm, Ethel."Born at Winnebago City, Minnesota. Lived in New York City since early childhood. Privately educated. Chief interests: decorative art, gardening, people. First published story: "Burned Hands," Harper's Bazar, Nov., 1918. Lives in New York City.*Three Telegrams.(5)Street, Julian(for biography, see1918).Hands.(3456)Vorse, Mary Heaton(for biography, see1917).*Fraycar's Fist.*Hopper.Pink Fence.Ward, Herbert Dickinson.Born at Waltham, Mass., June 30, 1861. Graduate of Amherst College, 1884. Married Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, 1888; and Edna J. Jeffress, 1916. Author of numerous books for boys and girls. Lives in Newton, Mass.Master Note.Welles, Harriet Ogden Deen.Born in New York City. Educated in private schools. Studied art. Wife of Rear Admiral Roger Welles, U. S. Navy. Author of "Anchors Aweigh," 1919. Lives in San Diego, Cal.According to Ruskin.Wheelwright, John T.Born at Roxbury, Mass., Feb. 26, 1856. Educated at Roxbury Latin School and Harvard University. Profession: Lawyer. Has been interested in public affairs, and has held appointive offices under the State of Massachusetts and the City of Boston. Was one of the founders of the Harvard Lampoon. On editorial staff of Boston Advertiser, 1882-3. Author: "Rollo's Journey to Cambridge" (with F. J. Stimson), 1880; "The King's Men" (with John Boyle O'Reilly, F. J. Stimson, and Robert Grant), 1884; "A Child of the Century," 1886; "A Bad Penny," 1896; "War Children," 1907. Lives in Boston, Mass.*Roman Bath.Whitman, Stephen French.*Amazement.*Lost Waltz.*To a Venetian Tune.(56)Williams, Ben Ames(for biography, see1918).*Sheener.Wilson, John Fleming.Born at Erie, Pa., Feb. 22, 1877. Educated at Parsons College and Princeton University. Teacher, 1900-2; journalist, 1902-5; editor San Francisco Argonaut, 1906. Married, 1906. Author: "The Land Claimers," 1910; "Across the Latitudes," 1911; "The Man Who Came Back," 1912; "The Princess of Sorry Valley," 1913; "Tad Sheldon and His Boy Scouts," 1913; "The Master Key," 1915.Uncharted Reefs.
(6)Wilson, Margaret Adelaide.Educated at Portland Academy, Portland, Oregon, and at an eastern college. Since then she has lived chiefly on her father's ranch in the San Jacinto Valley, California. First published story: "Towata and His Brother Wind," The Bellman, about 1907. Lives at Hemet, Cal.Drums.(5)Wood, Frances Gilchrist(for biography, see 1918).*Spoiling of Pharaoh.*Turkey Red.(6)Yezierska, Anzia(for biography, see 1919).*Hunger.
Note.Stories of special excellence are indicated by an asterisk. The index figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 prefixed to the name of the author indicate that his work has been included in the Rolls of Honor for 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, and 1919 respectively. The list excludes reprints.
(123456) Aumonier, Stacy.*Good Action.*Golden Windmill.*Great Unimpressionable.*Just the Same.*Landlord of "The-Love-a-Duck."Barker, Granville.Bigamist.Beck, L. Adams.Fire of Beauty.Incomparable Lady.(12356) Blackwood, Algernon.*First Hate.*Running Wolf.Buchan, John.Fullcircle.(6)Burke, Thomas.*Scarlet Shoes.Dobrée, Bonamy.Surfeit.(456) Dudeney, Mrs. Henry E.Wild Raspberries.(46)Dunsany, Lord.*Cheng Hi and the Window Framer.*East and West.*How the Lost Causes Were Removed from Valhalla.*Pretty Quarrel.Ervine, St. John G.Dramatist and the Leading Lady.(2) Gibbon, Perceval.*Connoisseur.Knave of Diamonds.Lieutenant.Holding, Elizabeth Sanxay.Problem that Perplexed Nicholson.(4) Lawrence, D. H.*Adolf.MacManus, L.Baptism.Merrick, Leonard.To Daphne De Vere.Monro, Harold.*Parcel of Love.(456) Mordaunt, Elinor.*Adventures in the Night.*Ginger Jar.
Nevinson, Henry W.*In Diocletian's Day.Owen, H. Collinson.Temptation of Antoine.Richardson, Dorothy M.*Sunday.Sinclair, May.*Fame.(5) Stephens, James.*Boss.*Desire.*Thieves.(2) Walpole, Hugh.*Case of Miss Morganhurst.*Fanny's Job.*Honourable Clive Torby.*No Place for Absalom.*Stealthy Visitor.*Third Sex.
(4) Andreyev, Leonid.(Russian.)*Promise of Spring.Anonymous. (Chinese.)*Romance of the Western Pavilion.(6) Blasco Ibáñez, Vicente.(Spanish.)Old Woman of the Movies.Sleeping-Car Porter.(6) "France, Anatole." (Jacques Anatole Thibault.)(French.)*Lady With the White Fan.Ibáñez, Vicente Blasco.(Spanish.)SeeBlasco Ibáñez, Vicente.Kotsyubinsky, Michael.(Russian.)By the Sea.(6) Level, Maurice.(French.)Empty House.Kennel.Maniac.Son of His Father.Lichtenberger, André.(French.)Old Fisherwoman.Louÿs, Pierre.(French.)False Esther.Nodier, Charles.(French.)*Bibliomaniac.Rameau, Jean.(French.)Ocarina.(4)Saltykov, M. E.(Russian.)*Wild Squire.Schnitzler, Arthur.(German.)*Crumbled Blossoms.Thibault, Jacques Anatole.(French.)See"France, Anatole."Trueba, Antonio De.(Spanish.)Portal of Heaven.Yushkevitch, Semyon.(Russian.)Pietà.
1.Brown.Homespun and Gold. Macmillan.2.Cather.Youth and the Bright Medusa. Knopf.3.Dwight.The Emperor of Elam. Doubleday, Page.4.Howells,Editor. Great Modern American Stories. Boni & Liveright.5.Johnson.Under the Rose. Harper.6.Sedgwick.Christmas Roses. Houghton Mifflin.7.Smith.Pagan. Scribner.8.Society of Arts and Sciences.O. Henry Prize Stories, 1919. Doubleday, Page.9.Spofford.The Elder's People. Houghton Mifflin.10.Yezierska.Hungry Hearts. Houghton Mifflin.
1.Beerbohm.Seven Men. Knopf.2.Cannan.Windmills. Huebsch.3.Dunsany.Tales of Three Hemispheres. Luce.4.Easton.Golden Bird. Knopf.5.Evans.My Neighbours. Harcourt, Brace, and Howe.6.Galsworthy.Tatterdemalion. Scribner.7.Huxley.Limbo. Doran.8.O'Kelly.The Golden Barque, and the Weaver's Grave. Putnam.9.Trevena.By Violence. Four Seas.10.Wylie.Holy Fire. Lane.
1.Aleichem.Jewish Children. Knopf.2.Andreiev.When the King Loses His Head. International Bk. Pub.3.Annunzio.Tales of My Native Town. Doubleday, Page.4.Brown and Phoutrides,Editors. Modern Greek Stories. Duffield.5.Chekhov.The Chorus Girl. Macmillan.6.Dostoevsky.The Honest Thief. Macmillan.7.Hrbkova,Editor. Czecho-Slovak Stories. Duffield.8.Level.Tales of Mystery and Horror. McBride.9.McMichael,Editor. Short Stories from the Spanish. Boni & Liveright.10.Mayran.Story of Gotton Connixloo. Dutton.
1.Gibbon, Perceval.Those Who Smiled. Cassell.2.Mayne, Ethel Colburn.Blindman. Chapman and Hall.3.Mordaunt, Elinor.Old Wine in New Bottles. Hutchinson.4.O'Kelly, Seumas.The Leprechaun of Killmeen. Martin Lester.5.Robinson, Lennox.Eight Short Stories. Talbot Press.6.Shorter, Dora Sigerson.A Dull Day in London. Nash.7.Lemaître, Jules.Serenus. Selwyn and Blount.
The Honourable Gentlemen and OthersandWings: Tales of the Psychic, byAchmed Abdullah(G. P. Putnam's Sons, and the James A. McCann Company). In the first of these two volumes, Mr. Abdullah has gathered the Pell Street stories of New York's Chinatown which have appeared in American magazines during the past few years. As contrasted with Thomas Burke's "Limehouse Nights," these stories reflect the oriental point of view with its characteristic fatalism and equability of temper. Four of these stories are told with the utmost economy of means and a grim pleasure in watching events unshape themselves. "A Simple Act of Piety" seemed to me one of the best short stories of 1918. The other volume is of more uneven quality, and psychic stories do not furnish Mr. Abdullah with his most natural medium, but contains at least three admirable stories.
Hand-Made Fables, byGeorge Ade. (Doubleday, Page & Company.) Mr. Ade's new series of thirty fables are a valuable record of the war years in American life. They are written in a unique idiom full of color, if unintelligible to the foreigner. I think one may fairly say that Mr. Ade's work is thoroughly characteristic of a large section of American culture, and this section he has portrayed admirably. Undoubtedly he is our best satirist.
Joy in the Morning, byMary Raymond Shipman Andrews(Charles Scribner's Sons). This uneven collection includes two admirable stories, "The Ditch" and "Dundonald's Destroyer," to which I drew attention when they first appeared in magazines. The latter is one of the best realized legends suggested by the war, while the former is technically interesting as a thoroughly successful short story written entirely in dialogue. The other stories are of slighter content, and emotionally somewhat overtaut.
Youth and the Bright Medusa, byWilla Cather(Alfred A. Knopf). Fifteen years ago, Miss Cather published a volume of short stories entitled "The Troll Garden." This volume has long been out of print, although its influence may be seen in the work of many contemporary story writers. The greater part of its contents is now reprinted in the present volume, together with four new stories of less interest. These eight studies, dealing for the most part with the artistic temperament, are written with a detached observation of life that clearly reveals the influence of Flaubert on the one hand and of Henry James on the other, but there is a quality of personal style built up out of nervous rhythms and an instinctive reticence of personal attitude which Miss Cather only shares with Sherwood Anderson among her American compatriots. She is more assured in the traditional quality of her work than Anderson, but hardly less astringent. I regard this book as one of the most important contributions to the American short story published during the past year, and personally I consider it more significant than her four admirable novels.
From Place to Place, byIrvin S. Cobb(George H. Doran Company). I have frequently had occasion to point out in the past that Mr. Cobb's work, in depth of conception and breadth of execution, makes him the legitimate successor of Mark Twain as a painter of the ampler life of the American South and Middle West. In his new collection of nine stories, there are at least three which I confidently believe are destined to last as long as the best stories of Hawthorne and Poe. The most noteworthy of these is "Boys Will Be Boys," which I printed in a previous volume of this series. "The Luck Piece" and "The Gallowsmith," though sharply contrasted in subject matter, reveal the same profound understanding of American life which makes Mr. Cobb almost our best interpreter in fiction to readers in other countries. Like Mark Twain, Mr. Cobb is quite uncritical of his own work, and two of these stories are of merely ephemeral value. I should like no better task than to edite a selection of Mr. Cobb's stories in one volume for introduction to the English public, and I think that such a volume would be the best service American letters could render to English letters at the present moment.
The Life of the Party, byIrvin S. Cobb(George H. Doran Company). I shall claim no special literary quality for this short story which Mr. Cobb has reprinted from The Saturday Evening Post, but America usually shows such poverty in producing humorous stories that the infectious quality of this wildly improbable adventure makes the story seem better than it really is. It cannot be regarded as more than a diversion from Mr. Cobb's rich human studies of American life.
Hiker Joy, byJames B. Connolly(Charles Scribner's Sons). This series of stories about a little New York wharf-rat which Mr. Connolly has reprinted from Collier's Weekly are less important than the admirable stories of the Gloucester fishermen which first made his reputation. They are told by the wharf-rat in dialect with a casual reportorial air which is tolerably convincing, and it is clear that they are based on a background of first-hand experience. Mr. Connolly's hand is not entirely subdued to the medium in which he has chosen to work, but the result is a certain monotony of interest.
Twelve Men, byTheodore Dreiser(Boni & Liveright). These twelve portraits which Mr. Dreiser has transferred to us from life represent his impressions of life's crowded thoroughfares and his reactions to many human contacts. More than one of these portraits can readily be traced to its original, and taken as a group they represent as valuable a cross-section Of our hurrying civilization as we have. Strictly speaking, however, they are not short stories, but discursive causeries on friends of Mr. Dreiser. They answer to no usual concepts of literary form, but have necessitated the creation of a new form. They reflect a gallic irony compact of pity and understanding. The brief limitations of his form prevent Mr. Dreiser from falling into errors which detract somewhat from the greatness of his novels, and as a whole I command this volume to the discriminating reader.
The Emperor of Elam, and Other Stories, byH. G. Dwight(Doubleday, Page & Company). Those who read Mr. Dwight's earlier volume entitled "Stamboul Nights" will recall the very real genius for the romantic presentation of adventure in exotic backgrounds which the author revealed. Every detail, if studied, was quietly set down without undue emphasis, and the whole was a finished composition. In the title story of the present volume, and in "The Emerald of Tamerlane," written in collaboration with John Taylor, Mr. Dwight is on the same familiar ground. I had occasion three years ago to reprint "The Emperor of Elam" in an earlier volume of this series, and it still seems to be worthy to set beside the best of Gautier. There are other stories in the present collection with the same rich background, but I should like to call particular attention to Mr. Dwight's two masterpieces, "Henrietta Stackpole Rediviva" and "Behind the Door." The former ranks with the best half-dozen American short stories, and the latter with the best half-dozen short stories of the world. I regard this volume as the most important which I have encountered since I began to publish my studies of the American short story.
The Miller's Holiday: Short Stories From the North Western Miller, Edited byRandolph Edgar(The Miller Publishing Company: Minneapolis). These fourteen stories reprinted from the files of the North Western Miller between 1883 and 1904 recall an interesting episode in the history of American literature. The paper just mentioned was the first trade journal to publish at regular intervals the best short stories procurable at the time, and out of this series was born "The Bellman," which for many years was the best literary weekly of general interest in the Middle West. The North Western Miller printed the best work of O. Henry, Howard Pyle, Octave Thanet, James Lane Allen, Hamlin Garland, Edward Everett Hale, and many others, and it was here that Frank R. Stockton first printed "The Christmas Wreck," which I should agree with the late Mr. Howells in regarding as Stockton's best story. I trust that the success of this volume will induce Mr. Edgar to edite and reprint one or more series of stories from "The Bellman." Such an undertaking would fill a very real need.
Half Portions, byEdna Ferber(Doubleday, Page & Company). Edna Ferber shares with Fannie Hurst the distinction of portraying the average American mind in its humbler human relations. Less sure than Miss Hurst in her ability to present her material in artistic form, her observation is equally keen and accurate, and in at least two stories in the present volume she seems to meet Miss Hurst on equal ground. "The Maternal Feminine," in my opinion, ranks with "The Gay Old Dog" as Miss Ferber's best story.
The Best Psychic Stories, Edited byJoseph Lewis French, with an Introduction byDorothy Scarborough(Boni & Liveright). This very badly edited collection of stories is worth having because of the fact that it reprints certain admirable short stories by Algernon Blackwood, Ambrose Bierce, and Fiona Macleod. If it attains to a second edition, the volume would be tremendously improved by omitting the compilation of irrelevant theosophical articles on the subject, and the substitution for them of other stories which lie open to Mr. French's hand in rich measure.
Fantastics, and Other Fancies, byLafcadio Hearn, Edited byCharles Woodward Hutson(Houghton Mifflin Company). This collection of stories, portraits, and essays which Mr. Hutson's industry has rescued from the long-lost files of The New Orleans Daily Item and The Times-Democrat belong to Hearn's early manner, when he sought to set down brief colored impressions of the old, hardly lingering Creole life which is now only a memory. In many ways akin to the art of Hérédia, they show a less classical attitude toward their subject-matter, and are frankly experimental approaches to the method of evocation by sounds and perfumes which he achieved so successfully in his later Japanese books. In these stories we may see the influence of Gautier's enamelled style already at work, operating with more precision than it was later to show, more fearful of the penumbra than his later ghost stories, and with a certain hurried air which may be largely set down to the journalistic pressure of writing weekly for newspapers. Notwithstanding this, many of the stories and sketches are a permanent addition to Hearn's work.
Waifs and Strays: Twelve Stories, byO. Henry(Doubleday, Page & Company). This volume of collectanea is divided into two parts. First of all, twelve new stories have been recovered from magazine files. Three of these are negligible journalism, and six others are chiefly interesting either as early studies for later stories, or for their biographical value. "The Cactus" and "The Red Roses of Tonia," however, rank only second to "O. Henry's" best dozen stories. The second part of the book is a miscellany of critical and biographical comment, including also some verse tributes to the story writer's memory and a valuable index to the collected edition of "O. Henry's" stories.
O. Henry Memorial Prize Stories, 1919, Chosen by theSociety of Arts and Sciences, with an introduction byBlanche Colton Williams(Doubleday, Page & Company). The Society of Arts and Sciences of New York City has had the admirable idea of editing an annual volume of the best American short stories, and awarding annual prizes for the two best stories as a memorial to the art of "O. Henry." The present volume reprints fifteen stories chosen by the society, including the two prize stories,—"England to America," by Margaret Prescott Montague, and "For They Know Not What They Do," by Wilbur Daniel Steele. Five other stories by Mrs. Frances Gilchrist Wood, Miss Fannie Hurst, Miss Louise Rice, Miss Beatrice Ravenel, and Miss G. F. Alsop are admirable stories. The selection represents a fair cross-section of the year's short stories, good, bad, and indifferent, but the two prizes seem to me to have been most wisely awarded, and I conceive this formal annual tribute to be the most significant and practical means of encouraging the American short story. Toward this encouragement the public may contribute in their measure, as I understand that the royalties which accrue from the sale of this volume are to be applied to additional prizes in future years.
The Happy End, byJoseph Hergesheimer(Alfred A. Knopf). Mr. Hergesheimer's new collection of seven stories is largely drawn from the files of The Saturday Evening Post, and represents to some degree a compromise with his public. The book is measurably inferior to "Gold and Iron," but shows to a degree the same qualities of studied background and selective presentation of aspects in character which are most satisfyingly presented in his novels. In "Lonely Valleys," "Tol'able David," and "The Thrush in the Hedge," Mr. Hergesheimer's art is more nearly adequate than in the other stories, but they lack the authoritative presentation which made "The Three Black Pennys" a landmark in contemporary American fiction. They show the author to be a too frank disciple of Mr. Galsworthy in the less essential aspect of the latter's art, and their tone is too neutral to be altogether convincing.
War Stories, Selected and Edited byRoy J. HolmesandA. Starbuck(Thomas Y. Crowell Company). This anthology of twenty-one American short stories about the war would have gained measurably by compression. At least five of the stories are unimportant, and six more are not specially representative of the best that is being done. But "Blind Vision," "The Unsent Letter," "His Escape," "The Boy's Mother" and "The Sixth Man" are now made accessible in book form, and give this anthology its present value.
The Great Modern American Stories: An Anthology, Compiled and edited with an introduction byWilliam Dean Howells(Boni & Liveright). This is the best anthology of the American short story from about 1860 to 1910 which has been published, or which is likely to be published. It represents the mellow choice of an old man who was the contemporary, editor, and friend of most American writers of the past two generations, and in his reminiscent introduction Mr. Howells relates delightfully many of his personal adventures with American authors. Several of these stories will be unfamiliar to the general reader, and I am specially glad to observe in this volume two little-known masterpieces,—"The Little Room" by Madelene Yale Wynne, and "Aunt Sanna Terry," by Landon R. Dashiell. Mr. Howells' choice has been studiously limited to short stories of the older generation, and without infringing on his ground, it is to be hoped that a second series of "Great Modern American Stories" by more recent writers should be issued by the same publishers. The present volume contains an excellent bibliographical chapter on the history of the American short story, and an appendix with biographies and bibliographies of the writers included, which calls for more accurate revision.
Bedouins, byJames Huneker(Charles Scribner's Sons). While this is primarily a volume of critical essays on painting, music, literature and life, it concludes with a series of seven short stories which serve as a postlude to Mr. Huneker's earlier volume, "Visionaries." They are chiefly interesting as the last dying glow of symbolism, derivative as they are from Huysmans and Mallarme. I cannot regard them as successful stories, but they have a certain experimental value which comes nearest to success in "The Cardinal's Fiddle."
Humoresque, byFannie Hurst(Harper & Brothers). Miss Hurst's fourth volume of short stories shows a certain recession from her previous high standard, except for the title story which is told with an economy of detail unusual for her. All of these eight stories are distinctive, and six of them are admirable, but I seem to detect a tendency toward the fixation of a type, with a corresponding diminishment of faithful individual portrayal. The volume would make the reputation of a lesser writer, but Miss Hurst is after all the rightful successor of "O Henry," and we are entitled to demand from her nothing less than her best.
Legends, byWalter McLaren Imrie(The Midland Press, Glennie, Alcona Co., Mich.). I should like to call special attention to this little book by a medical officer in the Canadian army, because it seems to me to be a significant footnote to the poignant records of Barbusse, Duhamel, and Élie Faure. So far as I know, this is the only volume of fiction written in English portraying successfully from the artist's point of view the acrid monotony of war. I believe that it deserves to be placed on the same bookshelf as the volumes of the others whom I have just mentioned.
Travelling Companions, byHenry James(Boni & Liveright). These seven short stories by Henry James, which are now collected for the first time with a somewhat inept introduction by Albert Mordell, were written at the same time as the stories in his "Passionate Pilgrim." While they only serve to reveal a minor aspect of his genius, they are of considerable importance historically to the student of his literary evolution. Published between 1868 and 1874, they represent the first flush of his enthusiasm for the older civilization of Europe, and especially of Italy. He would not have wished them to be reprinted, but the present editor's course is justified by their quality, which won the admiration at the time of Tennyson and other weighty critics. Had Henry James reprinted them at all, he would have doubtless rewritten them in his later manner, and we should have lost these first clear outpourings of his sense of international contrasts.
The Best American Humorous Short Stories, Edited byAlexander Jessup(Boni & Liveright). This collection of eighteen humorous short stories furnish a tolerable conspectus of the period between 1839 and the present day. They are prefaced by an informative historical introduction which leaves little to be desired from the point of view of information. The general reader will find the book less interesting than the specialist, since a large portion of the volume is devoted to the somewhat crude beginnings of humor in our literature. Apart from the stories by Edward Everett Hale, Mark Twain, Frank R. Stockton, Bret Harte, and "O. Henry," the comparative poverty of rich understanding humor in American fiction is remarkable. The most noteworthy omission in the volume is the neglect of Irvin S. Cobb.
John Stuyvesant Ancestor and Other People, byAlvin Johnson(Harcourt, Brace & Howe). This collection of sketches, largely reprinted from the New Republic, is rather a series of studies in social and economic relations than a group of short stories. But they concern us here because of Mr. Johnson's penetrating analysis of character, which constitutes a document of no little value to the imaginative student of our institutions, and "Short Change" has no little value as a vividly etched short story.
Under the Rose, byArthur Johnson(Harper & Brothers). With the publication of this volume, Mr. Johnson at last takes his rightful place among the best of the American short story writers who wish to continue the tradition of Henry James. In subtlety of portraiture he is the equal of Edith Wharton, and he excels her in ease and in his ability to subdue his substance to the environment in which it is set. He surpasses Mrs. Gerould by reason of the variety of his subject matter, and as a stylist he is equal to Anne Douglas Sedgwick. I have published two of these stories in previous volumes of this series, and there are at least four other stories in the volume which I should have liked to reprint.
Going West, byBasil King(Harper & Brothers). We have in this little book a reprint of one of the best short stories produced in America by the war. While it is emotionally somewhat overtaut, it has a good deal of reticence in portrayal, and there is a passion in it which transcends Mr. King's usual sentimentality.
Civilization: Tales of the Orient, byEllen N. La Motte(George H. Doran Company). Miss La Motte is the most interesting of the new American story writers who deal with the Orient. She writes out of a long and deep background of experience with a subtle appreciation of both the Oriental and the Occidental points of view, and has developed a personal art out of a deliberately narrowed vision. "On the Heights," "Prisoners," "Under a Wineglass," and "Cosmic Justice" are the best of these stories. So definite a propagandist aim is usually fatal to fiction, but Miss La Motte succeeds by deft suggestion rather than underscored statement.
Short Stories of the New America, Selected and Edited byMary A. Laselle(Henry Holt and Company). While this is primarily a volume of supplementary reading for secondary schools, compiled with a view to the "americanization" of the immigrant, it contains four short stories of more or less permanent value, three of which I have included in previous volumes of this series. It also draws attention to the admirable Indian stories of Grace Coolidge. The volume would be improved if three of these stories were omitted.
Chill Hours, byHelen Mackay(Duffield and Company). We have come to expect from Mrs. Mackay a somewhat tense but restrained mirroring of little human accidents, in which action is of less importance than its effects. She has a dry, nervous, unornamented style which sets down details in separate but related strokes which build up a picture whose art is not altogether successfully concealed. The present volume, which reflects Mrs. Mackay's experiences in France during the war, is more even in quality than her previous books, and "The Second Hay," "One or Another," and "He Cost Us So Much" are noteworthy stories.
Children in the Mist, byGeorge Madden Martin(D. Appleton & Company), andMore E. K. Means(G. P. Putnam's Sons). Both of these volumes represent traditional attitudes of the Southern white proprietor to the negro, and both fail in artistic achievement because of their excessive realization of the gulf between the two races. Mrs. Martin's book is the more artistic and the less sympathetic, though it has more professions of sympathy than that of Mr. Means. They both display considerable talent, the one in historical portraiture of reconstruction times, and the other in genial caricature of the more childish side of the less-educated negro. The negroes whom Mr. Means has invented have still to be born in the flesh, but there is an infectious humor in his nightmare world which he may plead as a justification for the misuse of his very real ability.
The Gift, England to America, andUncle Sam of Freedom Ridge, byMargaret Prescott Montague(E.P. Dutton & Company, and Doubleday, Page & Company). These three short stories are all spiritual studies of human reactions and moods generated by the war, set down with a deft hand in a neutral style, somewhat over-repressed perhaps, but thoroughly successful in the achievement of what Miss Montague set out to do. The second and best of these won the first prize offered last year as a memorial to "O. Henry" by The Society of Arts and Sciences of New York City. Good as it is, I am tempted to disagree with its interpretation of the English attitude toward America in general, although it may very well be true in many an individual case. Miss Montague suffers from a certain imaginative poverty which is becoming more and more characteristic of puritan art and life in America. From the point of view of style, however, these stories share distinction in the Henry James tradition only with Katharine Fullerton Gerould, Anne Douglas Sedgwick, Arthur Johnson and H. G. Dwight.
From the Life, byHarvey O'Higgins(Harper & Brothers). This volume should be read in connection with "Twelve Men," by Theodore Dreiser. Where Mr. Dreiser identifies himself with his subjects, Mr. O'Higgins stands apart in the most strict detachment. These nine studies in contemporary American life take as their point of departure in each case some tiny and apparently insignificant happening which altered the whole course of a life. Artists, actors, politicians, and business men all date their change of fortune from some ironic accident, and in three of these nine stories the author's analysis merits close re-reading by students of short story technique. Behind the apparent looseness of structure you will find a new and interesting method of presentation which is as effective as it is deliberate. I regard "From the Life" as one of the more important books of 1919.
The Mystery at the Blue Villa, byMelville Davisson Post(D. Appleton and Company), andSilent, White and Beautiful, byTod Robbins(Boni and Liveright). These two volumes furnish an interesting contrast. The subject-matter of both is rather shoddy, but Mr. Post displays a technique in the mystery story which is quite unrivalled since Poe in its inevitable relentlessness of plot based on human weakness, while Mr. Robbins shows a wild fertility of imagination of extraordinary promise, although it is now wasted on unworthy material. I think that both books will grip the reader by their quality of suspense, and I shall look forward to Mr. Robbins' next book with eager interest.
The Best Ghost Stories. Introduction byArthur B. Reeve(Boni and Liveright, Inc.). Mr. French's new collection of ghost stories supplements his volume entitled "Great Ghost Stories," published in the previous year. I consider it the better collection of the two, and should particularly like to call attention to the stories by Leopold Kompert and Ellis Parker Butler. The latter is Mr. Butler's best story and has, so far as I know, not been reprinted elsewhere. For the rest, the volume ranges over familiar ground.
High Life, byHarrison Rhodes(Robert M. McBride & Co.). Setting aside the title story which, as a novelette, does not concern us here, this volume is chiefly noteworthy for the reprint of "Spring-Time." When I read this story for the first time many years ago, it seemed to me one that Mr. Arthur Sherburne Hardy would have been proud to sign. It is not perhaps readily realized how difficult it is to write a story so deftly touched with sentiment, while maintaining the necessary economy of personal emotion. "The Sad Case of Quag" exemplifies the gallic aspect of Mr. Rhodes' talent.
The Red Mark, byJohn Russell(Alfred A. Knopf). This uneven volume of short stories by a writer of real though undisciplined talent is full of color and kaleidoscopic hurrying of events. Apart from "The Adversary," which is successful to a degree, the book is uncertain in its rendering of character, though Mr. Russell's handling of plot leaves little to be desired.
The Pagan, byGordon Arthur Smith(Charles Scribner's Sons). It was expected that when Mr. Smith's first volume of short stories should appear, it would take its place at once as pre-eminent in the romantic revival which is beginning to be apparent in the American short story. This volume does not disappoint our expectations, although it would have gained in authority had it been confined to the five Taillandy Stories, "Jeanne, the Maid," and "The Return." Mr. Smith's output has always been wisely limited, and "The Pagan" represents the best work of nine years. These stories are only second in their kind to those of James Branch Cabell and Stephen French Whitman.
The Elder's People, byHarriet Prescott Spofford(Houghton, Mifflin Company). Mrs. Spofford has collected in this volume the best among the short stories which she has written since 1904, and the collection shows no diminution in her powers of accurate and tender observation of New England folk. These fourteen prose idyls have a mellow humanism which portrays the last autumn fires of a dying tradition. They rank with the best work of Miss Jewett and Mrs. Spofford herself in the same kind, and are a permanent addition to the small store of New England literature. I wish to call special attention to "An Old Fiddler," "A Village Dressmaker," and "A Life in a Night."
The Valley of Vision, byHenry van Dyke(Charles Scribner's Sons). This volume of notes for stories rather than stories themselves calls for no particular comment save for two admirable fugitive studies entitled "A Remembered Dream" and "The Broken Soldier and the Maid of France." These seem to me creditable additions to the small store of American legends which the war produced, but the other stories and sketches are rather bloodless. They are signs of the spiritual anæmia which is so characteristic of much of American life.
The Ninth Man, byMary Heaton Vorse(Harper & Brothers). When this story was published in Harper's Magazine six years ago, it attracted wide attention as a vividly composed presentment of human passions in a mediæval scene. The allegory was not stressed unduly, and was perhaps taken into less account then than it will be now. But events have since clarified the story in a manner which proves Miss Vorse to have been curiously prophetic. In substance it is very different from what we have come to associate with her work, but I think that its modern social significance will now be obvious to any reader. Philosophy aside, I commend it as an admirably woven story.
Anchors Aweigh, byHarriet Welles(Charles Scribner's Sons). I think the chief value of this volume is as a quiet record of experience without any remarkable qualities of plot and style, but it is full of promise for the future, and in "Orders" Mrs. Welles has written a memorable story. The introduction by the Secretary of the Navy rather overstates the case, but I think no one will deny the genuine feeling and truth with which Mrs. Welles has presented her point of view.
Ma Pettengill, byHarry Leon Wilson(Doubleday, Page & Company). I must confess that temperamentally I am not inclined to rank these humorous stories of American life as highly as many critics. I grant their sincerity of portraiture, but they show only too plainly the signs of Mr. Wilson's compromise with his large audience in The Saturday Evening Post. They are written, however, with the author's eye on the object, and Ma Pettengill herself is vividly realized.
Hungry Hearts, byAnzia Yezierska(Houghton Mifflin Company). When I reprinted "Fat of the Land" last year I stated that it seemed to me perhaps the finest imaginative contribution to the short story made by an American artist last year. My opinion is confirmed by Miss Yezierska's first collection of stories, and particularly by "Hunger," "The Miracle," and "My Own People." I know of no other American writer who is driven by such inevitable compulsion to express her ideal of what America might be, and it serves to underscore the truth that the chief idealistic contribution to American life comes no longer from the anæmic Anglo-Saxon puritan, but from the younger elements of our mixed racial culture. Such a flaming passion of mingled indignation and love for America embodies a message which other races must heed, and proves that there is a spiritual America being born out of suffering and oppression which is destined to rule before very long.