Chapter 13
Part 13
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 Géraldy_ (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 _Comédie 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 naïvete.
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, HONORÉ. 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.
GÉRALDY, 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 reëmbodied 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 Cederschiöld_ (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.
42. WHEN DID YOU WRITE YOUR MOTHER LAST? by _Addison Lewis_ (Reedy's Mirror). This is the only story I have read in three years in which it seemed to me that I found the authentic voice of "O. Henry" speaking. Mr. Lewis has been publishing a series of these "Tales While You Wait" in Reedy's Mirror during the past few months, and I should much prefer them to those of Jack Lait for the complete success with which he has achieved his aims. Imitation of "O. Henry" has been the curse of American story-telling for the past ten years, because "O. Henry" is practically inimitable. Mr. Lewis is not an imitator, but he may well prove before very long to be "O. Henry's" successor. In the words of Padna Dan and Micus Pat, "Here's the chance for some one to make a discovery."
43. WIDOW LA RUE by _Edgar Lee Masters_ (Reedy's Mirror). This is the best short story in verse that the year has produced, and as literature it realizes in my belief even greater imaginative fulfilment than "Spoon River Anthology." I should have most certainly wished to include it in "The Best Short Stories of 1917" had it been in prose, and it adds one more unforgettable legend to our folk imagination.
44. THE UNDERSTUDY by _Johnson Morton_ (Harper's Magazine) is an ironic character study developed with much finesse in the tradition of Henry James. Its defect is a certain conventional atmosphere which demands an artificial attitude on the part of the reader. Its admirable distinction is its faithful rendering of a personality not unlike the "Tante" of Anne Douglas Sedgwick, if a novel portrait and a short story portrait may fittingly be compared. If the portraiture is unpleasant, it is at any rate rendered with incisive kindliness.
45. THE HEART OF LIFE by _Meredith Nicholson_ (Scribner's Magazine). Mr. Nicholson has treated an old theme freshly in "The Heart of Life" and discovered in it new values of contrasting character. Among his short stories it stands out as notably as "A Hoosier Chronicle" among his novels. It is in such work as this that Mr. Nicholson justifies his calling, and it is by them that he has most hope of remembrance in American literature.
46. MURDER? by _Seumas O'Brien_ (The Illustrated Sunday Magazine). With something of Hardy's stark rendering of atmosphere, Mr. O'Brien has portrayed a grim situation unforgettably. Woven out of the simplest elements, and with an entire lack of literary sophistication, his story is fairly comparable to the work of Daniel Corkery, whose volume, "A Munster Twilight," has interested me more than any other volume of short stories published in America this year. The story is of particular interest because Mr. O'Brien's reputation as an artist has been based solely upon his work as a satirist and Irish fabulist.
47. THE INTERVAL by _Vincent O'Sullivan_ (Boston Evening Transcript). It is odd to reflect that a literary artist of Mr. O'Sullivan's distinction is not represented in American magazines during 1917 at all, and that it has been left to a daily newspaper to publish his work. In "The Interval," Mr. O'Sullivan has sought to suggest the spiritual effect of the war upon a certain type of mind. He has rendered with faithful subtleness the newly aroused longing for religious belief or some form of concrete spiritual expression that bereavement brings. This state has a pathos of its own that the author adequately realizes in his story, and his irony in portraying it is Gallic in its quality.
48. BIXBY'S BRIDGE by _Georgia Wood Pangborn_ (Harper's Magazine). Mrs. Pangborn is well known for her artistic stories of the supernatural, and this will rank among the very best of them. She shares with Algernon Blackwood that gift for making spiritual illusion real which is so rare in contemporary work. What is specially distinctive is her gift of selection, by which she brings out the most illusive psychological contrasts.
49. "A CERTAIN RICH MAN--," by _Lawrence Perry_ (Scribner's Magazine). I find in this story an emotional quality keyed up as tightly, but as surely, as in the best short stories by Mary Synon. Remote as its substance may seem, superficially, it touches the very heart of the experience that the war has brought to us all, and reveals the naked stuff out of which our war psychology has emerged.
50. THE PORTRAIT by _Emery Pottle_ (The Touchstone). This study in Italian backgrounds is by another disciple of Henry James, who portrays with deft sure touches the nostalgia of an American girl unhappily married to an Italian nobleman. It just fails of complete persuasiveness because it is a trifle overstrung, but nevertheless it is memorable for its artistic sincerity.
51. THE PATH OF GLORY by _Mary Brecht Pulver_ (Saturday Evening Post). This story of how distinction came to a poor family in the mountains through the death of their son in the French army is simply told with a quiet, unassuming earnestness that makes it very real. It marks a new phase of Mrs. Pulver's talent, and one which promises her a richer fulfilment in the future than her other stories have suggested. Time and time again I have been impressed this year by the folk quality that is manifest in our younger writers, and what is most encouraging is that, when they write of the poor and the lowly, there is less of that condescension toward their subject than has been characteristic of American folk-writing in the past.
52. MISS FOTHERGILL by _Norval Richardson_ (Scribner's Magazine). The tradition in English fiction, which is most signally marked by "Pride and Prejudice," "Cranford," and "Barchester Towers," and which was so pleasantly continued by the late Dr. S. Weir Mitchell and by Margaret Deland, is admirably embodied in the work of this writer, whose work should be better known. The quiet blending of humor and pathos in "Miss Fothergill" is unusual.
53. THE SCAR THAT TRIPLED by _William Gunn Shepherd_ (Metropolitan Magazine) is none the less truly a remarkable short story because it happens to be based on fact. "The Deserter" was the last fine short story written by the late Richard Harding Davis, and "The Scar That Tripled" is the engrossing narrative of the adventure which suggested that story. Personally, I regard it as superior to "The Deserter."
54. A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS by _Grant Showerman_ (Century Magazine). Professor Showerman's country chronicles are now well known to American readers, and this is quite the best of them. These sketches rank with those of Hamlin Garland as a permanent and delightful record of a pioneer life that has passed away for ever. Their deliberate homeliness and consistent reflection of a small boy's attitude toward life have no equal to my knowledge.
55. THE CHRISTMAS ANGEL (The Pictorial Review), and 56. THE FLAG OF ELIPHALET (Boston Evening Transcript) by _Elsie Singmaster_ add two more portraits to the pleasant gallery of Elsie Singmaster's vivid creations. Although her vein is a narrow one, no one is more competent than she in its expression, and few surpass her in the faithful rendering of homely but none the less real spiritual circumstance.
57. THE END OF THE ROAD by _Gordon Arthur Smith_ (Scribner's Magazine) is a sequel to "Feet of Gold" and chronicles the further love adventures of Ferdinand Taillandy, and their tragic conclusion. In these two stories Mr. Smith has proven his literary kinship with Leonard Merrick, and these stories surely rank with the chronicles of Tricotrin and Pitou.
58. CHING, CHING, CHINAMAN (Pictorial Review), 59. KED'S HAND (Harper's Magazine), 60. WHITE HANDS (Pictorial Review), and 61. THE WOMAN AT SEVEN BROTHERS (Harper's Magazine) by _Wilbur Daniel Steele_. With these four stories, together with "A Devil of a Fellow," "Free," and "A Point of Honor," Mr. Steele assumes his rightful place with Katharine Fullerton Gerould and H. G. Dwight as a leader in American fiction. "Ching, Ching, Chinaman," "White Hands," and "The Woman at Seven Brothers" are, in my belief, the three best short stories that were published in 1917, by an American author, and I may safely predict their literary permanence. Mr. Steele's extraordinary gift for presenting action and spiritual conflict pictorially is unrivalled, and his sense of human mystery has a rich tragic humor akin to that of Thomas Hardy, though his philosophy of life is infinitely more hopeful.
62. NONE SO BLIND by _Mary Synon_ (Harper's Magazine) is a study in tragic circumstance, the more powerful because it is so reticently handled. It is Miss Synon's first profound study in feminine psychology, and reveals an unusual sense of emotional values. Few backgrounds have been more subtly rendered in their influence upon character, and the action of the story is inevitable despite its character of surprise.
63. THE SCAR by _Elisabeth Stead Taber_ (The Seven Arts). The brutal realism of this story may repel the reader, but its power and convincing quality cannot be gainsaid. So many writers have followed John Fox's example in writing about the mountaineers of the Alleghanies, that it is gratifying to chronicle so exceptional a story as this. It is as inevitable in its ugliness as "The Cat of the Cane-Brake" by Frederick Stuart Greene, and psychologically it is far more convincing.
MAGAZINE AVERAGES FOR 1917
_The following table includes the averages of American periodicals published during 1917. One, two, and three asterisks are employed to indicate relative distinction. "Three-asterisk stories" are of somewhat permanent literary value. The list excludes reprints._
| | NO. OF | PERCENTAGE OF | NO. OF | DISTINCTIVE | DISTINCTIVE PERIODICALS | STORIES | STORIES | STORIES | PUB- | PUBLISHED | PUBLISHED | LISHED +-----------------+---------------- | | * | ** | *** | * | ** | *** ------------------------------+---------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+---- American Magazine | 54 | 25 | 3 | 1 | 46 | 6 | 2 Atlantic Monthly | 20 | 17 | 11 | 5 | 85 | 55 | 25 Bellman | 47 | 34 | 17 | 2 | 72 | 36 | 4 Bookman | 5 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 100 | 80 | 20 Boston Evening Transcript | 6 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 100 | 100 | 33 Century | 50 | 40 | 29 | 17 | 80 | 58 | 34 Collier's Weekly | 108 | 51 | 22 | 3 | 47 | 20 | 3 Delineator | 46 | 18 | 5 | 2 | 39 | 11 | 4 Everybody's Magazine | 45 | 26 | 7 | 3 | 58 | 15 | 7 Every Week | 87 | 18 | 5 | 2 | 21 | 6 | 2 Forum | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 67 | 17 | 17 Good Housekeeping | 40 | 12 | 9 | 5 | 30 | 23 | 13 Harper's Magazine | 80 | 64 | 39 | 27 | 80 | 49 | 34 Illustrated Sunday Magazine | 25 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 40 | 16 | 4 Ladies' Home Journal | 33 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 33 | 12 | 3 Masses (except Oct. and Nov.) | 11 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 54 | 27 | 0 McClure's Magazine | 45 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 20 | 9 | 4 Metropolitan | 43 | 16 | 8 | 5 | 37 | 19 | 12 Midland | 22 | 21 | 17 | 2 | 95 | 77 | 9 New Republic | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 100 | 40 | 20 New York Tribune | 30 | 22 | 7 | 4 | 73 | 23 | 13 Outlook | 18 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 56 | 44 | 6 Pagan | 11 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 72 | 72 | 36 Pictorial Review | 42 | 26 | 18 | 14 | 62 | 43 | 33 Reedy's Mirror | 32 | 18 | 10 | 3 | 56 | 31 | 9 Saturday Evening Post | 235 | 62 | 25 | 7 | 21 | 11 | 3 Scribner's Magazine | 65 | 52 | 31 | 16 | 80 | 48 | 25 Seven Arts | 23 | 22 | 19 | 14 | 96 | 83 | 69 Smart Set | 107 | 22 | 12 | 3 | 20 | 11 | 3 Stratford Journal | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 100 | 100 | 90 Sunset Magazine | 32 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 0 Touchstone | 15 | 15 | 10 | 2 | 100 | 67 | 13 ==============================+=========+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+====
_The following tables indicate the rank, during 1917, by number and percentage of distinctive stories published, of the nineteen periodicals coming within the scope of my examination which have published during the past year over twenty-five stories and which have exceeded an average of 15% in stories of distinction. The lists exclude reprints._
BY PERCENTAGE OF DISTINCTIVE STORIES
1. Harper's Magazine 80% 2. Scribner's Magazine 80% 3. Century Magazine 80% 4. New York Tribune 73% 5. Bellman 72% 6. Pictorial Review 62% 7. Everybody's Magazine 58% 8. Reedy's Mirror 56% 9. Collier's Weekly 47% 10. American Magazine 46% 11. Delineator 39% 12. Metropolitan Magazine 37% 13. Ladies' Home Journal 33% 14. Good Housekeeping 30% 15. Saturday Evening Post 21% 16. Every Week 21% 17. Smart Set 20% 18. McClure's Magazine 20% 19. Sunset Magazine 19%
BY NUMBER OF DISTINCTIVE STORIES
1. Harper's Magazine 64 2. Saturday Evening Post 62 3. Scribner's Magazine 52 4. Collier's Weekly 51 5. Century Magazine 40 6. Bellman 34 7. Everybody's Magazine 26 8. Pictorial Review 26 9. American Magazine 25 10. New York Tribune 22 11. Smart Set 22 12. Reedy's Mirror 18 13. Delineator 18 14. Every Week 18 15. Metropolitan Magazine 16 16. Good Housekeeping 12 17. Ladies' Home Journal 11 18. McClure's Magazine 9 19. Sunset Magazine 6
_The following periodicals have published during 1917 ten or more "two-asterisk stories." The list excludes reprints. Periodicals represented in this list during 1915 as well are indicated by an asterisk. Periodicals represented in this list during 1916 are indicated by a dagger._
1. *+Harper's Magazine 39 2. *+Scribner's Magazine 31 3. *+Century Magazine 29 4. *+Saturday Evening Post 25 5. *+Collier's Weekly 20 6. Seven Arts 19 7. +Pictorial Review 18 8. Midland 17 9. *+Bellman 17 10. *+Smart Set 12 11. Atlantic Monthly 11 12. Touchstone 10
_The following periodicals have published during 1917 five or more "three-asterisk stories." The list excludes reprints. Periodicals represented in this list during 1915 as well are indicated by an asterisk. Periodicals represented in this list during 1916 are indicated by a dagger._
1. *+Harper's Magazine 27 2. *+Century Magazine 17 3. *+Scribner's Magazine 16 4. Seven Arts 14 5. +Pictorial Review 14 6. Stratford Journal 9 7. *+Saturday Evening Post 7 8. Atlantic Monthly 5 9. *Metropolitan 5 10. Good Housekeeping 5
_Ties in the above lists have been decided by taking relative rank in other lists into account._
INDEX OF SHORT STORIES FOR 1917
_All short stories published in the following magazines and newspapers during 1917 are indexed._
American Magazine Atlantic Monthly Bellman Bookman Boston Evening Transcript Century Collier's Weekly Current Opinion Delineator Everybody's Magazine Every Week Forum Harper's Magazine Illustrated Sunday Magazine Ladies' Home Journal Little Review (except Oct.) Masses (Jan.-Sept.) McClure's Magazine Metropolitan Midland New Republic New York Tribune Outlook Pictorial Review Poetry Pagan Reedy's Mirror Russian Review (Jan.-July) Saturday Evening Post Scribner's Magazine Seven Arts Stratford Journal Sunset Magazine Touchstone Yale Review
_The October and November issues of the Masses are not listed, as they were not procurable through ordinary channels. The October issue of the Russian Review was not yet published when this book went to press. The October issue of the Little Review was withdrawn from circulation before it could come to my notice._
_Short stories, of distinction only, published in the following magazines and newspapers during 1917 are indexed._
Black Cat Boston Herald Colonnade Cosmopolitan Good Housekeeping Harper's Bazar Hearst's Magazine Live Stories McCall's Magazine Milestones Munsey's Magazine Parisienne Pearson's Magazine Short Stories Smart Set Snappy Stories Southern Woman's Magazine To-day's Housewife Woman's Home Companion Youth's Companion
_Certain stories of distinction published in the following magazines and newspapers during 1917 are indexed, because they have been called to my attention by authors or readers._
All-Story Weekly Art World Ainslee's Magazine Dernier Cri Detective Story Magazine Los Angeles Times Queen's Work Saucy Stories Top-Notch Magazine Woman's World Young's Magazine
_The Red Book Magazine is not represented in these lists, in deference to the wishes of its editor, who sent me the following telegram: "We prefer not to be listed."_
_One, two, or three asterisks are prefixed to the titles of stories to indicate distinction. Three asterisks prefixed to a title indicate the more or less permanent literary value of a story, and entitle it to a place on the annual "Rolls of Honor." An asterisk before the name of an author indicates that he is not an American._
_The following abbreviations are used in the index:--_
_Ain._ Ainslee's Magazine _All._ All-Story Weekly _Am._ American Magazine _Atl._ Atlantic Monthly _Art W._ Art World _B. C._ Black Cat _Bel._ Bellman _B. E. T._ Boston Evening Transcript _B. Her._ Boston Herald _Cen._ Century _C. O._ Current Opinion _Col._ Collier's Weekly _Colon._ Colonnade _Cos._ Cosmopolitan _Del._ Delineator _Det._ Detective Story Magazine _Ev._ Everybody's Magazine _E. W._ Every Week _For._. Forum _G. H._ Good Housekeeping _Harp. B._ Harper's Bazar _Harp. M._ Harper's Magazine _Hear._ Hearst's Magazine _I. S. M._ Illustrated Sunday Magazine _L. A. Times._ Los Angeles Times _L. H. J._ Ladies' Home Journal _Lit. R._ Little Review _L. St._ Live Stories _McC._ McClure's Magazine _McCall_ McCall's Magazine _Met._ Metropolitan _Mid._ Midland _Mir._ Reedy's Mirror _Mun._ Munsey's Magazine _N. Rep._ New Republic _N. Y. Trib._ New York Tribune _Outl._ Outlook _Pag._ Pagan _Par._ Parisienne _Pear._ Pearson's Magazine _Pict. R._ Pictorial Review _Q. W._ Queen's Work (_R._) (Reprint) _Rus. R._ Russian Review _Sau. St._ Saucy Stories _Scr._ Scribner's Magazine _S. E. P._ Saturday Evening Post _Sev. A._ Seven Arts _Sh. St._ Short Stories _Sn. St._ Snappy Stories _So. Wo. M._ Southern Woman's Magazine _S. S._ Smart Set _Strat. J._ Stratford Journal _Sun._ Sunset Magazine _To-day_ To-day's Housewife _Top-Notch_ Top-Notch Magazine _Touch._ Touchstone _W. H. C._ Woman's Home Companion _Wom. W._ Woman's World _Yale_ Yale Review _Y. C._ Youth's Companion _Young_ Young's Magazine
A
ABBOTT, FRANCES C. **Memorial Window, The. Del. Nov. Mrs. Bodkin's Début. Del. June.
*ABDULLAH, ACHMED. (ACHMEND ABDULLAH NADIR KHAN EL-DURANI EL-IDDRISSYEH.) ("A. A. NADIR.") (1881- .) (_See 1915 and 1916._) (_See also_ UZZELL, THOMAS H., _and_ ABDULLAH, ACHMED.) *As He Reaped. Ain. July. *Consider the Oath of M'Taga. All. March 10. *Disappointment. All. May 19. *East or West? Top-Notch. April 15. *Five-Dollar Gold-Piece, The. Sn. St. Dec. 18. **Gamut, The. S. S. Dec. **Gentlemen of the Old Régime, A. S. S. Feb. *Guerdon, The. S. S. Feb. **Home-Coming, The. Harp. M. May. **Letter, The. S. S. Jan. **Silence. All. April 21.
ADAMS, KATHARINE. *"Silent Brown." So. Wo. M. Oct.
ADAMS, MINNIE BARBOUR. (_See_ 1916.) *Half a Boy. Pict. R. Sept.
ADAMS, SAMUEL HOPKINS. (1871- .) (_See 1915 and 1916_.) Letter to Nowhere, A. E. W. Feb. 12. *Little Red Doctor of Our Square, The. Col Aug. 25. *Meanest Man in Our Square, The. Col. March 24. *Paula of the Housetop. Col. July 7. *Room "12 A." Ev. Nov. "Wamble: His Day Out." Col. Jan. 13.
ADLER, HENRY. Coward, The. Pag. Sept.
*AICARD, JEAN. (1848- .) *Mariette's Gift. N. Y. Trib. Feb. 18.
ALEXANDER, MARY. Ashamed of Her Parents. Del. Nov. Girl Who Is Not Popular, The. Del. May. How Can I Meet the Right Sort of Men? Del. March. Out of Touch With Life. Del. Oct. Too Sure of Herself. Del. July. When She Runs After the Boys. Del. Aug.
ALLEN, FREDERICK LEWIS. (_See 1915_.) Big Game. Cen. March. Fixing Up the Balkans. Cen. May. Small Talk. Cen. Feb.
ALLEN, LORAINE ANDERSON. **Going of Agnes, The. Touch. Sept.
ALLENDORF, ANNA STAHL. *Dallying of Celia May, The. G. H. July. **Leavening of St. Rupert, The. G. H. June.
"AMID, JOHN." (M. M. STEARNS.) (_See 1915 and 1916_.) *Alone. Det. Sept. 25. *Busted Poor. All. Dec. 8. Freeze, The. Mid. Aug. *Interlude. Young. April. *Prem Singh. Bel. Dec. 1. ***Professor, A. Mid. Nov. Strachan's Hindu. Bel. Oct. 27.
ANDERSON, SHERWOOD. (_See 1915 and 1916._) ***"Mother." Sev. A. March. ***Thinker, The. Sev. A. Sept. ***Untold Lie, The. Sev. A. Jan.
ANDERSON, WILLIAM ASHLEY. (_See 1915 and 1916._) **Unwrit Dogma, The. Ev. Dec.
ANDRADE, CIPRIANO, JR. *Applied Hydraulics. S. E. P. Aug. 25.
ANDRES, MARY RAYMOND SHIPMAN. (_See 1915 and 1916._) ***Blood Brothers. Scr. May. ***Return of K. of K., The. McC. March. *Russian, The. Milestones. Oct.
*ANDREYEV, LEONID NIKOLAEVICH. (1871- .) (_See 1916._) ***Lazarus. Strat. J. June.
ANONYMOUS. Apparition, The. N. Y. Trib. Nov. 11. Coeur de Lion. N. Y. Trib. July 22. ***Evocation, The. N. Y. Trib. April 22. Eyes of the Soul, The. N. Y. Trib. Feb. 25. Fools. Mir. Sept. 28. ***"Huppdiwupp." Lit. R. Jan. *Pipe, The. N. Y. Trib. Nov. 4. **Poilu's Dream on Christmas Eve, The. B. Her. Dec. 23. *Rendezvous, The. N. Y. Trib. Sept. 30. **Slacker with a Soul, A. N. Y. Trib. Sept. 16. *Spirit of Alsace, The. N. Y. Trib. May 6. *Voice of the Church Bell, The. N. Y. Trib. Oct. 21. War Against War. McC. April-May. When Lulu Made Trouble. Mir. May 18.
ARBUCKLE, MARY. Freedom and Robbie May. Sun. Nov.
ARMSTRONG, WILLIAM. Cupid in High Finance. Del. Sept.
ASHE, ELIZABETH. (_See 1915._) *Appraisement. Atl. March.
*ASSIS, MACHADO DE. (1839-1908.) (_See 1916._) **Attendant's Confession, The. (_R._) Strat. J. Dec.
AUERNHEIMER, RAOUL. (1876- .) *Demonstrating That War Is War. N. Y. Trib. Jan. 28.
*AUMONIER, STACY. (_See 1915 and 1916._) ***In the Way of Business. Pict. R. March. ***Packet, The. Col. May 26. ***"Them Others." Cen. Aug.
AUSTIN, F. BRITTEN. (_See 1915._) **Zu Befehl! S. E. P. Dec. 1.
B
BABCOCK, EDWINA STANTON. (_See 1916._) ***Excursion, The. Pict. R. Oct.
BACON, JOSEPHINE DASKAM. (1876- .) (_See 1915 and 1916._) Comrades in Arms. S. E. P. Oct. 27. *Entrances and Exits. Del. Oct. Ghost of Rosy Taylor, The. S. E. P. Nov. 17. *Magic Casements. Del. Nov. Square Peggy. S. E. P. Dec. 22. *Year of Cousin Quartus, A. Del. Feb.
BAILEY (IRENE) TEMPLE. (_See 1915._) *Red Candle, The. Scr. Dec.
BAKER, KATHARINE. (_See 1915 and 1916._) Fifty-Cent Kind, The. Atl. April.
BALL, WILLIAM DAVID. Man Who Paid, The. E. W. April 2.
BALMER, EDWIN. (1883- .) (_See 1915._) Madcap. Col. Jan. 27. S. Orton, Stockholder. E. W. May 28. Telegraph Trail, The. Col. March 17. Thing That He Did, The. L. H. J. Jan. With Sealed Hood. Col. Sept. 22.
BANKS, HELEN WARD. *Mrs. Pepper Passes. Y. C. April 5.
*BARBUSSE, HENRI. **Paradis Polishes the Boots. (_R._) C. O. Dec.
BARNARD, FLOY TOLBERT. (1879- .) (_See 1916._) ***Surprise in Perspective, A. Harp. M. April.
BARRY, RICHARD. (1881- .) Legacy, The. Del. March.
BARTLETT, FREDERICK ORIN. (1876- .) (_See 1915 and 1916._) Time to Go to Newport. E. W. July 23.
BARTLEY, NALBRO. Benedict & Company. S. E. P. Oct. 13. Briggles "Goes West." S. E. P. March 10. Have a Heart! S. E. P. April 7. Reel True. S. E. P. Nov. 10. Total Bewitcher, The. S. E. P. June 16. Town Mouse, The. S. E. P. April 21.
BASSETT, WILLARD KENNETH. *End of the Line, The. S. S. Oct.
BATES, SYLVIA CHATFIELD. (_See 1915 and 1916._) *Let Nothing You Dismay. W. H. C. Dec. *Light from the Holy Hill. Wom. W. Dec.
*BAZIN, RENÉ. (1853- .) ***Mathurine's Eyes. Strat. J. March.
BEACH, ROY. Cline's Injunction. Sun. April.
BEATTY, JEROME. "Attaboy!" McC. March. Gee-Whiz Guy, The. McC. Aug. "Take 'Im Out!" McC. May.
BECHDOLT, FREDERICK R. Pecos Kid, The. Col. Jan. 6.
BECHDOLT, JACK. Black Widow's Mercy, The. (_R._) Mir. Feb. 16.
BEER, THOMAS. (1889- .) ***Brothers, The. Cen. Feb. ***Onnie. Cen. May. **Rescuer, The. S. E. P. Aug. 11.
BEHRMAN, S. N. **Coming of the Lord, The. Touch. Oct. **Song of Ariel. Sev. A. May.
*BEITH, IAN HAY. (_See_ "HAY, IAN.")
*BELL, J(OHN) J(OY). (1871- .) (_See 1915 and 1916._) **Wanted--A Pussy-Mew. Bel. March 3.
BELL, LILIAN (LIDA). (1867- .) Mrs. Galloway Goes Shopping. Del. Sept. Mrs. Galloway Tries to Reduce. Del. Nov.
BENEFIELD, BARRY. (_See 1915 and 1916._) ***Simply Sugar Pie. (_R._) I. S. M. April 29.
BENÉT, WILLIAM ROSE. (1886- .) But Once a Year. Cen. Dec.
BENNET-THOMPSON, LILLIAN. (_See_ THOMPSON, LILLIAN BENNET-.)
*BENSON, EDWARD FREDERIC. (1867- .) *"Through." Cen. July.
BENSON, RAMSEY. (1866- .) *Shad's Windfall. B. C. March.
*BERESFORD, JOHN DAVYS. (1873- .) (_See 1916._) ***Escape, The. Sev. A. Feb. ***Little Town, The. Sev. A. June. ***Powers of the Air. Sev. A. Oct.
BERRY, JOHN. (_See 1916._) *Clod, The. B. C. April.
BETTS, THOMAS JEFFRIES. (_See 1916._) **Alone. Scr. May.
BIGGERS, EARL DERR. (1884- .) (_See 1916._) Each According to His Gifts. S. E. P. April 14. Same Old Circle. S. E. P. April 7. Soap and Sophocles. McC. July.
*"BIRMINGHAM, GEORGE A." (CANON JAMES O. HANNAY.) (1865- .) (_See 1915._) *Von Edelstein's Mistake. McC. Nov.
BLAIR, GERTRUDE. Water-Witch, The. Scr. May.
BLEDSOE, JOE. *Fuzz. B. C. May.
BLYTHE, SAMUEL G. Der Tag for Us. S. E. P. Dec. 22.
BOGGS, RUSSELL A. Boomer from the West, The. S. E. P. April 28.
BOOTH, FREDERICK. (_See 1916._) **Cloud-Ring, The. Sev. A. April.
BOTTOME, PHYLLIS. (_See 1916._) ***"Ironstone." Cen. March.
BOURNE, RANDOLPH. *Ernest, or Parent for a Day. Atl. June.
*BOUTET, FREDERIC. *Convalescent's Return, The. N. Y. Trib. Dec. 30. ***Medallion, The. N. Y. Trib. Oct. 28. *Messenger, The. N. Y. Trib. Aug. 12. *Promise, The. N. Y. Trib. Sept. 2.
BOWER, B. M., _and_ CONNOR, BUCK. (_See 1916._) Go-Between, The. McC. March. Red Ride, The. McC. May.
BOYER, WILBUR S. *Bum Throwers. Ev. June. *Getting Even with Geo'gia. Ev. April. *One Week of Kelly. Ev. March. *There's Many a Slip. Ev. Nov.
*BOYES, DAN. Lilium Giganteum. (_R._) Mir. Feb. 16.
BOYKIN, NANCY GUNTER. *Christmas Medley, A. Met. Jan. Leavings. E. W. Dec. 3. Retta Rosemary. E. W. July 16.
BRADY, ELIZABETH. *Ladislav Saves the Day. Q. W. Nov.
BRADY, MARIEL. (_See 1916._) Thermopylæ. Bel. Oct. 6.
BRALEY, BERTON. (_See 1915._) Stuff of Dreams, The. Del. Aug.
*BRAZ, ANATOLE LE. (_See_ LE BRAZ, ANATOLE.)
"BRECK, JOHN." (ELIZABETH C. A. SMITH.) ***From Hungary. Bookman. Dec. **Man Who was Afraid, The. Ev. Sept.
BROOKS, ALDEN. (_See 1916._) **Man From America, The. Cen. July. ***Three Slavs, The. Col. May 5.
BROWN, ALICE. (1857- .) (_See 1915 and 1916._) ***Flying Teuton, The. Harp. M. Aug. ***Nemesis, Harp. M. April. *Preaching Peony, The. Harp. M. June.
BROWN, BERNICE. **Last of the Line, The. E. W. Nov. 5.
BROWN, KATHARINE HOLLAND. (_See 1915 and 1916._) Millicent: Maker of History. Scr. June. **On a Brief Text from Isaiah. Scr. Feb.
BROWN, MARION FRANCIS. *Husks and Hawthorn. So. Wo. M. Aug.
BROWN, PHYLLIS WYATT. (PHYLLIS WYATT.) (_See 1916._) *Checked Trousers, The. Masses. June. *Extra Chop, The. Cen. Oct.
BROWN, ROYAL. *Seventy Times Seven. McCall. April.
BROWNELL, AGNES MARY. *Fifer, The. Y. C. June 28.
BRUBAKER, HOWARD. (_See 1915 and 1916._) *Baby's Place, A. Harp. M. Jan. Cabbages and Queens. Harp. M. Aug. Greeks Bearing Gifts. Harp. M. Nov. *Ranny and the Higher Life. Harp. M. June.
BRUCKMAN, CLYDE A. (_See 1916._) Joe Gum. S. E. P. May 5.
BRYSON, LYMAN. (_See 1915 and 1916._) **Under a Roof. Mid. July.
BULGER, BOZEMAN. (_See 1915 and 1916._) *Heart of the System, The. S. E. P. Jan. 6. Queen's Mistake, The. S. E. P. March 3. *Skin Deep. Ev. March.
BUNNER, ANNE. Road to Arcady, The. Ev. July.
BURNET, DANA. (1888- .) (_See 1915 and 1916._) *Christmas Fight of X 157. L. H. J. Dec. *Dub, The. S. E. P. March 17. ***Fog. (_R._) I. S. M. April 1. Genevieve and Alonzo. L. H. J. March. **Sadie Goes to Heaven. G. H. Aug. **Sponge, The. Am. Jan.
BURNETT, FRANCES HODGSON. (1849- .) (_See 1915._) **White People, The. Harp. M. Dec., '16-Jan., '17.
*BURROW, C. KENNETT. *Café de la Paix, The. (_R._) Mir. Sept 21.
BURT, JEAN BROOKE. Way of the West, The. Sun. June.
BURT, MAXWELL STRUTHERS. (1882- .) (_See 1915._) ***Closed Doors. Scr. Nov. ***Cup of Tea, A. Scr. July. ***Glory of the Wild Green Earth, The. Scr. Oct. ***John O'May. Scr. Jan. ***Panache, Le. Scr. Dec.
BUSBEY, KATHERINE GRAVES. (1872- .) **Senator's Son, The. Harp. M. March.
BUSS, KATE (MELDRAM). **Medals. Mid. May.
BUTLER, ELLIS PARKER. (1869- .) (_See 1915 and 1916._) Markley's "Size-Up" of Dix. Am. July. Mutual Spurs, Limited. S. E. P. July 21. *Red Avengers, The. Am. Jan. *Scratch-Cat. E. W. Feb. 26. Temporary Receiver, The. Am. Aug. *Trouble with Martha, The. Harp. M. Dec. **Wasted Effort. Am. May.
BUZZELL, FRANCIS. (1882- .) (_See 1915 and 1916._) ***Lonely Places. Pict. R. Dec. ***Long Vacation, The. Pict. R. Sept.