Part 33

_The Seven That Were Hanged_, by _Leonid Andreyev_ (Boni & Liveright). These two sombre studies in death rank among the masterpieces of modern Russian literature. “The Seven That Were Hanged” is a study in the human reactions of seven different men between their condemnation and execution. Andreyev is a master of character, relentless in his probing, inevitable in his conclusions. “The Red Laugh,” which is also included in this volume, is an unforgettable study of the horrors of warfare.

_Lazarus_, by _Leonid Andreyev_, and _The Gentleman from San Francisco_, by _Ivan Bunin_, translated by _Abraham Yarmolinsky_ (The Stratford Company). These stories, published together in one volume, are in vivid contrast. In “Lazarus” Andreyev has written one of his two great prose poems, relating how Lazarus revealed the mystery of the grave. “The Gentleman from San Francisco” has poetry too, but it is essentially an ironic study of the artificial values of commercial prosperity.

_We Others: Stories of Fate, Love, and Pity_, by _Henri Barbusse_, translated by _Fitzwater Wray_ (E. P. Dutton & Company). This collection of early stories by Monsieur Barbusse would have been important even if the author was not already known to us by “Under Fire” and “The Inferno.” It includes forty-five short stories of remarkable technique in small compass, sounding almost every note of the human comedy and tragedy with the utmost economy of means and finish of construction. It is perhaps not an accident that the first two stories are the best, but the collection is unusually even and seems sure of reasonable permanence.

_Czech Folk Tales_, selected and translated by _Josef Baudis_ (The Macmillan Company). This is probably the best volume of fairy stories published this year and should interest students of folk lore and the general reader as well as children. There is a wild poetry in these brief tales, which is well rendered in Dr. Baudis’s translation.

_Tales from Boccaccio_ (The Stratford Company). It was a happy thought of the publishers to select these seven stories at which the most puritan cannot carp, and to present them to us in such an attractive form. An old translation is used whose style faithfully mirrors that of Boccaccio.

_The Wife_ (The Macmillan Company), _The Witch_ (The Macmillan Company), and _Nine Humorous Tales_ (The Stratford Company), by _Anton Chekhov_. Two new volumes have been added this year to Mrs. Garnett’s admirable edition of Chekhov. It is now universally admitted that Chekhov ranks with Poe and de Maupassant as one of the three supreme masters of the short story. “The Wife” contains at least two of Chekhov’s masterpieces: “A Dreary Story” and “Gooseberries.” With these two stories I should rank “Gusev” and “In the Ravine.” The little book issued by the Stratford Company reprints nine of Chekhov’s less familiar stories, some of which cannot yet be obtained in English elsewhere.

_Peasant Tales of Russia_, by _V. I. Nemirovitch-Dantchenko_, translated by _Claud Field_ (Robert M. McBride & Company). These four poetic stories by one of the less known Russian masters are tragic studies of human conflict, softened by pity and a deep-rooted religious belief. They are admirably translated in a style which reflects much of the poetry of the original. “The Deserted Mine” is one of the great short stories of the world.

_White Nights, and Other Stories_, by _Fyodor Dostoevsky_, translated by _Constance Garnett_ (The Macmillan Company). These seven short stories and novelettes range over a period of more than twenty years in Dostoevsky’s career. “White Nights,” which is one of his earliest works, is a poem of young love and its effect on solitude and spiritual isolation. “A Faint Heart,” which was written seven or eight years afterwards, is a study of the will and morbid melancholy. It anticipates many of the findings of modern psychiatry. “A Little Hero,” written immediately afterwards, is a kind of autobiography, and sheds much light on Dostoevsky’s early life. But “Notes from Underground” is the masterpiece of the book, and is one of the chief clues to Dostoevsky’s own philosophy.

_Jewish Fairy Tales_, translated by _Gerald Friedlander_ (Bloch Publishing Company). This collection of eight stories, translated from the Talmud, Yalkut, and other sources, has been wisely selected to cultivate the imagination of Jewish children, but should prove of much interest to the general reader who is likely to be unfamiliar with most of these legends.

_Taras Bulba, and Other Tales_, by _Nikolai V. Gogol_ (E. P. Dutton & Company). “Taras Bulba” and five of Gogol’s best short stories are now added to Everyman’s Library. The title story is the national epic of Little Russia, and has a Homeric quality of spaciousness, dignity, and imagination which places it among the world’s great masterpieces. The other stories show Gogol in many moods, but chiefly as Russia’s greatest humorous writer.

_Creatures That Once Were Men_ (Boni & Liveright) and _Stories of the Steppe_ (The Stratford Company), by “_Maxim Gorky_.” These two volumes are in sufficient contrast to one another. The former contains five stories of life among the submerged classes of Russia, which are nobly told with simplicity, imaginative power, and sceptical philosophy. “Stories of the Steppe” contains three prose poems full of a wild gypsy poetry.

_Men in War_, by _Andreas Latsko_ (Boni & Liveright). These six realistic studies of warfare by an Austrian whose book has been suppressed in his own country are a terrific indictment of the militaristic spirit which has brought on the great conflict and continued it relentlessly for four years. It shares with Barbusse’s “Under Fire” the distinction of being one of the two masterpieces written by combatants during the last four years, and the spirit of the two books will be found to be essentially the same.

_Tales of Wartime France_, by Contemporary French Writers. Translated by _William L. McPherson_ (Dodd, Mead & Company). This anthology of thirty war stories is well selected, and shows that the war has produced many excellent French stories. One and all, they illustrate the spirit of the nation, and show an artistic reticence which contrasts favorably with the work of English and American writers.

_French Short Stories_, Edited for School Use, by _Harry C. Schweikert_ (Scott, Foresman and Company). This collection of eighteen stories for the most part follows conventional lines, but the choice is excellent and introduces the reader to several unfamiliar stories by Coppée, Bazin, Claretie, and Lemaître. The critical apparatus is competent, and the biographical notes should prove useful.

_The Spanish Fairy Book_, by _Gertrudis Segovia_, translated by _Elisabeth Vernon Quinn_ (Frederick A. Stokes Company). These eight fairy stories show much imagination, a pleasant unpretentious style, and a fine sense of form. While written for quite young children, they also possess much folk lore value.

_Serbian Fairy Tales_, translated by _Elodie L. Mijatovich_ (Robert M. McBride & Co.). I would rank this with Dr. Baudis’s “Czech Folk Tales” as one of the two best books of fairy tales published this year. Like Ispirescu’s collection of Roumanian stories it seems to bear traces of a secret animistic doctrine disclosing the mystery of change, and to have crystallized in literary form through centuries of traditional storytelling.

_Mashi, and Other Stories_, by _Sir Rabindranath Tagore_ (The Macmillan Company). Of these stories it is difficult to speak without undue enthusiasm. With admirable economy of means, Tagore has succeeded in conveying the utmost subtlety of nostalgic remembrance, and the sensuous beauty of shrouded landscape in which he projects his figures sustains profound emotional revelation without undue tightening of the literary fabric. His literary method is a strange one to us, but it might well be the beginning of a new short story tradition in which an American writer could find inspiration as fresh as the new impulse that the discovery of Japanese prints brought to Whistler and others that followed him.

_Paulownia_: Seven Stories from Contemporary Japanese Writers, translated by _Torao Taketomo_ (Duffield & Company). These stories reveal a new world to us, as significant in its way as the world of Tagore’s stories. Some of these Japanese writers have been influenced by European models, but their spirit is essentially national, and springs from an imaginative quality which it is hard for us at first to recapture. All the stories have a finished art, and so has Mr. Torao Taketomo’s translation.

_What Men Live By, and Other Stories_, by _Leo Tolstoi_, translated by _L. and A. Maude_ (The Stratford Company). This collection includes four familiar stories by Tolstoi chosen for their social doctrine. The format of the book is pleasant, and the choice of stories excellent.

VOLUMES OF SHORT STORIES PUBLISHED, JANUARY TO OCTOBER, 1918: AN INDEX

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

I. _American Authors_

_Andrews, Mary Raymond Shipman._ *Her Country. Scribner.

_Anonymous._ Thompson. Houghton-Mifflin.

_Antin, Mary._ *Lie, The. Atlantic Monthly Press.

_Bacheller, Irving A._ Story of a Passion. Roycrofters.

_Bacon, Josephine Daskam._ On Our Hill. Scribner.

_Bagnold, Enid._ Diary Without Dates. Luce.

_Barton, George._ Strange Adventures of Bromley Barnes. Page.

_Bell, Robert B. H._ Laughing Bear. Shores.

_Bellegarde, Sophie de._ Russian Soldier-Peasant. Young Churchman.

_Bierce, Ambrose._ *Can Such Things Be? Boni and Liveright. *In the Midst of Life. Boni and Liveright.

_Bottome, Phyllis._ *Helen of Troy, and Rose. Century.

_Brown, Alice._ *Flying Teuton. Macmillan.

_Buffum, G. Tower._ On Two Frontiers. Lothrop, Lee and Shepard.

_Burt, Maxwell Struthers._ *John O’May, and Other Stories. Scribner.

_Butler, Ellis Parker._ Philo Gubb. Houghton-Mifflin.

_Canfield, Dorothy._ *Home Fires in France. Holt

_Chapin, Maud._ Rush-light Stories. Duffield.

_Cobb, Irvin S._ *Thunders of Silence. Doran.

_Davis, J. Frank._ Almanzar. Holt.

_Dodge, Henry Irving._ Skinner’s Big Idea. Harper. Yellow Dog. Harper.

_Dougherty, Harry Vincent._ Way of the Transgressor. Roycrofters.

_Douglas, A. Donald._ From their Galleries. Four Seas.

_Dreiser, Theodore._ *Free, and Other Stories. Boni and Liveright.

_Driggs, Laurence la Tourette._ Adventures of Arnold Adair, American Ace. Little, Brown.

_Duncan, Norman._ *Battles Royal Down North. Revell. *Harbor Tales Down North. Revell.

_Eells, Elsie Spicer._ *Tales of Giants from Brazil. Dodd, Mead.

_Ferber, Edna._ *Cheerful—By Request. Doubleday, Page.

_Foote, John Taintor._ Lucky Seven. Appleton.

_Ford, Sewell._ House of Torchy. Clode. Shorty McCabe Looks ’Em Over. Clode.

_Fox, Frances Margaret._ Seven Little Wise Men. Page.

_Frazer, Elizabeth._ Old Glory and Verdun. Duffield.

_Freeman, Mary E. Wilkins._ *Edgewater People. Harper.

_French, Joseph Lewis_, _editor_. *Great Ghost Stories. Dodd, Mead.

_Ganoe, William Addleman._ *Ruggs—R. O. T. C. Atlantic Monthly Press.

_Gatlin, Dana._ Full Measure of Devotion. Doubleday, Page.

_Giesy, J. U._ *Mimi. Harper.

_Glass, Montague._ Worrying Won’t Win. Harper.

_Goldsberry, Louise Dunham._ Ted. Badger.

_Greene, Frances Nimmo._ America First. Scribner.

_Griswold, Florence._ *Hindu Fairy Tales. Lothrop, Lee and Shepard.

_Hamby, William H._ Way of Success. Laird and Lee.

_Hardy, Thomas._ *Two Wessex Tales. Four Seas.

_Harris, Joel Chandler._ *Uncle Remus Returns. Houghton-Mifflin.

“_Hay, Timothy._” _See_ Rollins, Montgomery.

_Hearn, Lafcadio._ *Japanese Fairy Tales. Boni and Liveright. *Karma. Boni and Liveright.

“_Henry, O._” (_Sidney Porter._) *Ransom of Red Chief and Other O. Henry Stories for Boys, As Chosen by Franklin K. Mathiews. Doubleday, Page.

_Hergesheimer, Joseph._ *Gold and Iron. Knopf.

_Herring, J. L._ Saturday Night Sketches. Badger.

_Hughes, Rupert._ *Long Ever Ago. Harper.

_Hunt, Edward Eyre._ *Tales from a Famished Land. Doubleday, Page.

_Hurst, Fannie._ *Gaslight Sonatas. Harper.

_James, Henry._ *Gabrielle de Bergerac. Boni and Liveright.

_King, Basil._ *Abraham’s Bosom. Harper.

_Law, Frederick Houk_, _editor_. *Modern Short Stories. Century.

_Leonard, Orville H._ *Land Where the Sunsets Go. Sherman, French.

_Levinger, Elma Ehrlich._ Jewish Holyday Stories. Bloch. Pub. Co.

_London, Jack._ *Red One. Macmillan.

_McKenna_, “_Jawn._” Stories. Published by the Author.

_MacLean, Annie Marion._ “Cheero!” Woman’s Press.

_McSpadden, J. W._, _editor_. *Famous Ghost Stories. Crowell.

_Mahon, Shiela._ Irish Joy Stories. Mahon Press.

_Marcy, Mary Edna Tobias._ Stories of the Cave People. Kerr.

_Masson, Thomas L._, _editor_. Best Short Stories. Doubleday, Page.

_Masters, Edgar Lee._ *Toward the Gulf. Macmillan.

_Mayo, Katharine._ Standard Bearers. Houghton-Mifflin.

*_Means, E. K._ Putnam.

_Merwin, Samuel._ Henry is Twenty. Bobbs-Merrill.

_Morley, Christopher._ *Shandygaff. Doubleday, Page.

_Morse, Richard._ Fear God in Your Own Village. Holt

_Murphy, Marguerite._ Necklace of Jewels. Page.

_Neal, Robert W._, _editor_. To-day’s Short Stories Analyzed. Oxford University Press.

_O’Brien, Edward J._, _editor_. Best Short Stories of 1917. Small, Maynard.

_Orcutt, William Dana._ White Road of Mystery. Lane.

_Poe, Edgar Allan._ *Gold-Bug and Other Tales. Four Seas.

_Porter, Sidney._ _See_ “Henry, O.”

_Post, Melville Davisson._ *Uncle Abner—Master of Mysteries. Appleton.

_Pratt, A. H._ My Tussle with the Devil. I. M. Y. Co.

_Reed, Earl H._ *Sketches in Duneland. Lane.

_Reeve, Arthur B._ Panama Plot. Harper. Soul Scar. Harper.

_Rice, Alice Hegan._ *Miss Mink’s Soldier. Century.

_Richmond, Grace S._ Enlisting Wife. Doubleday, Page.

_Rideout, Henry Milner._ *Key of the Fields, and Boldero. Duffield.

_Robbins, Leo._ Mary the Merry. Stratford Co.

_Roberts, Elizabeth Judson._ Indian Stories of the Southwest. Wagner.

_Rollins, Montgomery._ (“_Timothy Hay._”) Over Here Stories. Marshall Jones Co.

_Rutledge, Archibald Hamilton._ Tom and I On the Old Plantation. Stokes.

_Sanborn, Gertrude._ Blithesome Jottings. Four Seas.

_Schnittkind, Henry T._, _editor_. *Best College Short Stories. Stratford Co.

_Shepherd, William Gunn._ *Scar That Tripled. Harper.

_Skinner, Ada M._, _and_ _Eleanor L._ Pearl Story Book. Duffield. Turquoise Story Book. Duffield.

_Slaughter, Gertrude._ Two Children in Old Paris. Macmillan.

_Smith, Charlotte Curtis._ Old Cobblestone House. Rochester, N. Y. Craftsman Press.

_Steele, Wilbur Daniel._ *Land’s End and Other Stories. Harper.

_Steinberg, Judah._ *Breakfast of the Birds. Jewish Publication Soc. of Am.

_Taylor, Arthur Russell._ *Mr. Squem and Some Male Triangles. Doran.

_Thomas, Charles Swain_, _editor_. *Atlantic Narratives, First Series. Atlantic Monthly Co. *Atlantic Narratives, Second Series. Atlantic Monthly Co.

_Train, Arthur._ Mortmain. Scribner.

_Tweedy, Frank._ Discarded Confidante. Neale.

_Van Loan, Charles E._ Fore! Doran.

_Wagnalls, Mabel._ *Rose-Bush of a Thousand Years. Funk and Wagnalls.

_Wagner, Rob._ Film Folk. Century.

_Waldo, Nigel._ Wallflowers. Hannis Jordan Co.

_Wharton, Edith._ Marne. Appleton.

_White, Stewart Edward._ Simba. Doubleday, Page.

_Widdemer, Margaret._ You’re Only Young Once. Holt.

_Williams, Blanche Colton_, _editor_. *Book of Short Stories. Appleton.

_Wolcott, Laura._ *Gray Dream. Yale Univ. Press.

_Wormser, C. Ranger._ *Scarecrows. Dutton.

II. _English and Irish Authors_

“_Ayscough, John._” *Tideway. Benziger.

“_Bartimeus._” *Long Trick. Doran.

_Bell, John Joy._ *Johnny Pryde. Revell.

_Blackwood, Algernon._ *Empty House. Dutton. *John Silence. Dutton. *Listener. Dutton. *Lost Valley. Dutton.

_Brebner, Percy James._ Christopher Quarles. Dutton.

*_Buchan, John._ *Watcher by the Threshold. Doran.

_Burke, Thomas._ *Nights in London. Holt.

_Cable, Boyd._ Front Lines. Dutton.

“_Centurion._” _See_ Morgan, Captain J. H.

_Copplestone, Bennet._ Lost Naval Papers. Dutton.

“_Dehan, Richard._” *Under the Hermes. Dodd, Mead.

_Doyle, A. Conan._ *Danger. Doran.

_Dunsany, Lord._ *Book of Wonder. (Modern Library.) Boni and Liveright. *Tales of War. Little, Brown.

_Empey, Arthur Guy._ Tales from a Dugout. Century.

_Evans, Caradoc._ *Capel Sion. Boni and Liveright. *My Own People. Boni and Liveright.

_Galsworthy, John._ *Five Tales. Scribner.

_Graham, Stephen._ *Quest of the Face. Macmillan.

_Graves, Clotilde._ _See_ “Dehan, Richard.”

“_Hanshew, T. W._” (_Charlotte May Kingsley._) Cleek, the Master Detective. Doubleday, Page.

_Harker, L. Allen._ *Children of the Dear Cotswolds. Scribner.

_Hodgson, William Hope._ Captain Gault. McBride.

_Jacks, L. P._ *Country Air. Holt.

_Kipling, Rudyard._ *Tales. Four Seas.

_Moore, George._ *Story-Teller’s Holiday. Boni and Liveright.

_Morgan, Captain J. H._ (“Centurion.”) *Gentlemen at Arms. Doubleday, Page.

_Morrison, Arthur._ *Tales of Mean Streets. Goodman.

_Noyes, Alfred._ *Walking Shadows. Stokes.

_O’Kelly, Seumas._ *Waysiders. Stokes.

_Pearse, Padraic._ *Collected Works. Stokes.

_Pertwee, Roland._ Transactions of Lord Louis Lewis. Dodd, Mead.

_Phillpotts, Eden._ *Chronicles of St. Tid. Macmillan.

_Sabatini, Rafael._ *Historical Nights’ Entertainment. Lippincott.

“_Sapper._” Human Touch. Doran.

_Sélincourt, Hugh de._ *Nine Tales. Dodd, Mead.

_Stockley, Cynthia._ *Blue Aloes. Putnam.

“_Trevena, John._” *By Violence. Four Seas.

_Vachel, Horace Annesley._ *Some Happenings. Doran.

_Walker, Dugald Stewart._ Dream Boats. Doubleday, Page.

_Wilde, Oscar._ *Fairy Tales and Poems in Prose. Boni and Liveright. *House of Pomegranates. Moffat, Yard.

_Yeats, W. B._, _editor_. *Irish Fairy and Folk Tales. (Modern Library.) Boni and Liveright.

“_Yeo._” Soldier Men. Lane.

III. _Translations_

_Andreyev, Leonid Nikolaevich._ (_Russian._) (_See also_ Modern Russian Classics.) *Seven That Were Hanged, and The Red Laugh. (Modern Library.) Boni and Liveright.

_Andreyev, Leonid Nikolaevich_, and _Bunin, Ivan Alexeivich_. (_Russian._) *Lazarus (by Andreieff) and The Gentleman from San Francisco (by Bunin). Stratford Co.

_Artzibashev, Michael._ (_Russian._) _See_ Modern Russian Classics.

_Balzac, Honoré de._ (_French._) *Short Stories. (Modern Library.) Boni and Liveright.

_Barbusse, Henri._ (_French._) *We Others. Dutton.

_Baŭdes, Joseph_, _editor_. (_Czech._) *Czech Folk Tales. Macmillan.

_Boccaccio de Certaldo, Giovanni._ (_Italian._) Tales from Boccaccio. Stratford.

_Bosschère, Jean de._ (_French._) *Folk Tales of Flanders. Dodd, Mead.

_Bunin, Ivan Alexeivich._ (_Russian._) _See_ Andreyev, Leonid Nikolaevich, _and_ Bunin, Ivan Alexeivich.

_Chekhov, Anton._ (_Russian._) (_See also_ Modern Russian Classics.) *Nine Humorous Tales. Stratford. *Wife. Macmillan. *Witch. Macmillan.

_Dantchenko, V. I. Nemirovitch-._ (_Russian._) *Peasant Tales of Russia. McBride.

_Dostoevskii, Fyodor Mikhailovich._ (_Russian._) *White Nights. Macmillan.

_Friedlander, Gerald_, _translator_. (_Yiddish._) Jewish Fairy Stories. Bloch.

_Gogol, Nikolai Vassilyevitch._ (_Russian._) *Taras Bulba. Dutton.

_Goldberg, Isaac_, _editor_. (_Portuguese._) *Brazilian Tales. Four Seas.

_Gorky, Maxim._ (_Russian._) (_See also_ Modern Russian Classics.) *Creatures That Once Were Men. Boni and Liveright. *Stories of the Steppe. Stratford.

_Latzko, Andreas._ (_German._) *Men in War. Boni and Liveright.

_McPherson, William_, _editor_. (_French._) *Tales of Wartime France. Dodd, Mead.

_Maupassant, Guy de._ (_French._) *Mademoiselle Fifi. Four Seas. *Selected Short Stories. Current Literature Pub. Co.

_Mendés, Catulle._ (_French._) *Fairy Spinning Wheel. Four Seas.

_Mijatovich, Elodie L._, _translator_. (_Serbian._) *Serbian Fairy Tales. McBride.

*_Modern Russian Classics._ (_Russian._) (Stories by Andreyev, Sologub, Gorky, Chekhov, and Artzibashev.) Four Seas.

_Nemirovitch-dantchenko, V. I._ (_Russian._) _See_ _Dantchenko, V. I. Nemirovitch-._

_Schweikert, Harry C._, _editor_. (_French._) *French Short Stories. Scott, Foresman.

_Segovia, Gertrudis._ (_Spanish._) *Spanish Fairy Book. Stokes.

“_Sologub, Feodor._” (_Feodor Kuzmitch Teternikov._) (_Russian._) _See_ Modern Russian Classics.

_Tagore, Sir Rabindranath._ (_Bengali._) *Mashi, and Other Stories. Macmillan.

_Taketomo, Torao_, _editor_. (_Japanese._) *Paulownia. Duffield.

_Tchekhov, Anton._ (_Russian._) _See_ Chekhov, Anton.

_Tolstoy, Lyof._ (_Russian._) *Death of Ivan Ilyitch, and Other Stories. Boni and Liveright. *What Men Live By. Stratford.

_Underwood, Edna Worthley._ *Famous Stories from Foreign Countries. Four Seas.

THE BEST SIXTY AMERICAN SHORT STORIES

JANUARY TO OCTOBER, 1918: A CRITICAL SUMMARY

_The sixty short stories published in the American magazines between January and October, 1918, which I shall discuss in this article are chosen from a larger group of about one hundred and twenty stories, whose literary excellence justifies 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 seventy-four American periodicals during the first ten months of 1918. In selecting them I have sought to accept the author’s point of view and manner of treatment, and to measure simply his degree of success in accomplishing what he set out to achieve. I have permitted no personal preference or prejudice to influence my mind consciously for or against a story. 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 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. _A Simple Act of Piety_, by _Achmed Abdullah_ (The All-Story Weekly). To those who enjoyed last year Thomas Burke’s “Limehouse Nights,” the series of Pell Street stories which Captain Abdullah is publishing in the Century Magazine, Collier’s Weekly, and the All-Story Weekly will be welcome. To a vivid sense of color and an economy of dramatic situation, “A Simple Act of Piety,” which is the best of these stories, adds a fine appreciation of the Oriental point of view. The characterization is almost subjective it is so real, and the story is a fine crystallization of the poetry inherent in New York Chinatown life.

2. _The Man of Ideas_, by _Sherwood Anderson_ (Little Review), points the way to a new American realism. Those who have read Mr. Anderson’s other Winesburg stories in the Seven Arts and the Little Review will remember that he has set himself the task of portraying the spiritual values of a small Ohio community without sentimentality. These stories suggest the Spoon River Anthology, and indeed the tradition inaugurated by Edgar Lee Masters, Sherwood Anderson, and other realists of the new Chicago School seems likely to carry on the vision of Walt Whitman to new goals of achievement.

3. _Cruelties_ (Harper’s Magazine) and 4. “_Goddess Size_” (Harper’s Magazine), by _Edwina Stanton Babcock_. When Miss Babcock published “The Excursion” last year in the Pictorial Review, I expressed my belief that it was one of the best five American short stories of the year. I regard these two stories as marking a significant advance in Miss Babcock’s art. Her characterization of these Nantucket folks has a subtle humor and poetry linked to a faithful realism. Miss Babcock continues to prove herself a leader in short-story regionalism. “Cruelties” is very quietly done and no point is over-stressed. In fact I find a greater reticence in these stories than in Miss Babcock’s earlier work, and this is all to the good.

5. _The Bell-Tower of P’An-Ku_, by “_John Brangwyn_” (Century Magazine). This story by an American novelist, whose name is not to be revealed, comes with a definite message to Americans from China. It is an allegory quietly setting forth the essence of the imaginative attitude toward life. Like a shifting tapestry, pictures weave to and fro, and the way is opened to us to see the vision that the unknown Chinese master saw.

6. _Buster_, by _Katharine Holland Brown_ (Scribner’s Magazine). Here in clear swift portraiture Miss Brown has caught the spirit of America, youthful and eager, living dangerously and happily, and prepared to face danger, and, if necessary, seek it. “Buster” is a study of the typical young American who finds himself at last as an aviator in France. No story could better interpret our spirit to the English and French imagination.

7. _The Sorry Tale of Hennery K. Lunk_, by _Ellis Parker Butler_ (Harper’s Magazine). This tale of a mournful mariner ashore on the banks of the Mississippi would have delighted Mark Twain. I hope Mr. Butler will forgive me if I state that it contains more poetry than prose. But after all, mournful mariners come and go, while their stories go on forever.

8. _The Black Pearl_, by _Katharine Butler_ (Atlantic Monthly). This story, redolent of the East, is an admirable study in atmosphere. It has all the nostalgia of a half-forgotten dream, and yet it is so confidently set forth that we may enter its background without difficulty. Style is not a common quality, I regret to say, in American short stories, but the picture portrayed in “The Black Pearl” is well nigh flawless.

9. _Some Ladies and Jurgen_, by _James Branch Cabell_ (Smart Set), is a wilful apologue of poets and their wives which will delight the thoughtful while disappointing the serious. It is really a prose poem without any moral whatever, unless perhaps the moral Miss Guiney once pointed out when she said that tall talk always reminded her of the Himalayas. I commend the fable to all would-be poets.

10. _The Gallowsmith_, by _Irvin S. Cobb_ (All-Story Weekly). This story, which marks a great departure from Mr. Cobb’s usual vein, is one of the most grim stories an American magazine has ever published, but it is a masterly portrait of a professional hangman which the reader cannot easily forget. With vivid completeness of detail, and characterization which is admirably suggestive, Mr. Cobb manages the situation in such a way that its conclusion is inevitable, yet unexpected.