Boomerang, The. Cloak Also, The. Ring with the Green Stone, The.

GEER, CORNELIA THROOP, is an instructor in Bryn Mawr College.

*Pearls Before Swine.

(123) GEROULD, KATHARINE FULLERTON. Born in Brockton, Mass., 1879. Graduate of Radcliffe College. Married, 1910. Reader in English, Bryn Mawr, 1901-10. Author: "Vain Oblations," "The Great Tradition," "Hawaii," and "A Change of Air." Lives in New Jersey.

*East of Eden. *Hand of Jim Fane, The. *Knight's Move, The. *Wax Doll, The. *What They Seem.

GLASGOW, ELLEN. Born in Richmond, Va., 1874. Educated at home, but this has been supplemented by a wide range of reading, and travel both abroad and in this country. Her first short story was "A Point in Morals," Harper's Magazine, about 1897. Author of "The Descendant," "Some Phases of an Inferior Planet," "The Voice of the People," "The Freeman and Other Poems," "The Battleground," "The Deliverance," "The Wheel of Life," "The Ancient Law," "The Romance of a Plain Man," "The Miller of Old Church," "Virginia," "Life and Gabriella." She lives in Richmond, Va.

*Dare's Gift.

GLASPELL, SUSAN. (Mrs. George Cram Cook.) Born in Davenport, Iowa, 1882. Graduate Drake University. Reporter in Des Moines for several years. The idea for "A Jury of Her Peers" came from a murder trial which she reported. Chief interest: the little theater. Associated with the Provincetown Players. Married George Cram Cook, 1913. First story, "In the Face of His Constituents," Harper's Magazine, October 1903. Author of "The Glory of the Conquered," "The Visioning," "Lifted Masks," "Fidelity," several one-act plays: "Trifles," "Suppressed Desires" (in collaboration with George Cram Cook), "The People," and "Close the Book." Lives in Provincetown and New York City.

*Hearing Ear, The. *Jury of Her Peers, A. Matter of Gesture, A.

(13) GORDON, ARMISTEAD CHURCHILL. Born in Albemarle County, Va., 1855. Educated at classical academy in Warrenton, N. C., and Charlottesville, Va., and at University of Virginia. Lawyer in Staunton, Va., since 1879. First story, "Envion," South Atlantic Magazine, July, 1880. Of this story his friend, Thomas Nelson Page, wrote in a preface to a volume of Mr. Gordon's stories, printed in 1899, but never published, entitled "Envion and Other Tales of Old and New Virginia": "To one of these sketches the writer is personally indebted for the idea of a tragic love affair during the war, an idea which he employed in his story 'Marse Chan,' and also for the method which he adopted of telling the story through the medium of a faithful servant." Author of "Befo' de War: Echoes in Negro Dialect" (with Thomas Nelson Page), "Congressional Currency," "For Truth and Freedom: Poems of Commemoration," "The Gay Gordons," "The Gift of the Morning Star," "The Ivory Gate," "Robin Aroon: A Comedy of Manners," "William Fitzhugh Gordon, a Virginian of the Old School," "J. L. M. Curry" (with E. A. Alderman), "Maje, a Love Story," and "Ommirandy." Lives in Staunton, Va.

*His Father's Flag.

(3) GREENE, FREDERICK STUART. Born in Rappahannock County, Va., 1870. Graduated from Virginia Military Institute, 1890. Civil engineer until May 14, 1917. Now commanding officer of Company "B," 302d Engineers, National Army, Camp Upton, N. Y. His chief interests are to see this war to a successful conclusion, and to devote himself thereafter to writing. First story, "Stictuit," Saturday Evening Post, April 5, 1913. Editor of "The Grim 13." Lives on Long Island, N. Y.

*Bunker Mouse, The. *"Molly McGuire, Fourteen."

(3) HALLET, RICHARD MATTHEWS. Born in Yarmouthport, Mass. Author of "The Lady Aft" and "Trial By Fire."

*Rainbow Pete.

HARRIS, CORRA MAY. Born at Farm Hill, Ga. 1869. Married Rev. Lundy Howard Harris, 1887. Methodist. Began writing for the Independent, 1899. Author: "The Jessica Letters" (with Paul Elmer More), "A Circuit Rider's Wife," "Eve's Second Husband," "The Recording Angel," "In Search of a Husband," and "Co-Citizens." Lives in Rydal, Ga.

Other Soldiers in France, The.

HARTMAN, LEE FOSTER. Born in Fort Wayne, Ind., 1879. Graduate of Wesleyan University. Engaged in newspaper and magazine work in New York City since 1901. Now assistant editor of Harper's Magazine. First story, "My Lady's Bracelet," Munsey's Magazine, October, 1904. Author of "The White Sapphire." Lives in New York City.

*Frazee.

HEMENWAY, HETTY LAWRENCE. (MRS. AUGUSTE RICHARD.) Born in Boston, 1890. Educated in private schools in her home city. She has always been fond of outdoor life and devoted to animals, especially dogs and horses. Married Lieut. Auguste Richard, 1917. First story, "Four Days," Atlantic Monthly, May, 1917, since reprinted in book form.

*Four Days.

HUNT, EDWARD EYRE. Graduate of Harvard. Associated with American Relief Commission in Belgium. Author of "War-Bread."

Ghosts. Saint Dympna's Miracle.

(23) HURST, FANNIE. Born in Hamilton, Ohio, 1889, but spent the first nineteen years of her life in St. Louis, Mo. An only child, and consequently forced into much solitude and a precocious amount of reading. Educated at home and in public schools of St. Louis. Graduate of Washington University. Two years' graduate work at Columbia. After vacillating between writing and the stage, the pen finally conquered, and between 1909 and 1912 just thirty-three manuscripts were submitted to and rejected by one publication alone,—a publication which later came to feature her work. First short story published in Reedy's Mirror, 1909; second story in Smith's Magazine, 1912. Lives in New York City. Active in women's suffrage, tennis and single tax; but her chief interest is her writing, her work-day being six hours long. Has made personal studies of the life she interprets, having at various times apprenticed herself as waitress, saleswoman, and factory-girl. Author of "Just Around the Corner," "Every Soul Hath Its Song," "Gaslight Sonatas."

*Get Ready the Wreaths. Solitary Reaper.

HUTCHISON, PERCY ADAMS. Graduate of, and for some years instructor at, Harvard University.

*Journey's End.

(3) JOHNSON, FANNY KEMBLE. (MRS. VINCENT COSTELLO.) Born in Rockbridge County, Va., and educated in private schools. Moved to Charleston, W. Va., 1897. Married Vincent Costello, 1899. Has lived in Wheeling, W. Va., since 1907. Her chief interests are her four children, her writing, and contemporary history as it is made from day to day. "The Pathway Round," Atlantic Monthly, August, 1900, marked her entrance into the professional magazines. Author of "The Beloved Son."

*Strange-Looking Man, The.

JONES, E. CLEMENT. Born in Boston, 1890. First short story in verse, "Country Breath and the Ungoverned Brother," London Nation, 1911. Contributor to The New Republic and The Seven Arts. Lives in Concord, Mass.

*Sea-Turn, The.

KAUFFMAN, REGINALD WRIGHT. Born at Columbia, Pa., 1877. Educated at St. Paul's School, Concord, and at Harvard. Married, 1909. In newspaper work since 1897. Associate editor Saturday Evening Post, 1904-07; later associate editor Delineator, and managing editor Hampton's Magazine. Author of "Jarvis of Harvard," "The Things That Are Caesar's," "The Chasm," "Miss Frances Baird, Detective," "The Bachelor's Guide to Matrimony," "What is Socialism?", "My Heart and Stephanie," "The House of Bondage," "The Girl That Goes Wrong," "The Way of Peace," "The Sentence of Silence," "The Latter Day Saints" (with Ruth Kauffman), "Running Sands," "The Spider's Web," "Little Old Belgium," "In a Moment of Time," "Jim," and "The Silver Spoon." Lives in Columbia, Pa.

Lonely House, The.

KLINE, BURTON. Born at Williamsport, Pa., 1877. Educated at Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, and at Harvard. Married, 1909. Newspaper man. Magazine editor Boston Transcript. Republican. Lutheran. Author of "Struck by Lightning" and "The End of the Flight." Lives in Arlington, Mass.

*Caller in the Night, The.

KRYSTO, CHRISTINA. Born in Batum, Russia, 1887. Her early education was thoroughly Russian. She was taught at home and given unrestricted freedom in a really fine library. Emigrated to California when nine years old. Studied at University of California. Now engaged in ranch work and the endeavor to arrange her life so that there will be room in it for writing. "Babanchik" is her first story. She lives in Alta Loma, Cal.

Babanchik.

LEE, JENNETTE. Born at Bristol, Conn., 1860. Attended Bristol schools. Began teaching, 1876. Graduated from Smith College, 1886. First story, "Bufiddle," published in the Independent, 1886. Taught English at Vassar, Western Reserve College for Women, and Smith College. Her special interest is relating education to life. Resigned professorship in English at Smith College, 1913. Married Gerald Stanley Lee, 1896. Author of "Kate Wetherell," "A Pillar of Salt," "The Son of a Fiddler," "Uncle William," "The Ibsen Secret," "Simeon Tetlow's Shadow," "Happy Island," "Mr. Achilles," "The Taste of Apples," "The Woman in the Alcove," "Aunt Jane," "The Symphony Play," "Unfinished Portraits," and "The Green Jacket." She lives in Northampton, Mass.

John Fairchild's Mirror.

LEWIS, ADDISON. Born in Minneapolis, 1889. Educated in public schools. Graduated from University of Minnesota in 1912. Regards as a liberal share of his education a very brief circus career, and five years spent as assistant managing editor of The Bellman and the Northwestern Miller. His professions are journalism and advertising; is bothered mostly with the necessity of getting the nebulous idea for a story on paper, freshwater sailing, and the problem of improving his game of golf. First story, "The End of the Lane," Reedy's Mirror, Feb. 2, 1917. He lives in Minneapolis.

*When Did You Write Your Mother Last?

LONDON, JACK. Born at San Francisco, 1876. Educated at University of California. Married Bessie Maddern, 1900; Charmian Kittredge, 1905. Went to the Klondike instead of graduating from college; went to sea before the mast; traveled as a tramp through the United States and Canada; war correspondent during the Russo-Japanese War; and navigated his yacht "Snark" in the South Seas, 1907-09. Socialist. Author of "The Son of the Wolf," "The God of His Fathers," "A Daughter of the Snows," "The Children of the Frost," "The Cruise of the Dazzler," "The People of the Abyss," "Kempton-Wace Letters," "The Call of the Wild," "The Faith of Men," "The Sea Wolf," "The Game," "War of the Classes," "Tales of the Fish Patrol," "Moon-Face," "Scorn of Women," "White Fang," "Before Adam," "Love of Life," "The Iron Heel," "The Road," "Martin Eden," "Lost Face," "Revolution," "Burning Daylight," "Theft," "When God Laughs," "Adventure," "The Cruise of the Snark," "South Sea Tales," "Smoke Bellew Tales," "The House of Pride," "A Son of the Sun," "The Night-Born," "The Abysmal Brute," "John Barleycorn," "The Valley of the Moon," "The Strength of the Strong," "The Mutiny of the Elsinore," "The Scarlet Plague," "The Star Rover," "The Little Lady of the Big House," "Jerry," and "Michael, the Brother of Jerry." He died in 1916.

Like Argus of the Ancient Time.

(3) MARSHALL, EDISON. Born in Rensselaer, Ind. Moved to Medford, Ore., in 1907. Educated at University of Oregon. In newspaper work till 1916. Now writing for the magazines. Unmarried. Chief interests: hunting and fishing. His first story was, "The Sacred Fire," Argosy, April, 1915. Age, twenty-four. Principal ambition is to get to France. Lives in Medford, Ore.

Man that Was in Him, The.

MASTERS, EDGAR LEE. Born at Garnett, Kan., 1868. Educated at high school and Knox College. Studied law in his father's office. Admitted to the bar, 1891. Married, 1898. Democrat. Author of "A Book of Verses," "Maximilian," "The New Star Chamber and Other Essays," "Blood of the Prophets," "Althea," "The Trifler," "Spoon River Anthology," "Songs and Satires," and "The Great Valley." His first story was published in the Peoria Call in 1886 or 1887, and in 1889 he published several short stories in the Waverly Magazine. Lives in Chicago.

Boyhood Friends. *Widow La Rue.

MORTON, JOHNSON.

*Understudy, The.

NAFE, GERTRUDE. Born in Grand Island, Neb., 1883. Graduate of University of Colorado. Teaches English in East Denver High School. Her chief interest in life is revolution. Her first contribution was "The Woman Who Stood in the Market Place," published in Mother Earth in February, 1914. Lives in Denver, Colo.

One Hundred Dollars.

NICHOLSON, MEREDITH. Born at Crawfordsville, Ind., 1866. Educated in Indianapolis public schools. Married, 1896. Member of National Institute of Arts and Letters. Author of "Short Flights," "The Hoosiers," "The Main Chance," "Zelda Dameron," "The House of a Thousand Candles," "Poems," "The Port of Missing Men," "Rosalind at Red Gate," "The Little Brown Jug at Kildare," "The Lords of High Decision," "The Siege of the Seven Suitors," "The Hoosier Chronicle," "The Provincial American," "Otherwise Phyllis," "The Poet," "The Proof of the Pudding," "The Madness of May," and "A Reversible Santa Claus."

"My first literary tinklings were in verse; you will note two volumes of poems in my list. Finding at fifteen that the schools within my reach did not meet my requirements, I went to work and began educating myself along lines of least resistance. My occupations were various: worked in printing offices, learned shorthand, became stenographer in a law office; was in newspaper work for twelve years; at thirty was auditor and treasurer of a coal-mining corporation in Colorado; after three years of business became a writer of books. When I was eighteen I wrote three short stories which were published, and after that wrote no fiction till I was thirty-two. I haven't thought of it before, but it was odd that I wrote no short stories and had no interest in that form until about five years ago. Since then I have done a number every year. Without being a politician, I have dabbled somewhat in political matters, making speeches at times, and abusing my fellow partisans (I am a Democrat) when they needed chastisement. I have been defeated for nominations and have declined nominations, and I once refused a foreign appointment of considerable dignity that was very kindly offered me by a President. When it comes to 'interests' I have, I suppose, a journalistic mind. Anything that is of contemporaneous human interest interests me—even free verse, which I despise, but read." Mr. Nicholson lives in Indianapolis.

*Heart of Life, The.

NORTON, ROY. Born at Kewanee, Ill., 1869. High school education. Studied law, mining, and languages. Married, 1894. Practiced law at Ogden, 1892. In newspaper work for some years. Democrat. Roman Catholic. Mason. Author of "Guilty" (with William Hallowell), "The Vanishing Fleets," "The Toll of the Sea," "Mary Jane's Pa," "The Garden of Fate," "The Plunderer," "Captains Three," "The Mediator," "The Moccasins of Gold," "The Boomers," and "The Man of Peace." Lives in New Jersey.

Aunt Seliny.

(2) O'BRIEN, SEUMAS. Born at Glenbrook, County Cork, Ireland, April 26, 1880,—three days and three hundred and sixteen years (?) after Mr. William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon. Education: none or very little, and less German than French. Profession: pessimist. Chief interests: Russian Jewesses and American dollars. In more sober truth, education: Presentation Brothers Schools, Cork School of Art, Cork School of Music, Metropolitan School of Art, Dublin, and Royal College of Art, London. Profession: sculptor and dramatist. Chief interests: literature, art, and music. First magazine to publish his work, The Tatler. Author of "The Whale and the Grasshopper," "Duty, and Other Irish Comedies," and "The Knowledgeable Man." Lives in Brooklyn, N. Y.

*Murder?

O'HIGGINS, HARVEY J. Born in London, Ont., 1876. Educated at public schools and Toronto University. In newspaper work from 1897 to 1902. First short story, "Not for Publication," in Youth's Companion, March, 1902. Chief interests: those of a publicist, aiding social and political reforms. Author of "The Smoke Eaters," "Don-a-Dreams," "A Grand Army Man," "Old Clinkers," "The Beast and the Jungle" (with Judge Ben B. Lindsey), "Under the Prophet in Utah" (with Frank J. Cannon), "The Argyle Case" (with Harriet Ford), "The Dummy," "Polygamy," "Silent Sam" (with Harriet Ford), and "Adventures of Detective Barney." He lives in New Jersey.

From the Life: Thomas Wales Warren.

(3) O'SULLIVAN, VINCENT. Born in New York, 1872. Graduate of Oxford. Author of "The Good Girl," "Sentiment," "Of Human Affairs," and many other books. Lives in Brooklyn, N. Y.

*Interval, The.

PANGBORN, GEORGIA WOOD. Born at Malone, N. Y., 1872. Educated at Franklin Academy, Malone; Packer Institute, Brooklyn, and Smith College. Married, 1894. First short story, "The Grek Collie," Scribner's Magazine, July, 1903. Author of "Roman Biznet" and "Interventions." Lives in New York City.

*Bixby's Bridge.

PERRY, LAWRENCE. Born in Newark, N. J., 1875. Educated in public and private schools. He had a choice between college and the New York Sun (Charles A. Dana, then editor) as a medium of higher education. Has always regarded his decision in favor of the Sun as wise, considering an ambition to learn life and then write about it. On staff of Sun and Evening Sun, 1897-1905. Went to Evening Post, 1906; there organized and edited "Yachting" until 1909. Has since concentrated on inter-collegiate sport and fiction. His first story, "Joe Lewis," in Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly, September, 1902. Author of "Dan Merrithew," "Prince or Chauffeur," "Holton," and "The Fullback." Lives in New York City.

*"Certain Rich Man, A.—"

PORTOR, LAURA SPENCER.

Boy's Mother, The. Idealist, The.

POTTLE, EMERY. Is a poet and short-story writer of distinction, now with the Aviation Corps in France, specializing in Observation Balloon work.

Breach in the Wall, The. *Portrait, The.

PROUTY, OLIVE HIGGINS. Born in Worcester, Mass., 1882. Educated in public schools. Graduated from Smith College, 1904. Post-graduate work at Simmons College and Radcliffe. Chief interests: home and her children's development and education. Married in 1907. First story, "When Elise Came," American Magazine, April, 1909. Author of "Bobbie, General Manager," and "The Fifth Wheel." Lives in Brookline, Mass.

New England War Bride, A.

PULVER, MARY BRECHT. Born in Mount Joy, Pa., 1883. Educated in public schools, normal school, and Philadelphia School of Applied Art. Married, 1906. Chief interests: music, painting, and literature. Author of "The Spring Lady." Lives in Binghamton, N. Y.

*Path of Glory, The.

RAISIN, OVRO'OM, is a distinguished Yiddish writer of fiction now living in New York City.

Ascetic, The.

RICHARDSON, NORVAL. Born at Vicksburg, Miss., 1877. Educated at Lawrenceville School, N. J., and Southwestern Presbyterian University. Secretary and treasurer Lee Richardson & Company. In diplomatic service since 1909 at Havana, Copenhagen, and Rome. Author of "The Heart of Hope," "The Lead of Honour," "George Thorne," and "The Honey Pot." Is now connected with the American Embassy, Rome, Italy.

*Miss Fothergill.

(23) ROSENBLATT, BENJAMIN. Born on New Year's Eve, 1880, in a tiny Russian village named Resoska. When he was ten, his parents brought him to New York, where he was set to work in a shop at once. Later he sold newspapers. At the age of seventeen his first story in Yiddish, entitled "She Laughed," appeared in Voerwarts. At that time he studied English diligently, and prepared himself for college. For a number of years he was a frequent contributor to the Jewish press. His first English story, entitled "Free," appeared in The Outlook, July 4, 1903. After leaving the normal training school he taught English to foreigners, opening a preparatory school. His story "Zelig," in my opinion, was the best American short story in 1915. He is now attending New York University, and is an insurance agent. He lives in Brooklyn, N. Y.

Madonna, The.

SCHNEIDER, HERMAN. Born at Summit Hill, Pa., 1872. Graduated from Lehigh University in science, 1894. Now Dean of the College of Engineering, University of Cincinnati. Profession: civil engineer. Chief interests: advancing technical education, promoting scientific research, and planning methods to give free outlook to the creative genius of the country in science, art, music, literature, and every other phase of human endeavor. Author of "Education for Industrial Workers." First short story, "Arthur McQuaid, American," Outlook, May 23, 1917. At present, living in Washington, working in the Ordnance Department on industrial service problems.

Shaft of Light, A.

SHEPHERD, WILLIAM GUNN, is a war correspondent in Europe, who was with Richard Harding Davis at Salonika when the incident occurred which suggested to Davis the idea for his short story, "The Deserter."

*Scar that Tripled, The.

SHOWERMAN, GRANT. Born in Brookfield, Wis., 1870, of Dutch and English stock, his grandfather, Luther Parker, having in 1836 driven the entire distance from Indian Stream, N. H., to Wisconsin, where he was the first permanent settler in his township. Educated in Brookfield district school, Carroll College, and University of Wisconsin. Fellow in the American School of Classical Studies at Rome, 1898-1900. Married, 1900. Now professor of classics, University of Wisconsin. Interested chiefly in literature and finds his diversion on the Four Lakes. First short story, "Italia Liberata," Scribner's Magazine, January, 1908. Author of "With the Professor," a translation of Ovid's "Heroides" and "Amores," "The Indian Stream Republic and Luther Parker," "A Country Chronicle," and "A Country Child." Lives in Madison, Wis.

*Country Christmas, A.

(123) SINGMASTER, ELSIE. (MRS. HAROLD LEWARS.) Born at Schuylkill Haven, Pa., 1879. Graduate of Radcliffe College. Her first story, "The Lese Majeste of Hans Heckendorn," Scribner's Magazine, November, 1905. Author of "When Sarah Saved the Day," "When Sarah Went to School," "Gettysburg," "Katy Gaumer," "Emmeline," "The Long Journey," "Martin Luther: the Story of His Life," and "History of Lutheran Missions." Lives in Gettysburg, Pa.

*Christmas Angel, The. *Flag of Eliphalet, The.

SMITH, ELIZABETH C. A. (See "BRECK, JOHN.")

(23) SMITH, GORDON ARTHUR, was born in Rochester, N. Y., 1886. Educated at Harvard. Studied architecture in Paris for four years. Now a writer by profession. Chief interests: aviation, architecture, and music. First published story, "The Bottom of the Sea," in Black Cat at age of sixteen. Author of "Mascarose" and "The Crown of Life." Now an ensign in the U. S. Navy Flying Forces, "somewhere in France." Home: Rochester, N. Y.

*End of the Road, The. Friend of the People, A.

(23) SNEDDON, ROBERT W. Born in 1880 at Beith, Ayrshire, Scotland, the son of a doctor. Studied arts and law at Glasgow University, and served law apprenticeship at Glasgow and Edinburgh. Lived in London and Paris, and since 1909 has lived in New York. First short story, "Little Golden Shoes," The Forum, August, 1912. Author of "The Might-Have-Beens." Fond of outdoors and fireside. Chief interest: reaching the heart of the public. Chief sport: hunting for a publisher for three volumes of short stories and for producers for his plays.

"Mirror! Mirror! Tell Me True!"

"STAR, MARK," is the pseudonym of a lady who prefers to remain unknown.

Garden of Sleep, The.

(23) STEELE, WILBUR DANIEL. Born in Greensboro, N. C., 1886. Educated at University of Denver. Studied art in Denver, Boston, and Paris. First short story, "On the Ebb Tide," Success, 1910. Author of "Storm." Lives in Provincetown, Mass.

*Ching, Ching, Chinaman. Devil of a Fellow, A. Free. *Ked's Hand. Point of Honor, A. *White Hands. *The Woman at Seven Brothers.

STEFFENS, (JOSEPH) LINCOLN. Born at San Francisco, 1866. Educated at University of California, Berlin, Heidelberg, Leipzig, Paris, and Sorbonne. Married, 1891. In newspaper work, 1892-1902. Since then managing and associate editor at different times of McClure's Magazine, American Magazine, and Everybody's Magazine. Author of "The Shame of the Cities," "The Struggle for Self Government," "Upbuilders," and "The Least of These." He lives in New York City.

Bunk. Great Lost Moment, The.

SULLIVAN, ALAN, is a Canadian author.

Only Time He Smiled, The.

(123) SYNON, MARY. Born in Chicago, 1881. Educated at St. Jarlath's School, West Division High School, and University of Chicago. In newspaper work since 1900. Chosen by Gaelic League in 1912 to write for American newspapers a series of articles on the Irish situation. First story, "The Boy Who Went Back to the Bush," Scribner's Magazine, November, 1909. For three years secretary of the Woman's Auxiliary of the Catholic Church Extension Society; now executive secretary of the Woman's Liberty Loan Committee. Author of "The Fleet Goes By." Lives in Wilmette, Ill.

Clay-Shattered Doors. End of the Underground, The. *None So Blind.

TABER, ELIZABETH STEAD.

*Scar, The.

(3) VORSE, MARY HEATON. (MARY HEATON VORSE O'BRIEN.) Born in New York. Never went properly to school because her family traveled widely, but studied art in Paris at several academies. She is most interested in radical thought, especially as expressed in the radical wing of the labor movement. Married Albert W. Vorse, 1898; Joseph O'Brien, 1912. First story, "The Boy Who Didn't Catch Things," Everybody's Magazine, June, 1904. Author of "The Breaking in of a Yachtsman's Wife," "The Very Little Person," "The Autobiography of an Elderly Woman," "The Heart's Country," and "The Ninth Man." Lives in Provincetown, Mass., and New York City.

Great God, The. Pavilion of Saint Merci, The.

(23) WESTON, GEORGE. Born in New York, 1880. High school education. Studied law and founded the Western Engineering Company. On editorial staff of New York Evening Sun from 1900. Retired to farm in Connecticut, 1912. An enthusiastic sportsman, farmer, and motorist. Single, white, an ardent Republican, a staunch admirer of Mr. Charles Chaplin, an accomplished listener to the violin, a Latin versifier, a connoisseur of roses, a fancier of fox-terriers, a lover of shad-roe and bacon, and a never-swerving champion of woman's suffrage. First short story, "After Many Years," Harper's Magazine, 1910. Author of "Oh, Mary, Be Careful!" Lives in Packer, Conn.

Perfect Gentleman, A.



THE ROLL OF HONOR OF FOREIGN SHORT STORIES IN AMERICAN MAGAZINES FOR 1917

NOTE. Stories of special excellence are indicated by an asterisk. The index figures 1, 2, and 3 prefixed to the name of the author indicate that his work has been included in the Rolls of Honor for 1914, 1915, and 1916 respectively.

I. ENGLISH AND IRISH AUTHORS

(23) AUMONIER, STACY.

*In the Way of Business. *Packet, The. *Them Others.

(3) BERESFORD, J. D.

*Escape, The. *Little Town, The. *Powers of the Air.

(13) CONRAD, JOSEPH.

*Warrior's Soul, The.

DUDENEY, MRS. HENRY.

*Feather-bed, The.

DUNSANY, LORD.

*How the Gods Avenged Meoul Ki Ning.

(123) GALSWORTHY, JOHN.

*Defeat. Flotsam and Jetsam. Juryman, The.

GEORGE, W. L.

*Interlude.

GIBSON, WILFRID WILSON.

*News, The.

HAMILTON, COSMO.

Ladder Leaning on a Cloud, The.

HOUSEMAN, LAURENCE.

Inside-out.

LAWRENCE, D. H.

*England, My England. *Mortal Coil, The. *Thimble, The.

LE GALLIENNE, RICHARD.

Bugler of the Immortals, The.

MACHEN, ARTHUR.

*Coming of the Terror, The.

MACMANUS, SEUMAS.

*Mad Man, the Dead Man, and the Devil, The.

MORDAUNT, ELINOR.

*Gold Fish, The.

PERTWEE, ROLAND.

*Camouflage. *Red and White.

(3) SOUTAR, ANDREW.

Behind the Veil.

THOMAS, EDWARD.

*Passing of Pan, The.

(3) WYLIE, I. A. R.

*Holy Fire. *'Melia No-Good. *Return, The.

II. TRANSLATIONS

ANDREYEV, LEONID NIKOLAEVICH. (Russian.)

*Lazarus.

ANONYMOUS. (German.)

Evocation, The. "Huppdiwupp."

BAZIN, RENE. (French.)

*Mathurine's Eyes.

BOUTET, FREDERIC. (French.)

*Medallion, The.

CHEKHOV, ANTON. (Russian.) (See TCHEKHOV, ANTON.)

CHIRIKOV, EVGENIY. (Russian.)

*Past, The.

DELARUE-MADRUS, LUCIE. (French.)

*Death of the Dead, The.

HEINE, ANSELMA. (German.)

*Vision, The.

LE BRAZ, ANATOLE. (French.)

Christmas Treasure, The.

LEV, BERNARD. (Bohemian.)

Bert, the Scamp. *Marfa's Assumption.

MADEIROS E ALBUQUERQUE, JOSE DE. (Brazilian.)

*Vengeance of Felix, The.

NETTO, COELHO. (Brazilian.)

*Pigeons, The.

PHILIPPE, CHARLES-LOUIS. (French.)

*Meeting, The.

RINCK, C. A. (German.)

Song, The.

SALTYKOV, M. Y. ("N. SCHEDRIN.") (Russian.)

*Hungry Officials and the Accommodating Muzhik, The.

"SKITALETS." (Russian.)

*"And the Forest Burned."

TCHEKHOV, ANTON. (Russian.)

Dushitchka. *Old Age.



THE BEST BOOKS OF SHORT STORIES OF 1917: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

CHRISTMAS TALES OF FLANDERS, illustrated by Jean de Bosschere (Dodd, Mead & Co.). If you like Andersen's Fairy Tales, here is a book which comes as truly from the heart of a people. Many old folk legends are here set down just as they came from the lips of old people in Flanders, and as they have never grown old in that countryside let us hope that they will take root equally well here. The volume is superbly illustrated with many pictures from the whimsical fancy of Jean de Bosschere. These pictures are indescribable, but they will rejoice the heart of any child, old or young.

FROM DEATH TO LIFE by A. Apukhtin, translated by R. Frank and E. Huybers (R. Frank). This story, which so happily inaugurates a series of translations from Russian literature, is a poetic study in life after death, chronicling the experiences of a soul between death and rebirth. The translators have succeeded in reflecting successfully the fine imaginative style of this prose poem, which deserves to be widely known. It tempts us to wish that other stories by Apukhtin may soon find an English translator.

TALES OF THE REVOLUTION by Michael Artzibashev, translated by Percy Pinkerton. (B. W. Huebsch.) The five tales by Artzibashev included in this volume all have the same quality of bitter irony and mordant self-analysis. The psychological revelation of the mind that has made the later phases of the present Russian Revolution possible is complete, and I know of no book that presents more clearly and truthfully the rudderless pessimism of these particular spiritual reactions. Such courageous dissection of the diseased mind has never been undertaken in American or English fiction, and though its realism is appalling, it is healthful in its naked frankness.

THE FRIENDS by Stacy Aumonier (The Century Co.). When "The Friends" was published two years ago in The Century Magazine, it was evident at once that an important new short-story writer had arrived. The homely humanity of his characterization was but the evidence of a rich imaginative talent that found self-expression in the more quiet ways of life. I said at the time that I believed "The Friends" to be one the two best short stories of 1915, and others felt it to be the best story of the year. To "The Friends" have now been added in this volume two other stories of almost equal distinction,—"The Packet" and "'In the Way of Business.'" While Mr. Aumonier has a certain didactic intention in these stories, he has kept it entirely subordinate to the artistry of his exposition, and it is the few characters which he has added to English fiction that we remember after his somewhat obvious moral has been conveyed. His short stories have the same flavor of belated Victorianism that one enjoys in the novels of William De Morgan, and he is equally noteworthy in his chosen field.

IRISH IDYLLS by Jane Barlow (Dodd, Mead & Co.). This new edition of "Irish Idylls" should introduce the admirable studies of Miss Barlow to a new audience that may not be familiar with what was a pioneer volume in its day. Published in 1893, it almost marked the beginning of the Irish literary movement, and so many fine writers followed Miss Barlow that she has been most unfairly concealed by their shadows. Her studies of the lives and deaths, joys and sorrows, of Connemara peasants are none the less real because they are the product of observation by one who did not live among them. They show, as Miss Barlow says, that "there are plenty of things beside turf to be found in a bog." It is true that they represent a slight spirit of condescension, entirely absent from the work of Padraic Colum, for instance, but they approach far more closely to the heart of the Irish fishermen and farmers than the work of any other English type of mind; and although Miss Barlow is best known today by her poetry, I have always felt that she conveyed more poetry into "Irish Idylls" than into any other of her books. The volume is a necessary and permanent edition to any small collection of modern Irish literature.

DAY AND NIGHT STORIES by Algernon Blackwood (E. P. Dutton & Co.). In these fifteen short stories Mr. Blackwood has adequately maintained the quality of his best previous animistic work. To those who found a new imaginative world in "The Centaur" and "Pan's Garden," the old familiar magic still has power in many of these stories,—almost completely in "The Touch of Pan" and "Initiation." Hardly inferior to these stories for their passionate reality are "The Other Wing," "The Occupant of the Room," "The Tryst," and "H. S. H." There is no story in this volume which would not have made the reputation of a new writer, and I can hardly find a better introduction than "Day and Night Stories" to the beauty of Mr. Blackwood's imaginative life. He serves the same altar of beauty in our day that John Keats served a century ago, and I cannot but believe that his magic will gain greater poignancy as generations pass.

THE DERELICT by Phyllis Bottome (The Century Co.). This collection of Miss Bottome's short stories, many of which have previously appeared in the Century Magazine during the past two years, gives a more complete revelation of her talent than either of her novels. I suspect that the short story is her true literary medium, and certainly there are at least six of these eight short stories which I should be compelled to list with three stars in my annual Roll of Honor. In subject and mood they range from tragedy to social comedy. Elsewhere in this volume I have discussed "'Ironstone,'" which seems to me the best of these stories. A subtle irony pervades them, but it is so definitely concealed that its insistence is never evident.

OLD CHRISTMAS, AND OTHER KENTUCKY TALES IN VERSE by William Aspenwall Bradley (The Houghton-Mifflin Co.). In this series of vignettes in verse Mr. Bradley has presented the Kentucky mountaineer as imaginatively as Robert Frost has presented the farmer-folk of New Hampshire in "North of Boston" and "Mountain Interval." The racy humor of these narratives is thoroughly indigenous, and Mr. Bradley's work has a vivid dramatic power which challenges successfully a comparison with the stories of John Fox, Jr. These poems prove Mr. Bradley's rightful claim to be the first adequate imaginative interpreter of the people who live in the Cumberland Mountains.

THE FIGHTING MEN by Alden Brooks (Charles Scribner's Sons). Of these six stories four have been published in Collier's Weekly during the past two years, and elsewhere I have had occasion to comment upon their excellence. These narratives may be regarded as separate cantos of a war epic, which is fairly comparable for its vividness of portrayal to Stephen Crane's masterpiece, "The Red Badge of Courage." Few writers, other than these two, have been able to portray the naked ugliness of warfare, and the passions which warfare engenders, with more brutal power. Time alone will tell whether these stories have a chance of permanence, but I am disposed to rank them with that other portrait of the mercilessness of war, "Under Fire," by Henri Barbusse.

LIMEHOUSE NIGHTS by Thomas Burke (Robert M. McBride & Co.). These colorful stories of life in London's Chinatown are in my humble belief destined never to grow old. This volume is the most important volume of short stories by a new English writer to appear during 1917, and is only surpassed by Daniel Corkery's volume "A Munster Twilight." Such patterned prose in fiction has not been known since the days of Walter Pater, and Mr. Burke's sense of the almost intolerable beauty of ugly things has a persuasive fascination for the reader who may have a strong prejudice against his subjects. Such horror as Mr. Burke has imagined is almost impossible to portray convincingly, yet the author has softened its starkness into patterns of gracious beauty and musical rhythmic speech.

RINCONETE AND CORTADILLO by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, translated from the Spanish by Mariano J. Lorente, with a preface by R. B. Cunninghame Graham (The Four Seas Co.). This is an excellent translation by a Spanish man of letters of what is perhaps the best exemplary Novel by Cervantes. As Mr. Cunninghame Graham points out in his delightful introduction, "Rinconete and Cortadillo" is perhaps the best sketch of Spanish low-life that has come down to us. It is highly amoral, despite its sub-title, and all the more delightful perhaps on that account. I hope that the translator may be persuaded, if the volume goes into the second edition it so richly deserves, to omit his very contentious preface, which can be of interest only to himself and two other people. Then our delight in this volume would be complete.

THE DUEL (Macmillan), THE HOUSE WITH THE MEZZANINE (Scribner), THE LADY WITH THE DOG (Macmillan), THE PARTY (Macmillan), and ROTHSCHILD'S FIDDLE (Boni and Liveright) by Anton Chekhov. TO THE DARLING, which was the first volume, so far as I know, of Chekhov, to be presented to the American public, five new collections of Chekhov's tales have been added during the past year in excellent English renderings. Three of these volumes are translated by Constance Garnett, whose superb translations of Turgenieff and Dostoievsky are well known to American readers. Because Chekhov ranks with Poe and De Maupassant as one of the three supreme masters of the short story, it is a matter of signal importance that these translations should appear, and in them every mood of Russian life is reflected with subtle artistry and a passionate reality of creative vision. Chekhov is destined to exert greater and greater influence on the American short story as the translations of his work increase, and these five volumes prove him to be fully equal to Dostoievsky in sustained and varied spiritual observation. These stories range through the entire gamut of human emotion from sublime tragedy to the richest and most golden comedy. If I were to choose a single author of short stories for my library on a desert island, my choice would inevitably turn to these volumes.

THOSE TIMES AND THESE by Irvin S. Cobb (George H. Doran Co.). This is quite the best volume of short stories that Mr. Cobb has yet published. Since "The Escape of Mr. Trimm," which was his first short story, was printed in the Saturday Evening Post seven years ago, Mr. Cobb's literary development has been rapid, if not sure; but he may now with this volume lay claim fairly to the mantle of Mark Twain for the rich humanity with which he has endowed his substance and the inimitable humor of his characterizations. In "The Family Tree" and "Cinnamon Seed and Sandy Bottom" Mr. Cobb has added two stories of permanent value to American literature, and in "Mr. Felsburg Gets Even" and "And There Was Light" Mr. Cobb's literary art is almost as well sustained. My only quarrel with him in this book is for the inclusion of "A Kiss for Kindness," where a fine short-story possibility seems to have been entirely missed by the author, perhaps because, as he ingenuously confessed shortly afterward, he had just become an abandoned farmer.

RUNNING FREE by James B. Connolly (Charles Scribner's Sons). Of the ten short stories included by Mr. Connolly in this collection, four are among the best he has ever written: "Breath O' Dawn," "The Sea-Birds," "The Medicine Ship," and "One Wireless Night." With the simplicity of speech which characterizes all of Mr. Connolly's work, he relates his story for the story's sake. Because he is an Irishman he is an incorrigible romanticist, and I suspect that characterization interests him for the story's sake rather than for itself alone. But now that Richard Harding Davis is dead, I suppose that James B. Connolly may fairly take his place as our best born yarner, with all a yarner's privileges.

TEEPEE NEIGHBORS by Grace Coolidge (The Four Seas Co.). This quiet little book of narratives and Indian portraits by Miss Coolidge deserves more attention than it has yet received, and for its qualities of quiet pathos and sympathetic insight into the Indian character I associate it as of equal value with Margaret Prescott Montague's stories of blind children in West Virginia.

A MUNSTER TWILIGHT by Daniel Corkery (Frederick A. Stokes Co.). I have never read a new volume of short stories with such a sense of discovery as I felt when these tales came to my hand. Because the volume appears to have attracted absolutely no attention as yet in this country, I wish to emphasize my firm belief that this is the most memorable volume of short stories published in English within the past five years. It makes us eager to read Mr. Corkery's new novel, "The Threshold of Quiet," in order that we may see if such a glorious imaginative sweep can be maintained in a novel as the reader will find in any single short story of this volume. Here you will find the very heart of Ireland's spiritual adventure revealed in folk speech of inevitable beauty. There is not a story in the book which does not disclose new aspects after repeated readings. A craftsmanship so fine and vigorous is seldom related with such artistic humility. "A Munster Twilight" proves that there are still great men in Ireland.

BROUGHT FORWARD, FAITH, HOPE, CHARITY, PROGRESS, and SUCCESS by R. B. Cunninghame Graham (Frederick A. Stokes Co.). It is an extraordinary fact that a short-story writer so deservedly well-known in England as Mr. Cunninghame Graham, whose sketches of life in many parts of the globe have been published at frequent intervals through the past decade, is yet entirely unknown in this country. To be sure, such has been the fate of W. H. Hudson until very recently. These six volumes certainly rank, by virtue of the quality of their style and the imaginative reality of their substance, with the best work of Mr. Hudson, and the parallel is the more complete because both writers have made the vanished life of the South American plains real to the English mind. Mr. Cunninghame Graham is one of the great travel writers, and ranks with Borrow and Ford, but he is more impartially interested in character than either Borrow or Ford, and has a far more vivid feeling for the spiritual values of landscape. It may be that these stories are for the few only, but I am loth to believe it. The life of the pampas and the life of the Moroccan desert live in these pages with an actuality as great as the life of the American plains lives in the work of Hamlin Garland, and there is an epic sweep in Mr. Cunninghame Graham's vision that I find in no other contemporary English writer.

THE ECHO OF VOICES by Richard Curle (Alfred A. Knopf). It is very rarely that a disciple as faithful as Mr. Curle publishes a volume which his master would be proud to sign, but I think that the reader will detect in this book the authentic voice of Joseph Conrad. Mr. Conrad's own personal enthusiasm for the book is an ingratiating introduction to the reader, but in these eight stories Mr. Curle can certainly afford to stand alone. Preoccupied as he is with the mystery of human existence, and the effect of circumstance upon the character, he portrays eight widely different human types, almost all of them with a certain pathetic futility of aspect, so surely and finely that they live before us. It is an interesting fact that the three best short story books in English of 1917 come from the other side of the water. "Limehouse Nights," "A Munster Twilight," and "The Echo of Voices" make this year so memorable in fiction that later years may well prove disappointing.

THE ETERNAL HUSBAND AND OTHER STORIES and THE GAMBLER AND OTHER STORIES by Fyodor Dostoievsky (The Macmillan Co.). These two new volumes continue the complete English edition of Dostoievsky which is being translated by Constance Garnett. The renderings have the same qualities of idiomatic speech and subtly rendered nuance which is always to be found in this translator's work, and although both of these volumes represent the minor work of Dostoievsky, his minor work is finer than our major work, and characterized by a passionate curiosity about the human soul and a deep insight into its mysteries. It is idle to argue as to whether these narratives are short stories or brief novels. However we classify them, they are profound revelations of human relationship, and place their author among the great masters of the world's literature. Nor is it pertinent to discuss their technique or lack of it. Their technique is sufficient for the author's purpose, and he has achieved his will nobly in a manner inevitable to him.

BILLY TOPSAIL, M.D., by Norman Duncan (Fleming H. Revell Co.). In this posthumous volume Norman Duncan has woven together a selection of his later short stories, in which further adventures of Doctor Luke of the Labrador are chronicled. They represent the very best of his later work, and in them the stern physical conditions with which nature surrounds the life of man provide an admirably rendered background for the portrayal of character developed by circumstance. Norman Duncan can never have a successor, and in "Billy Topsail, M.D." the reader will find him very nearly at his best.

MY PEOPLE by Caradoc Evans (Duffield & Co.). "My People" is a record of the peasantry of West Wales, and these chronicles are set down with a biblical economy of speech that makes for a noteworthy literary style. I refuse to believe that they are a truthful portrait of the folk of whom Mr. Evans writes, but I believe that he has created a real subjective world of his own that is thoroughly convincing. H. G. Wells has written eulogistically of the book and also of the author's novel, "Capel Sion." I appreciate the qualities in the book that have won Mr. Wells' esteem, and the book is indeed memorable. But I believe that its excellence is an artificial excellence, and I commend it to the reader as a work of incomparable artifice rather than as a faithful reflection of life.

IN HAPPY VALLEY by John Fox, Jr. (Charles Scribner's Sons). Of these ten new chronicles of the Kentucky mountains, gathered from the pages of Scribner's Magazine during the past year for the most part, "His Last Christmas Gift" is the most memorable. But all the stories are brief and vivid vignettes of the countryside which Mr. Fox knows so well, told with the utmost economy of speech and with a fine sense of atmospheric values. These stories are a happy illustration of the better regionalism that is characteristic of contemporary American fiction, and like "Ommirandy" will prove valuable records to a later generation of a life that even now is rapidly passing away.

THE WAR, MADAME, by Paul Geraldy (Charles Scribner's Sons). The delicate fantasy of this little story only enhances the poignant tragedy that it discloses. Somehow it suggests a comparison with "Four Days" by Hetty Hemenway, although it is told with greater deftness and a more subtle irony. In these pages pulses the very heart of France, and it is compact of the spirit that has made France a mistress to die for. The translation is admirable.

COLLECTED POEMS by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (The Macmillan Co.). In these noble studies of English social life among the laboring classes Mr. Gibson has collected all of his stories in verse which he wishes to retain in his collected works. He has already become an influence on the work of many of his contemporaries, and the qualities of incisive observation, warm humanity, and subtle art which characterize his best work are adequately disclosed in his poems. I am sure that the reader of short stories will find them as fascinating as any volume of prose published this year, and the sum of all these poems is an English Comedie Humaine which portrays every type of English labor in rich imaginative speech. The dramatic quality of these stories is achieved by virtue of a constant economy of selection, and a nervous singing speech as authentic as that of Synge.

OMMIRANDY by Armistead C. Gordon (Charles Scribner's Sons). In this collection Mr. Gordon, whose name is so happily associated with that of Thomas Nelson Page, has collected from the files of Scribner's Magazine the deft and insinuating chronicles of negro life on a Virginia plantation which have attracted so much favorable comment in recent years. This collection places Mr. Gordon in the same rank as the author of "Marse' Chan," as a literary artist of the vanished South. These transcripts from the folk life of the people are told very quietly in a persuasive style that reveals a rich poetic sense of human values. The mellow atmosphere of these stories is particularly noteworthy, and Mr. Gordon's instinctive sympathy with his subject has saved him from that spirit of condescension which has been the weakness of so much American folk writing in the past. "Ommirandy" will long remain a happy and honorable tradition in American literature.

THE GRIM 13, edited by Frederick Stuart Greene (Dodd, Mead & Co.), is a collection of thirteen stories of literary value which have been declined with enthusiastic praise by the editors of American magazines because of their grim quality, or because they have an extremely unhappy ending. The collection was gathered as a test of the public interest, in order to remove if possible what the editor believed to be a false editorial policy. It is interesting to examine these stories, and to pretend that one is an editor. The experiment has been extremely successful and has produced at least one story by an American author ("The Abigail Sheriff Memorial" by Vincent O'Sullivan) and one story by an English author ("Old Fags" by Stacy Aumonier), which are permanent in their literary value.

FOUR DAYS: THE STORY OF A WAR MARRIAGE, by Hetty Hemenway (Little, Brown & Co.). Of this story I have spoken elsewhere in this volume, I shall only add here that it is one of the most significant spiritual studies in fiction that the war has produced, and that it is directly told in a style of sensitive beauty.

A DIVERSITY OF CREATURES by Rudyard Kipling (Doubleday, Page & Co.) is the first collection of Mr. Kipling's short stories published in several years. I must confess frankly that there is but one story in the volume which seems to me a completely realized rendering of the substance which Mr. Kipling has chosen, and that is the incomparable satire on publicity entitled "The Village That Voted the Earth Was Flat." In this volume you will find many stories in many moods, and some of them are postscripts to earlier volumes of Mr. Kipling. I cannot believe that his war stories deserve as high praise as they have been accorded. This volume presents Mr. Kipling as the most consummate living master of technique in the English tongue, but his inspiration has failed him except for the single exception which I have chronicled. The volume is a memory rather than an actuality, and it has the pathos of a forgotten dream.

THE BRACELET OF GARNETS AND OTHER STORIES by Alexander Kuprin, translated by Leo Pasvolsky, with an Introduction by William Lyon Phelps (Charles Scribner's Sons). This collection of stories is based on the author's own selection for this purpose, and although the translation is not thoroughly idiomatic, the sheer poetry of Kuprin's imagination shines through the veil of an alien speech and captures the imagination of the reader. Kuprin's pictorial sense is curiously similar to that of Wilbur Daniel Steele, and it is interesting to study the reactions of similar temperaments on widely different substances and backgrounds. Kuprin achieves a chiselled finality of utterance which is as evident in his tragedy as in his comedy, and in some of these pieces a fine allegorical beauty shines prismatically through a carefully economized brilliance of narrative.

THE PRUSSIAN OFFICER AND OTHER STORIES by D. H. Lawrence (B. W. Huebsch). The twelve short stories collected in this volume are full of the same warm color that one always associates with Mr. Lawrence's best work, and the nervous complaining beauty of his style makes him the English compeer of Gabriele d'Annunzio. The warm lush fragrance of many European countrysides pervades these stories and a certain poignant sensual disillusionment is insistently stressed by the characters who flit through the shadowy foreground. It is the definitely realized and concrete sense of landscape that Mr. Lawrence has achieved which is his finest artistic attribute, and the sensitive response to light which is so characteristic an element in his vision bathes all the pictures he presents in a rich glow, whose gradations of light and shadow respond finely to the emotional reactions of his characters. He is the most sophisticated of the contemporary English realists, and has the sense of poetry to a high degree which is conspicuously absent in the work of other English novelists.

A DESIGNER OF DAWNS AND OTHER TALES by Gertrude Russell Lewis (Pilgrim Press). I set this volume of allegories beside "Flame and the Shadow-Eater" by Henrietta Weaver as one of the two best books of allegories published in 1917. These seven little tales have a quiet imaginative glow that is very appealing and I find in them a folk quality that is almost Scandinavian in its naivete.

THE TERROR: A MYSTERY, by Arthur Machen (Robert M. McBride & Co.). When this story was first published in the Century Magazine in 1917, under the title of "The Coming of the Terror," it was at once hailed by discriminating readers as the best short story by an English writer published in an American magazine since "The Friends" by Stacy Aumonier. It is now published in its complete form as originally written, and although it is as long as a short novel, it has an essential unity of incident which justifies us in claiming it as a short story. I suppose that Algernon Blackwood is the only other English writer who has the same gift for making strange spiritual adventures completely real to the imagination, and the author of "The Bowmen" has surpassed even that fine story in this description of how a mysterious terror overran England during the last years of the great war and how the mystery of its passing was finally revealed. The emotional tension of the reader is enhanced by the quiet matter-of-fact air with which the story is presented. The volume is one of the best five or six books of short stories which England has produced during the past year.

THE SECOND ODD NUMBER: THIRTEEN TALES, by Guy de Maupassant, the translation by Charles Henry White, an Introduction by William Dean Howells (Harper & Brothers). It is reported in some volume of French literary memoirs that Guy de Maupassant regarded the first series of "The Odd Number" as better than the original. Be this as it may, the thirteen stories which make up this volume are admirably rendered with a careful reflection of the slightest nuances. As Mr. Howells states in his introduction to the volume: "The range of these stories is not very great; the effect they make is greater than the range." But this selection has been admirably chosen with a view to making the range as wide as possible, and I can only hope that it will serve to influence some of our younger writers toward a greater descriptive and emotional economy.

THE GIRL AND THE FAUN by Eden Phillpotts (J. B. Lippincott Co.). These eight idylls of the four seasons are graceful Greek legends told with a modern touch in poetic prose. They have a quality of quiet beauty which will commend them to many readers to whom the more realistic work of Mr. Phillpotts does not appeal, and the admirable illustrations by Frank Brangwyn are a felicitous accompaniment to the modulated prose of Mr. Phillpotts.

BARBED WIRE AND OTHER POEMS by Edwin Ford Piper (The Midland Press, Moorhead, Minn.). As Grant Showerman's "A Country Chronicle" is an admirable rendering of the farm life of Wisconsin in the seventies, so these poems are a fine imaginative record of the pioneer life of Nebraska a little later. I believe this volume to contain quite as fine poetry as Robert Frost's "North of Boston." Here you will meet many men and women struggling against the loneliness of prairie life, and winning spiritual as well as material conquests out of nature. The greater part of this volume is composed of a series of narrative poems entitled "The Neighborhood." Their lack of literary sophistication is part of their charm, and the calculated ruggedness of the author's style is a faithful reflection of his barren physical background.

BEST RUSSIAN SHORT STORIES, compiled and edited by Thomas Seltzer (Boni and Liveright). This is the first anthology of Russian short stories which has yet been published in English, and the selections are excellent. There is a wide range of literary art represented in this volume, and the translations are extremely smooth and idiomatic. As is only fitting, the work of Tolstoi, Dostoievsky, Turgenev, and other Russians, whose work is already well known to the American reader, are only represented lightly in the collection, and greater space is devoted to the stories of Chekhov and other writers less familiar to the American public. Nineteen stories are translated from the work of Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoievsky, Tolstoi, Saltykov, Korolenko, Garshin, Chekhov, Sologub, Potapenko, Semyonov, Gorky, Andreyev, Artzybashev, and Kuprin, and the volume is prefixed with an excellent critical introduction by the editor.

A COUNTRY CHILD by Grant Showerman (The Century Co.). This is a sequel to Professor Showerman's earlier volume, "A Country Chronicle." The book is an epic of what a little boy saw and felt and dreamed on a farm in Wisconsin forty years ago, told just as a little boy would tell it. It will help you to remember how you went to the circus and how you stayed up late on your birthday. You will also recall the ball game the day you didn't go home from school, and how you went in swimming, and about that fight with Bill, and ever so many other things which you thought that you had forgotten. I think all the boys and girls that used to write to James Whitcomb Riley should send a birthday letter this year to Grant Showerman, so that he will get it on the 9th of January. Let's start a movement in Wisconsin to have a Showerman Day.

FLAME AND THE SHADOW-EATER by Henrietta Weaver (Henry Holt & Co.). In these fifteen short allegorical tales Henrietta Weaver has introduced with considerable skill much Persian philosophy, and presented it to the American reader so attractively that it is thoroughly persuasive. Akin in a measure to certain similar stories by Jeannette Marks, they have the same prismatic quality of brilliance and impermanence. I do not believe that the reader who enjoys the poetry of the mind will find these allegories specially esoteric, but I may commend them frankly for their story value, irrespective of the symbols which the author has chosen to attach to them.

THE GREAT MODERN FRENCH STORIES edited by Willard Huntington Wright (Boni and Liveright), MARRIED by August Strindberg (Boni and Liveright), and VISIONS by Count Ilya Tolstoy (James B. Pond) have reached me too late for extended review. I list them here as three volumes of permanent literary value.



VOLUMES OF SHORT STORIES PUBLISHED DURING 1917

NOTE. An asterisk before a title indicates distinction. This list includes single short stories, collections of short stories, and a few continuous narratives based on short stories previously published in magazines.

I. AMERICAN AUTHORS

ADAMS, SAMUEL HOPKINS. *Our Square and the People In It. Houghton-Mifflin.

BAIN, R. NISBET. *Cossack Fairy Tales. Stokes.

BANGS, JOHN KENDRICK. Half Hours With the Idiot. Little, Brown.

BASSETT, WILBUR. Wander-Ships. Open Court Pub. Co.

BEACH, REX. Laughing Bill Hyde. Harper.

BEND, REV. JOHN J. Stranger than Fiction. Sheehan.

BOTTOME, PHYLLIS. *Derelict, The. Century.

BRADLEY, WILLIAM ASPENWALL. *Old Christmas, and Other Kentucky Tales in Verse. Houghton-Mifflin.

BRADY, CYRUS TOWNSEND. Little Book for Christmas, A. Putnam.

BROOKS, ALDEN. *Fighting Men, The. Scribner.

BROWN, KATHARINE HOLLAND. *Wages of Honor, The. Scribner.

BRUBAKER, HOWARD. Ranny. Harper.

BRUNTON, F. CARMICHAEL. Enchanted Lochan, The. Crowell.

BUNNER, H. C. *More "Short Sixes." Scribner. *"Short Sixes." Scribner.

BUNTS, FREDERICK EMORY. Soul of Henry Harrington, The. Cleveland: privately printed.

BUTLER, ELLIS PARKER. Dominie Dean. Revell.

CARMICHAEL, M. H. Pioneer Days. Duffield.

CARTER, CHARLES FRANKLIN. Stories of the Old Missions of California. Elder.

CHAMBERS, ROBERT W. *Barbarians. Appleton.

COBB, IRVIN S. *Those Times and These. Doran.

COFFIN, JULIA H. Vendor of Dreams, The. Dodd, Mead.

*COLLIER'S, PRIZE STORIES FROM. 5 v. Collier.

CONNOLLY, JAMES B. *Running Free. Scribner.

COOLIDGE, GRACE. *Teepee Neighbors. Four Seas.

CROWNFIELD, GERTRUDE. Little Tailor of the Winding Way, The. Macmillan.

DAVIS, CHARLES BELMONT. Her Own Sort and Others. Scribner.

DAVIS, RICHARD HARDING. *Boy Scout, The, and Other Stories. Scribner. *Deserter, The. Scribner.

DUNCAN, NORMAN. *Billy Topsail, M.D. Revell.

EELLS, ELSIE SPICER. *Fairy Tales from Brazil. Dodd, Mead.

FISHER, FRED B. Gifts from the Desert. Abington Press.

FOOTE, JOHN TAINTOR. Dumb-bell of Brookfield. Appleton.

FORD, SEWELL. Wilt Thou Torchy. Clode.

FOR FRANCE. Doubleday, Page.

FOX, EDWARD LYELL. New Gethsemane, The. McBride.

FOX, JOHN, JR. *In Happy Valley. Scribner.

FUTRELLE, JACQUES. Problem of Cell 13, The. Dodd, Mead.

GORDON, ARMISTEAD C. *Ommirandy. Scribner.

GREENE, FREDERICK STUART, Editor. *Grim Thirteen, The. Dodd, Mead.

"HALL, HOLWORTHY." Dormie One. Century.

HANSHEW, T. W. Cleek's Government Cases. Doubleday, Page.

HEMENWAY, HETTY. *Four Days. Little, Brown.

"HENRY, O." *Waifs and Strays. Doubleday, Page.

HINES, JACK. Blue Streak, The. Doran.

HOLMES, MARY CAROLINE. "Who Follows in Their Train?" Revell.

HOUGH, LYNN HAROLD. Little Old Lady, The.

HUGHES, RUPERT. In a Little Town. Harper.

INGRAM, ELEANOR M. Twice American, The. Lippincott.

IRWIN, WALLACE. Pilgrims Into Folly. Doran.

JEFFERSON, CHARLES E. Land of Enough, The. Crowell.

JOHNSTON, MARY. *Wanderers, The. Houghton-Mifflin.

JOHNSTON, WILLIAM. "Limpy." Little, Brown.

KARR, LOUISE. Trouble. Himebaugh and Browne.

KELLERHOUSE, LUCY CHARLTON. *Forest Fancies. Duffield.

KIRK, R. G. White Monarch and the Gas-House Pup. Little, Brown.

KIRKLAND, WINIFRED. *My Little Town. Dutton.

LAIT, JACK. Gus the Bus and Evelyn, the Exquisite Checker. Doubleday, Page.

LARDNER, RING W. Gullible's Travels. Bobbs-Merrill.

LEACOCK, STEPHEN. Frenzied Fiction. Lane.

LEWIS, GERTRUDE RUSSELL. *Designer of Dawns, A. Pilgrim Press.

MCCLUNG, NELLIE L. Next of Kin, The. Houghton-Mifflin.

MACKAY, HELEN. *Journal of Small Things. Duffield.

MEIROVITZ, JOSEPH M. Path of Error, The. Four Seas Co.

MERWIN, SAMUEL. Temperamental Henry. Bobbs-Merrill.

NEWTON, ALMA. Memories. Duffield.

NOBLE, EDWARD. Outposts of the Fleet. Houghton-Mifflin.

O'BRIEN, EDWARD J., Editor. The Best Short Stories of 1916. Small, Maynard.

OSBORN, E. B. Maid with Wings, The. Lane.

PAINE, ALBERT BIGELOW. Mr. Crow and the Whitewash. Harper. Mr. Rabbit's Wedding. Harper. Mr. Turtle's Flying Adventure. Harper.

PAINE, RALPH D. Sons of Eli. Scribner.

PERKINS, J. R. Thin Volume, A. Saalfield.

PERRY, MONTANYE. Where It Touches the Ground. Abingdon Press. Zerah. Abingdon Press.

PIPER, EDWIN FORD. *Barbed Wire and Other Poems. Midland Press.

PUTNAM, NINA WILCOX. When the Highbrow Joined the Outfit. Duffield.

REEVE, ARTHUR B. Ear in the Wall, The. Hearst. Treasure Train, The. Harper.

RICHMOND, GRACE S. Whistling Mother, The. Doubleday, Page.

RINEHART, MARY ROBERTS. Bab: A Sub-deb. Doran.

RODEHEAVER, HOMER. Song Stories of the Sawdust Trail. Moffat, Yard.

ROSENBACH, A. S. W. Unpublishable Memoirs, The. Kennerley.

RYDER, ARTHUR W. *Twenty-two Goblins. Dutton.

SABIN, EDWIN L. How Are You Feeling Now? Little, Brown.

SCHAYER, E. RICHARD. Good Loser, The. McKay.

SCOTT, LEROY. Mary Regan. Houghton-Mifflin.

SHOWERMAN, GRANT. *Country Child, A. Century.

STEINER, EDWARD A. My Doctor Dog. Revell.

STERN, GERTRUDE. My Mother and I. Macmillan.

STITZER, DANIEL AHRENS. Stories of the Occult. Badger.

STUART, FLORENCE PARTELLO. Piang, the Moro Jungle Boy. Century.

TABER, SUSAN. Optimist, The. Duffield.

"THANET, OCTAVE." And the Captain Entered. Bobbs-Merrill.

THOMSON, EDWARD WILLIAM. Old Man Savarin Stories. Doran.

TOMPKINS, JULIET WILBOR. At the Sign of the Oldest House. Bobbs-Merrill.

TURPIN, EDNA. Peggy of Roundabout Lane. Macmillan.

TUTTLE, FLORENCE GUERTIN. Give My Love to Maria. Abingdon Press.

VAN LOAN, CHARLES E. Old Man Curry. Doran.

WEAVER, HENRIETTA. *Flame and the Shadow-Eater. Holt.

WILLSIE, HONORE. Benefits Forgot. Stokes.

II. ENGLISH AND IRISH AUTHORS

AUMONIER, STACY. *Friends, The, and Two Other Stories. Century.

"AYSCOUGH, JOHN." *French Windows. Longmans.

BARLOW, JANE. *Irish Idylls. Dodd, Mead.

BELL, J. J. Cupid in Oilskins. Revell. *Kiddies. Stokes.

BENSON, EDWARD FREDERIC. Freaks of Mayfair, The. Doran.

BLACKWOOD, ALGERNON. *Day and Night Stories. Dutton.

BURKE, THOMAS. *Limehouse Nights. McBride.

CORKERY, DANIEL. *Munster Twilight, A. Stokes.

CUNNINGHAME GRAHAM, R. B. *Brought Forward. Stokes. *Charity. Stokes. *Faith. Stokes. *Hope. Stokes. *Progress. Stokes. *Success. Stokes.

CURLE, RICHARD. *Echo of Voices. Knopf.

DAWSON, CONINGSBY. *Seventh Christmas, The. Holt.

DELL, ETHEL M. Safety Curtain, The. Putnam.

DOYLE, SIR ARTHUR CONAN. His Last Bow. Doran.

DUNSANY, LORD. *Dreamer's Tales, A. Boni and Liveright. *Fifty-one Tales. Little, Brown.

EVANS, CARADOC. *My People. Duffield.

GATE, ETHEL M. *Broom Fairies, The. Yale Univ. Press.

GIBSON, WILFRID WILSON. *Collected Poems. Macmillan.

HALL, MORDAUNT. Some Naval Yarns. Doran.

HARRISON, CUTHBERT WOODVILLE. *Magic of Malaya, The. Lane.

HOWARD, KEBLE. Smiths in War Time, The. Lane.

JEROME, JEROME K. Street of the Blank Wall, The. Dodd, Mead.

KIPLING, RUDYARD. *Diversity of Creatures, A. Doubleday, Page.

MACHEN, ARTHUR. *Terror, The. McBride.

MASON, A. E. W. *Four Corners of the World, The. Scribner.

NEWBOLT, SIR HENRY. *Happy Warrior, The. Longmans, Green. Tales of the Great War. Longmans, Green.

PEACOCKE, E. M. Dicky, Knight-Errant. McBride.

PHILLPOTTS, EDEN. *Girl and the Faun, The. Lippincott.

RANSOME, ARTHUR. *Old Peter's Russian Tales. Stokes.

RENDALL, VERNON HORACE. London Nights of Belsize, The. Lane.

"ROHMER, SAX." Hand of Fu-Manchu, The. McBride.

"SAPPER." *No Man's Land. Doran.

STACPOOLE, H. DE VERE. Sea Plunder. Lane.

SWINTON, LIEUT.-COL. E. D. Great Tab Dope, The. Doubleday, Page.

"TAFFRAIL." Sea Spray and Spindrift. Lippincott.

TREE, SIR HERBERT BEERBOHM. Nothing Matters. Houghton-Mifflin.

WREN, PERCIVAL C. Young Stagers. Longmans, Green.

III. TRANSLATIONS

APUKHTIN, A. (Russian.) *From Death to Life. Frank.

ARTZIBASHEV, MICHAEL MIKHAILOVICH. (Russian.) *Tales of the Revolution. Huebsch.

CERVANTES, MIGUEL DE. (Spanish.) *Rinconete and Cortadillo. Four Seas.

CHEKHOV, ANTON. (Russian.) (See TCHEKHOV, ANTON.)

*CHRISTMAS TALES OF FLANDERS. (Belgian.) Dodd, Mead.

DOSTOEVSKY, FYODOR MIKHAILOVICH. (Russian.) *Eternal Husband, The. Macmillan. *Gambler, and Other Stories, The. Macmillan.

FRANCE, ANATOLE. (French.) *Girls and Boys. Duffield. *Our Children. Duffield.

GERALDY, PAUL. (French.) *The War, Madame. Scribner.

ISPIRESCU, PETRE. (Rumanian.) *Foundling Prince, The. Houghton-Mifflin.

KUPRIN, ALEXANDER IVANOVICH. (Russian.) *Bracelet of Garnets, The. Scribner.

MAUPASSANT, GUY DE. (French.) *Mademoiselle Fifi. Boni and Liveright. *Second Odd Number, The. Harper.

SELTZER, THOMAS, Editor. (Russian.) *Best Russian Short Stories, The. Boni and Liveright.

*SHIELD, THE. (Russian.) Knopf.

STRINDBERG, AUGUST. (Swedish.) *Married. Boni and Liveright.

SUDERMANN, HERMANN. (German.) *Dame Care. Boni and Liveright.

TCHEKHOV, ANTON. (Russian.) *Duel, The. Macmillan. *House with the Mezzanine, The. Scribner. *Lady with the Dog, The. Macmillan. *Party, The. Macmillan. *Rothschild's Fiddle. Boni and Liveright. *Will o' the Wisp. International Authors' Association.

TOLSTOI, ILYA, COUNT. *Visions. Pond.

WRIGHT, WILLARD HUNTINGTON, Editor. (French.) *Great Modern French Stories, The. Boni and Liveright.



THE BEST SIXTY-THREE AMERICAN SHORT STORIES OF 1917

The sixty-three short stories published in the American magazines during 1917 which I shall discuss in this article are chosen from a larger group of about one hundred and twenty-five stories, whose literary excellence justified me in including them in my annual "Roll of Honor." The stories, which are included in this Roll of Honor have been chosen from the stories published in about sixty-five American periodicals during 1917. In selecting them, I have sought to accept the author's point of view and manner of treatment, and to measure simply the degree of success he had in doing what he set out to achieve. But I must confess that it has been difficult to eliminate personal admiration completely in the further winnowing which has resulted in this selection of sixty-three stories. Below are set forth the particular qualities which have seemed to me to justify in each case the inclusion of a story in this list.

1. THE EXCURSION by Edwina Stanton Babcock (The Pictorial Review) is in my belief one of the best five American short stories of the year. It is significant because of its faithful and imaginative rendering of American folk-life, because of its subtle characterization, and the successful manner in which it reveals the essentially racy humor of the American countryside with the utmost economy of means. The characterization is achieved almost entirely through dialogue, and the portraiture of the characters is rendered inimitably in a phrase or two. In this story, as well as in "The Band," Miss Babcock has earned the right to a place beside Francis Buzzell as a regional story writer, fairly comparable to John Trevena's renderings of Dartmoor.

2. THE BROTHERS by Thomas Beer (The Century Magazine) will remind the reader in some respects of Frederick Stuart Greene's story, "The Black Pool," published in "The Grim 13." But apart from a superficial resemblance in the substance with which both writers deal, the two stories are more notable in their differences than in their resemblances. If "The Brothers" is less inevitable than "The Black Pool," it is perhaps a more sophisticated work of art, and I am not sure but that its conclusion and the resolution of character that it involves is not more artistically convincing than the end of "The Black Pool." It is certainly a memorable first story by a new writer and would of itself be enough to make a reputation. Mr. Beer is the most original new talent that the Century Magazine has discovered since Stacy Aumonier.

3. ONNIE by Thomas Beer (The Century Magazine) has a certain stark faithfulness which makes of somewhat obvious material an extremely vivid and freshly felt rendering of life. There is a certain quality of observation in the story which we are accustomed to think of as a Gallic rather than an American trait. I think that Mr. Beer has slightly broadened his canvas where greater restraint and less cautious use of suggestion would have better answered his purpose. But "Onnie" is a better story than "The Brothers" to my mind, and Mr. Beer, by virtue of these two stories, is one of the two or three most interesting new talents of the year.

4. IRONSTONE by Phyllis Bottome (The Century Magazine). To those who have enjoyed in recent years the admirable social comedy and deft handling of English character to which Miss Bottome has accustomed us, "Ironstone" must have come as a surprise in its revelation of a new aspect in the author's talent, akin to the kind of tale which is found at its best as a "middle" in the London Nation. It compresses the emotion of a Greek drama into a space of perhaps four thousand words. I find that the closing dialogue in this story is as certain in its march as the closing pages of "Riders to the Sea," and the katharsis is timeless in its final solution.

5. FROM HUNGARY by "John Breck" (The Bookman) is perhaps not to be classified as a short story, but the academic limitations of the short story have never interested me greatly, and in its own field this short fiction sketch is memorable. Its secret is the secret of atmosphere rather than speech, but atmosphere here becomes human in its reality and the resultant effect is not unlike that of "When Hannah Var Eight Yar Old" by Miss Girling, which appeared in the Atlantic Monthly a few years ago. "John Breck," or Elizabeth C. A. Smith, to reveal her authorship, has found complete embodiment for her conception in this story for the first time, and it is a promise for a vivid and interesting future.

6. THE FLYING TEUTON by Alice Brown (Harper's Magazine) is the best short story that has come out of this war as yet in either English or American magazines. Accepting the old legend of the Flying Dutchman, Miss Brown has imagined it reembodied in a modern setting, and out of the ironies of this situation a most dramatic story results with a sure and true message for the American people. It is in my opinion one of the five best short stories of the year, and I am happy to say that it will soon be accessible to the public once more in book form.

7. CLOSED DOORS, and 8. A CUP OF TEA by Maxwell Struthers Burt (both in Scribner's Magazine). In these two stories, and in "The Glory of the Wild Green Earth," "John O'May," and "Le Panache," all of which appeared in Scribner's Magazine during the past year, a place is made for the author among American short story writers beside that of Mrs. Gerould, Wilbur Daniel Steele, and H. G. Dwight. Two years ago I had the pleasure of reprinting his first short story, "The Water-Hole," in "The Best Short Stories of 1915." I thought at that time that Mr. Burt would eventually do fine things, but I never suspected that, in the short period of two years, he would win for himself so important a place in contemporary American letters. Mr. Burt's technique is still a trifle over-sophisticated, but I suppose this is a fault on virtue's side. A collection of Mr. Burt's short stories in book form should be anxiously awaited by the American public.

9. LONELY PLACES, and 10. THE LONG VACATION by Francis Buzzell (The Pictorial Review). The attentive reader of American fiction must have already noted two memorable stories by Francis Buzzell published in previous years, "Addie Erb and Her Girl Lottie" and "Ma's Pretties." These two stories won for Mr. Buzzell an important position as an American folk-writer, and this position is amply sustained by the two fine stories which he has published during the past year. His imaginative realism weaves poignant beauty out of the simplest and most dusty elements in life, and it is my belief that it is along the lines of his method and that of Miss Babcock that America is most likely eventually to contribute something distinctively national to the world's literary culture.

11. THE MISTRESS by Fleta Campbell (Harper's Bazar) is a most highly polished and sharply outlined story of the war. It makes an art out of coldness in narration which serves to emphasize and bring out by contrast the human warmth of the story's substance.

12. THE FOUNDLING by Gunnar Cederschioeld (Collier's Weekly). Readers who recall the fine series of stories by Alden Brooks published during the past two years in Collier's Weekly and the Century Magazine will find in "The Foundling" a story equally memorable as a ruthless portrayal of the effects of war. Whether one approves or disapproves in general of the ending is irrelevant in this case. This story must take its place as one of the best dozen stories of the war.

13. BOYS WILL BE BOYS, 14. THE FAMILY TREE, and 15. QUALITY FOLKS by Irvin S. Cobb (all in the Saturday Evening Post). It is seven years since Irvin Cobb published his first short story, "The Escape of Mr. Trimm," in the Saturday Evening Post. During that short period he has passed from the position of an excellent journalist to that of America's most representative humorist, in the truer meaning of that word. Upon him the mantle of Mark Twain has descended, and with that mantle he has inherited the artistic virtues and the utter inability to criticize his own work that was so characteristic of Mr. Clemens. But the very gusto of his creative work has been shaping his style during the past two years to a point where he may now fairly claim to have mastered his material, and to have found the most effective human persuasiveness in its presentation. Our grandchildren will read these three stories, and thank God that there was a man named Cobb once born in Paducah, Kentucky.

16. LAUGHTER (Harper's Magazine), and 17. OUR DOG (Pictorial Review) by Charles Caldwell Dobie. The rapid rise of Mr. Dobie in less than two years from the date when his first short story was published challenges comparison with the similar career of Maxwell Struthers Burt. As Mr. Burt's art has its analogies with that of Mrs. Gerould, so Mr. Dobie's art has its analogies with that of Wilbur Daniel Steele. I am not certain that Mr. Dobie's talent is not essentially that of a novel-writer, but certainly at least four of the short stories which he has published during the past year are notable artistic achievements in widely different moods. If tragedy prevails, it is purified by a fine spiritual idealism, which takes symbols and makes of them something more human than a mere allegory. If an American publisher were courageous enough to start publishing a series of volumes of short stories by contemporary American writers, he could not do better than to begin with a selection of Mr. Dobie's tales.

18. A LITTLE NIPPER OF HIDE-AN'-SEEK HARBOR by Norman Duncan (Pictorial Review). This story has a melancholy interest, because it was the last story sold by its author before his sudden death last year. But it would have been remembered for its own sake as the last and not the least important of the long series of Newfoundland sagas which Mr. Duncan has given us. It shows that Norman Duncan kept his artistic vigor to the last, and those who know Newfoundland can testify that such stories as these will always remain its most permanent literary record.

19. THE EMPEROR OF ELAM by H. G. Dwight (The Century Magazine). Those who have read Mr. Dwight's volume of short stories entitled "Stamboul Nights" do not need to be told that Mr. Dwight is the one American short story writer whom we may confidently set beside Joseph Conrad as a master in a similar literary field. American editors have been diffident about publishing his stories for reasons which cast more discredit on the American editor than on Mr. Dwight, and accordingly it is a genuine pleasure to encounter "The Emperor of Elam," and to chronicle the hardihood of the editor of the Century Magazine. The story is a modern odyssey of adventure, set as usual in the Turkish background with which Mr. Dwight is most familiar. In it atmosphere is realized completely for its own sake, and as a motive power urging the lives of his characters to their inevitable end.

20. THE GAY OLD DOG by Edna Ferber (Metropolitan Magazine) is in my opinion the big story which "The Eldest" was not. It is my belief that Edna Ferber is a novelist first and a short story writer afterwards, but in "The Gay Old Dog" she has accepted a theme which can best be handled in the short story form and has made the most of it artistically, much as Fannie Hurst has done in all of her better stories. Miss Ferber has not sentimentalized her substance as she does most often, but has let it remain at its true valuation.

21. BREAD-CRUMBS by Waldo Frank (Seven Arts Magazine). I cannot help feeling that this is an extremely well written and honestly conceived story whose substance is essentially false, but the author has apparently persuaded himself of its truth and presents it almost convincingly to the reader. Be this as it may, Mr. Frank has not failed to make his two characters real for us, and the poignancy of their final revelation is certainly genuine. Mr. Frank, however, should save such material as this for longer fiction, as his method is essentially that of a novelist.

22. PEARLS BEFORE SWINE by Cornelia Throop Geer (Atlantic Monthly). With a quiet and somewhat reticent art, the author of this story has succeeded in deftly conveying to her readers a delicate pastoral scene of innocence reflecting the dreams of two little Irish children. It was a difficult feat to attempt, as few can safely reproduce the atmosphere of an alien race successfully, and, even to Irish-Americans, Ireland cannot be sufficiently realized for creative embodiment. I am told that a volume of Irish stories is promised from the pen of Miss Geer, and it should take its place with the better folk stories of modern Irish life. Miss Geer's method is the result of identification with, rather than condescension toward, her subject.

23. EAST OF EDEN (Harper's Magazine), 24. THE HAND OF JIM FANE (Harper's Magazine), 25. THE KNIGHT'S MOVE (Atlantic Monthly), 26. THE WAX DOLL (Scribner's Magazine), and 27. WHAT THEY SEEM (Harper's Magazine) by Katharine Fullerton Gerould. In these five short stories Mrs. Gerould amply sustains her claim to rank as one of the three most distinguished contemporary writers of the American short story. Preoccupied as she is with the subtle rendering of abnormal psychological situations, her work is in the great traditional line whose last completely adequate exponent was Henry James. One and all, these stories have the fascination of strange spiritual adventure, and the persuasiveness of her exposition conceals inimitably the closely woven craftsmanship of her work. Of these five stories, "The Knight's Move" and "East of Eden" surely represent a development in her art which it will be almost impossible for her to surpass.

28. DARE'S GIFT by Ellen Glasgow (Harper's Magazine). I prefer to beg the question whether this is a short story or a very short novel. It certainly has the unity of a well-defined spiritual incident, and if one recalls its substance, it is only to view it as a completely rounded whole. As such it is surely as fine a study of the influence of place as Mrs. Wharton's "Kerfol" or Mrs. Pangborn's "Bixby's Bridge." The brooding atmosphere of a house mindful of its past and reacting upon successive inmates morally, or perhaps immorally, has seldom been more faithfully rendered.

29. THE HEARING EAR (Harper's Magazine), and 30. A JURY OF HER PEERS (Every Week) by Susan Glaspell. It is always interesting to study the achievement of a novelist who has won distinction deservedly in that field, when that novelist attempts the very different technique of the short story. It is particularly interesting in the case of Susan Glaspell, because with these two stories she convinces the reader that her future really lies in the short story rather than in the novel. Few American writers have such a natural dramatic story sense, and to this Susan Glaspell has added an increasing reticence in the portrayal of her characters. In these two stories you will not find the slightest sentimentalization of her subject matter, nor is it keyed so tightly as some of her previous work. "A Jury of Her Peers" is one of the better folk stories of the year, sharing that distinction with "The Excursion" by Miss Babcock and the two stories by Francis Buzzell, of which I have spoken above.

31. HIS FATHER'S FLAG by Armistead C. Gordon (Scribner's Magazine). The many readers who have revelled in Mr. Gordon's admirable portraits of Virginia negro plantation life will be surprised and gratified at Mr. Gordon's venture in this story into a new field. This story has all the infectious emotional feeling of memory recalling glorious things, and I can only compare it for its spiritual fidelity toward a cause to the stories by Elsie Singmaster which she has gathered into her volume about Gettysburg, and particularly to that fine story, "The Survivors."

32. THE BUNKER MOUSE, and 33. "MOLLY MCGUIRE, FOURTEEN" by Frederick Stuart Greene (The Century Magazine). Captain Greene's story "The Cat of the Cane-Brake" attracted so much attention at the time of its publication in the Metropolitan Magazine a year ago that it is interesting to find him achieving high distinction in other imaginative fields. Captain Greene's natural gift of narrative is the result of a strong impulse toward creative expression, which molds its form a little self-consciously, but convincingly, for the most part. I think that he is at his best in these two stories rather than in "The Cat of the Cane-Brake" and "The Black Pool," because they are based upon a more direct apprehension and experience of life. "Molly McGuire, Fourteen" adds one more tradition to those of the Virginia Military Institute.

34. RAINBOW PETE by Richard Matthews Hallet (The Pictorial Review) reveals the author in his most incorrigibly romantic mood. Mr. Hallet casts glamour over his creations, partly through his detached and pictorial perception of life, and partly through the magic of his words. He has been compared to Conrad, and in a lesser way he has much in common with the author of "Lord Jim," but his artistic method is essentially different and quite as individual.

35. FRAZEE by Lee Foster Hartman (Harper's Magazine). Mr. Hartman has been a good friend to other story writers for so long that we had begun to forget how fine an artist he can be himself. In "Frazee" he has taken a subject which would have fascinated Mrs. Gerould and handled it with reserve and power. It is pitched in a quieter key than is usual in such a story, and the result is that character merges with atmosphere almost imperceptibly. I regard the story as almost a model of construction for students of short story writing.

36. FOUR DAYS by Hetty Hemenway (Atlantic Monthly). This remarkable story of the spiritual effect of the war upon two young people was so widely commented upon, not only after its appearance in the Atlantic Monthly, but later when it was republished in book form, that I shall only commend it to the reader here as an artistically woven study in war psychology.

37. GET READY THE WREATHS by Fannie Hurst (Cosmopolitan Magazine). The artistic qualities in Miss Hurst's work which have commended themselves to such disinterested critics as Mr. Howells are revealed once more in this story, in which Miss Hurst accepts the shoddiness of background which characterizes her literary types, and reveals the fine human current that runs beneath it all. I am not sure that Miss Hurst has not diluted her substance a little too much during the past year, and in any case that danger is implicit in her method. But in "Get Ready the Wreaths" the emotional validity of her substance is absolutely unimpeachable and her handling of the situation it presents is adequate and fine.

38. JOURNEY'S END by Percy Adams Hutchison (Harper's Magazine). An attentive reader of the American short stories during the past few years may have observed with interest at rare intervals the work of Mr. Hutchison. In it there was always a promise of an achievement not unlike that of Perceval Gibbon, but a certain looseness of texture prevented Mr. Hutchison from being completely persuasive. In "Journey's End," however, it must be confessed that he has written a memorable sea story that is certainly equal at least to the better stories in Mr. Kipling's latest volume.

39. THE STRANGE-LOOKING MAN by Fanny Kemble Johnson (The Pagan). I suppose that this story is to be regarded as a sketch rather than a short story, but in any case it is a vividly rendered picture of war's effects portrayed with subtle irony and quiet art. I associate it with "Chautonville" by Will Levington Comfort, and "The Flying Teuton" by Alice Brown, as one of the three stories with the most authentic spiritual message in American fiction that the war has produced.

40. THE SEA-TURN by E. Clement James (The Seven Arts). In this study of the spiritual reactions of a starved environment upon an imaginative mind, Mrs. Jones has added a convincing character portrait to American letters which ranks with the better short stories of J. D. Beresford in a similar genre. The story is in the same tradition as that of the younger English realists, but it is an essential contribution to our nationalism, and as such helps to point the way toward the future in which a true national literature must find its only and inevitable realization.

41. THE CALLER IN THE NIGHT by Burton Kline (The Stratford Journal). I believe that Mr. Kline has completely realized in this story a fine imaginative situation and has presented a folk story with a significant legendary quality. It is in the tradition of Hawthorne, but the substance with which Mr. Kline deals is the substance of his own people, and consequently that in which his creative impulse has found the freest scope. It may be compared to its own advantage with "The Lost Phoebe" by Theodore Dreiser, which was equally memorable among the folk-stories of 1916, and the comparison suggests that in both cases the author's training as a novelist has not been to his disadvantage as a short-story teller.