Chapter I: Introduction: The Judges (1)

1. EMMA K. TEMPLE }
2. ISABEL WALKER }
3. HARRY ANABLE KNIFFIN } _First_
4. KATHARINE LACY } _Judges_
{ 5. FRANCES GILCHRIST WOOD }
_Final_ { 6. DOROTHY SCARBOROUGH }
_Judges_ { 7. BLANCHE COLTON WILLIAMS } _Chairman_
{ 8. ROBERT L. RAMSAY
{ 9. MAXIM LIEBER

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 _Readers_, _First Judges_
5, 6, 7, 8, 9 _Final Judges_.

In preparing this the ninth volume of the series, the O. Henry Memorial Committee selected more than six hundred stories from some twenty-five hundred published in the year October, 1926, to September, 1927, inclusive. Of these six hundred the best according to the votes of at least two judges are listed in the following pages. From the fifty stories ranking highest were chosen, in the usual process of elimination by five final judges, the fifteen included in this volume.

“Child of God,” by Roark Bradford, received four votes for first place, and wins by a number of points. To this story, published in _Harper’s Magazine_, April, 1927, is awarded the first prize of $500.

Four candidates were considered for second place. One judge preferred “Singing Woman”; another, “Shades of George Sand” (closely followed by “The Little Girl from Town”); another, “Fear”; two others cast votes for “The Killers.” To this last named story, which wins by points, is awarded the second prize of $250. “The Killers,” by Ernest Hemingway, was published in _Scribner’s Magazine_, March, 1927.

For the special prize awarded the best short short story, the following were nominated by one or more of the judges: “Another Wife,” by Sherwood Anderson; “Sandoe’s Pocket,” by Elsie Singmaster; “Tommy Taylor,” by Zona Gale; “The Scarlet Woman,” by Louis Bromfield. “The Scarlet Woman” leads and receives therefore the award of $100. The story was published in _McClure’s_, January, 1927.

* * * * *

Among the fifteen stories ranking highest, four happen to be about the American Negro. The increasing representation of this race in brief fiction I observed in my introduction to _O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories_ of 1925. Of that year Du Bose Heyward’s “Crown’s Bess” and Julia Peterkin’s “Maum Lou” were reprinted; John Matheus’s “Fog,” Frederick Tisdale’s “The Guitar,” and Elsie Singmaster’s “Elfie” were mentioned. The volume for 1926 reprinted Arthur Huff Fauset’s “Symphonesque” and Lyle Saxon’s “Cane River.” The present collection offers, first, “Child of God.” “Never,” writes Mrs. Wood, “was the spirit of an age and a people more happily caught than here. The old-time darky and his tales may have been lost in a modern deluge of the nigger minstrel type, that ‘extinct species of a race that never existed’; but he comes back into his own in ‘Child of God’ with his characteristic ideas of a perfect heaven.” That the idea of heaven advanced is Willie’s idea appears to have eluded those who raised a small storm when they read the story in _Harper’s_. The visions Mr. Bradford spreads upon the page with sympathy and naïve simplicity are, of course, the visions vouchsafed to Willie in the few seconds after the trap gave way under his feet and before his body was borne out of jail; just so Willie would have constructed those visions. Added to the dream is something else that is greater art. The supernatural, revealing Willie’s experiences after death, is joined to the human dream so well as to defy detection. Who knows when life was pronounced extinct? What part of Willie’s dream belongs to earth and what to the heaven of his fancy? “There is art, exquisite art, in the joining,” as O. Henry once wrote of another story, and tenuous though the fabric may be, the seam is indiscernible. And how completely the delicately woven stuff covers the hard reality of the green-eyed man’s collapse! That ugly blue face and frothy saliva potently declare that the hangman was neatly punished by Willie’s ghost. “Mr. Bradford is of course the unquestionable find of the year,” writes Mr. Ramsay. “His ‘Child of God’ would perhaps never have been written if Molnar had not shown us in _Liliom_ how interesting it may be to see heaven through a glass very darkly; but it is an amazingly successful transcription into terms of Negro psychology.” The chairman suggests that it be read side by side with Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”--a tale many times reprinted--for testing its indubitable superiority.

“Bulldog,” like the prize winner, makes of an alleged criminal a hero. The black giant, of square and protruding jaw, square and receding forehead, was a fighter, one intent upon vengeance, willing to take punishment. The brute strength that served him falsely in his personal fracases served him and the judge truly in the fifteen-mile odyssey to Ossabaw. Mr. Daniels’s use of revealing incident and character prepares acceptance for Bulldog’s herculean feat, climax to an escape at once logical and stirring. Call to mind all the thrills you have enjoyed--say, from the many chases in _Les Misérables_ on--and compare with them the action from “Stan’s yo’ back!” to the “cry through the stillness of the night”; you will find that it survives in form, in style, in substance. With right logic and humorous turn the author brings Bulldog back to the opening scene and to the sentence of six months on the farm.

“Done Got Over” dramatizes the struggle between superstition harnessed with petty vengeance against enlightenment aided by generosity. Whoever has lived in the cotton belt knows with what excitation of horror, with what sense of the occult and foreboding of the mysteriously awful the old-time Negroes await the funeral sermon over the manifest ungodly. Intimation of a “preaching-to-hell” draws--or not many years ago drew--an audience keyed to highest expectancy, all sympathy lost in shuddering anticipation of the sinner’s doom. The idea seldom occurs that the verdict of the preacher is not irremediable. Perhaps “Done Got Over” falters at the moment of climax, perhaps one may wish that Miss Jinny Pickens had spoken. Her simple act, however, was sufficient--one who knows the Pickenses testifies to this point. The local colour witnesses the authors’ careful observation; the atmosphere declares their participation in the drama. They must have seen Draper’s yard of prince’s feather and dog-fennel; must have smelled the fig leaves in Miss Jinny’s back yard, the cape jasmines on Tampa’s coffin; surely they felt the agony of Tampa’s son.

“Monkey Motions,” from a seemingly casual recountal of Sam’l, rises to the perfect description of his dancing. That climax becomes a flashlight to illumine the backward way, to outline clearly details unguessed as salient. Pictures of the dance have always tempted the pen, not infrequently to failure; this instance is successful. “What are you weeping about?” asked Tom. If you have followed with the dancer his exposition of the “origins, methods, and significations” of the Charleston, if through it you have followed his race’s history, you may still have no more reason than Aunt Lady, but you will be dropping a tear with her. And your reason may be that so poignant a summary of race history in so short space presents the motive.

“The Killers,” second prize winner, one of three photographically realistic studies here reprinted, has been the most talked about story of 1927. In its seeming incompleteness is its superb completeness. Max and Al, the killers, do not get their man this particular evening, but they will get him; and the doom that Ole Andreson knows to be upon him when he says, “There isn’t anything I can do about it,” is more appalling than would be the actual shot from that sawed-off gun. Unknown horrors are greater than known horrors, a truth of which Mr. Hemingway has taken advantage in leaving the reader to construct the climax. If Ole stays in the room, the slayers will find him; if he goes out, they will find him; in either choice, they will inevitably shoot him. Can such things be? carries its answer: Such things are. Without a word of preachment, the story arraigns a world of presumable law and order. Mr. Hemingway’s dialogue, lacking specious suspense or excitement, tells the story. Six or seven hundred words in addition relate the bare action and sketch the setting. In transferring this narrative to the dramatic form no changes are necessary except the conversion of non-dialogue into stage directions; the story is economically perfect. It is not really a story, says Mrs. Wood, “not to be insulted as half-caste ‘realism’--just a blazing bit of reality to which you are the unwilling witness. Like the black cook, you ‘don’t like any of it--don’t like any of it, at all!’ yet you could no more tear yourself away from that peep-hole in the kitchen than you could resist the weaving head of a cobra. Of course, it is stale comparison to liken ‘The Killers’ to Greek tragedy, but since that is our golden milestone no other comparison serves.”

Of all the stories here reprinted, Maxim Lieber thinks “Night Club” “by far the best. It is a very swiftly moving, sharply outlined story, and the author achieves a remarkable effect with the utmost economy of words.” In “Night Club” Miss Brush purports to retail the drab evening of Mrs. Brady, maid, and in so doing adds another instance to examples of old truths: Romance is never at hand, but far away; the searcher fails to see that what he seeks is near home; life is stranger than fiction. The parts of the story are greater than its whole, a six-in-one marvel that tells the stories of (1) a wife who denies her marriage tie, for reasons implied, (2) of a dope fiend, (3) of an unfaithful husband, the wife, and the other woman, (4) of a girl who finds a pair of scissors necessary with her escort, (5) of an elopement, (6) of a girl who marries wealth to save her sister’s life. Even summary details convey other stories: “she saw a yellow check with the ink hardly dry.” Like “The Killers,” this story is of the immediate present. Nothing in fiction has described night-club life so deftly, much less described it from the cubbyhole of a maid who saw nothing.

Third of these photographic studies is “The Little Girl from Town,” an exquisite picture of childhood embroidered in tiny, colourful stitches. It reminds the chairman of nothing so much as a treasured piece of tapestry, bought years ago in Bath, in which thousands of stitches portray a small girl, her dog, her parrot, and her flowers. Patricia’s beauty and helplessness, set off by the hardier country children’s assurance, emphasized by her seeming victory, her pitiful failure, in saving the calf--this slight theme the author has embellished with a wealth of detail. As in the grimmer realism of “The Killers,” dialogue does most of the work. The minute accuracy of its transcription reads like a stenographic report edited by an artist. In this story, “quiet and penetrating,” to quote Mr. Ramsay, and in “Eminence” (see page xxii), whose chief character is a relative of Patricia’s, Miss Suckow has surpassed her former writing. Interesting by way of comparison for similarity of theme is Nels Anderson’s “Old Whitey” (see page xxxi).

Elisabeth Cobb Chapman’s “With Glory and Honour,” which shares with “Night Club” the element of setting, uses the setting for a different purpose. Hal Levering, who has denied his race, learns by a humiliating lesson what every man of every race must learn, that individual fulfilment depends upon race, pride in race, acceptance of racial possibilities. The work of Irvin Cobb’s daughter, “With Glory and Honour,” itself a happy testimonial to inheritance, reveals individual power that promises well. In suggestion, choice of detail, and rhythm, the story might be the accomplishment of a master.

In “He Man,” Marjory Stoneman Douglas not only tells the experiences of six in a fallen plane ending in the death of all but two, not only describes a struggle with the sea that lasted two days and nights; she achieves victory for endurance and fortitude, no less tokens of manhood than sportsmanship and courage. By vivid pictures, by the wind in the wires, by the omnipresence of the menacing sea, the author brings near the plight of those on the craft. Beautiful writing, forceful writing, carries the story; for example, “Stars were quivering in the enormous rondure of the sky that overhead took on a strange metallic blue and cast upon them a faint luminance that was less than light and only a little less than dark.” Isn’t that worthy to set beside “L’obscure clarté, qui tombe des etoiles,” and Milton’s light that served to render darkness visible?

The title “Fear,” the fear of men who fly, declares companionship with “He Man.” “Fear,” second on Dr. Scarborough’s list, has the distinction of being the one war story chosen from scores that have done their bit to memorialize the tenth decade after America’s entry into the conflict. “Fear” may be, as Mr. Ramsay says, sloppily executed; but, as he also states, it is intensely realized. Mr. Bellah’s way with planes is the way of one who has fought in them; his analysis of Paterson’s fear is the analysis of a warrior who knows the effect of war on men’s minds. Paterson weakened twice, but he recouped in the climax of his berserker rage what he had lost through previous faltering. To read “Fear” is to live again the days of ’17 and ’18. The story establishes the same point “He Man” establishes: faced by demand for courage, fear flees.

“Jukes,” the story of a sailor by sailor Bill Adams, is the survival of many cullings from _Adventure_. No other magazine represented in this book has shown so remarkable a gain in quality. The chairman, who read every number, marvelled at its rapid rise and trusts the ascent is more than temporary. Mr. Ramsay also comments that _Adventure_ has had an unusually good year. Mr. Adams, who spent eight weeks in writing “Jukes”, surely had no prime intention of producing an argument for prohibition; he was concerned to show the weakness of Jukes, that weakness by which tottered Jukes’s good resolutions, weakness abetted by crimp and board master. “You an’ me is dogs,” says one of the sailors; and “Jukes, was you ever beat at anything?” draws no answer. Jukes knows that he has never been other than beaten; his repeated impressment will be repeated--until the end. To read “Jukes” is to taste the ocean’s bitterest salt. Mr. Adams need not tell us that he has sailed with many a Jukes. “All these nowadays books about the clipper ships and the beauty of the sea rather weary me at times. The beauty and the grandeur were there. But what a horror was there too. Crews carted around like dogs.” Mr. Adams, like Mr. Wetjen, relates stories of the sea with breadth of knowledge and accuracy of detail possible only to a seaman.

Of the four remaining stories two are of the folk. Ada Jack Carver’s “Singing Woman,” second on Mr. Ramsay’s list, celebrates a custom of the French mulattoes on Isle Brevelle of the Joyous Coast. A gruesome and pathetic contest this between Henriette and Josephine, their ninety-nine and ninety-eight funerals proclaiming them last survivors of wailing women, rivals to the death. By easy management, the author permits them to emerge with drawn honours in “my friend, you and me ull quit even”; and, by her usual sympathy in characterizing the lowly, provokes for the old brown women admiration tempered with pity. A near relative of these wailing ones is George Allan England’s “Johnny Moaner” (see page xxiv), whose calling led him to kill that he might be supplied with a necessary funeral.

In “Four Dreams of Gram Perkins” Ruth Sawyer weaves one of the oddest yarns ever spun from dream stuff, yet as surely of the Maine folk as “Singing Woman” is of the Isle Brevelle natives. In their climactic progress Zeb Perkins’s dreams maintain consistently the ruling passion of Gram’s life as well as the character of Zeb himself, self-appointed layer of Gram’s ghost. Sardonic humour saves these dreams from the horrific as tenderness redeems Ada Jack Carver’s song of death.

“Shades of George Sand!” happens to fall into a category all its own. Mr. Lieber, placing it second, comments on its air of savoir faire and mature quality; the chairman appreciates the rebellion of Mathilde against her environment, her escape into a pseudo-paradise and consequent descent into limbo. Only the clever girl, apparently doomed to rusticity, fired by ancestry, and nourished by experiences vicarious as those which fed Mathilde, can guess with what eagerness Mathilde set out for Chicago. The meanness of Flora Campbell’s respectable boarding house and the defection of Mathilde’s hero may have struck down momentarily the girl’s aspirations; but surely the conference with her tutelary shade gave Mathilde courage to follow her star; and if she has not presided over a salon, she has found something better. The mordant, yeasty humour of this tale should leaven the collection, in general a serious collection.

“The Scarlet Woman,” in length about that of “The Killers,” required greater skill in elimination. Whereas “The Killers” belongs to the true short-story genre in brevity of time, close circumscription of place, and sharply defined conflict, “The Scarlet Woman” is a novel which, paradoxically and exceptionally, succeeds as a short short story. In its 3,000 words, the author, by concentrating the essence of Vergie Winters’s life, has escaped a mere synopsis. To say it differently, he has revealed by high lights the passive conflict one woman endured with the social order, a conflict the motive of which is love. The obstacles in the way, too great to be surmounted, Mr. Bromfield has disregarded with a featness that recalls Columbus’s triumph with the egg.

THE LISTS

Before consulting the appended lists, please note the following abbreviations:

ABBREVIATIONS

_Ad._ _Adventure_
_Am._ _American Magazine_
_Am. Merc._ _American Mercury_
_A. A._ _Argosy Allstory Magazine_
_Arch._ _Archer_
_Atl._ _Atlantic Monthly_
_B. M._ _Black Mask_
_B. B._ _Blue Book Magazine_
_Book._ _Bookman_
_C. W._ _Catholic World_
_C._ _Century Magazine_
_C. T._ _Chicago Tribune_
_Clues_ _Clues Magazine_
_C. H._ _College Humor_
_Col._ _Collier’s Weekly_
_C. G._ _Country Gentleman_
_D._ _Delineator_
_D. S. M._ _Detective Stories Magazine_
_D. S._ _Droll Stories_
_E._ _Echo_
_Elks_ _Elks Magazine_
_Ev._ _Everybody’s Magazine_
_Fl._ _Flynn’s Weekly_
_F._ _Forum_
_G. H._ _Good Housekeeping_
_H. J. Q._ _Haldeman Julius Quarterly_
_H. B._ _Harper’s Bazar_
_H._ _Harper’s Magazine_
_H. I. and C._ _Hearst’s International and Cosmopolitan Magazine_
_L. H. J._ _Ladies’ Home Journal_
_L._ _Liberty_
_McCall._ _McCall’s Magazine_
_McClure._ _McClure’s Magazine_
_Mun._ _Munsey’s Magazine
_Op._ _Opportunity_
_P. R._ _Pictorial Review_
_Pop._ _Popular_
_R. B._ _Red Book Magazine_
_S. E. P._ _Saturday Evening Post_
_Scr._ _Scribner’s Magazine_
_S. S._ _Short Stories_
_S. S. M._ _Special Salesman Magazine_
_Sun._ _Sunset Magazine_
_W. T._ _Weird Tales_
_W. S._ _Western Story_
_W. H. C._ _Woman’s Home Companion_
_Y._ _Young’s Magazine_

LIST I

Stories ranking highest:

Abbot, Keene, Tree of Life (_Atl._, Dec., 1926).

Adams, Bill, Jukes (_Ad._, Nov. 23, 1926).

Alexander, Elizabeth, The Purest Passion (_S. E. P._, Feb. 5).

Alexander, Sandra, Passion (_H._ Apr.).

Aley, Maxwell, Man Child (_G. H._, July).

Anderson, Frederick Irving, Wise Money (_S. E. P._, Aug. 6).

Anthony, Joseph, A Hobo He Would Be (_C._, Oct., 1926).

Bailey, Margaret Emerson, Common Law (_H._, Apr.).

Banning, Margaret Culkin, Heads or Tails (_S. E. P._, May 7); The
Woman Higher Up (_S. E. P._, May 21).

Beer, Thomas, Piepowder Court (_S. E. P._, Oct. 16, 1926); The Public
Life (_S. E. P._, Nov. 20, 1926); Curly-Tailed Wolf (_S. E. P._,
Apr. 16); Cramambuli (_S. E. P._, May 7); Æsthetics (_S. E. P._,
June 11).

Bellah, James Warner, Fear (_S. E. P._, Nov. 6, 1926); Boppo’s
Bicycle (_Col._, Feb. 5); Funny Nose (_S. E. P._, Feb. 5); Old
Slithercheeks Takes a Bath (_Col._, Feb. 26); Blood (_S. E. P._,
Apr. 2); The Great Tradition (_S. E. P._, May 28); A Gentleman of
Blades (_S. E. P._, June 11); M’Givney’s Mustache (_S. E. P._,
Aug. 20).

Blake, Clarice, The Mold (_C._, May).

Bradford, Roark, Child of God (_H._, Apr.).

Brady, Mariel, From Four Till Seven (_G. H._, Nov., 1926); April’s
Fools (_G. H._, Apr.); Snips and Snails (_G. H._, June).

Brecht, Harold W., Vienna Roast (_H._, Nov., 1926).

Broadhurst, George, The Motive (_S. E. P._, July 2).

Bromfield, Louis, “Let’s Go to Hinkey-Dink’s” (_McCall._, Sept.).

Brush, Katharine, The Other Pendleton (_P. R._, Oct., 1926); Night
Club (_H._, Sept.).

Burlingame, Roger, Jacinth (_Scr._, Oct., 1926).

Burt, Katharine Newlin, Jealous Oberon (_C. T._, May 15).

Burt, Struthers, Freedom (_C. T._, Nov. 28, 1926); C’Est La Guerre
(_S. E. P._, Feb. 5); Grandpa (_S. E. P._, Apr. 23); Soda Bicarb
(_S. E. P._, July 2).

Busch, Niven, Jr., The Wife and the Toreador (_Col._, Aug. 6).

Butler, Ellis Parker, Bruce of the Bar-None (_Sun._, May).

Byrne, Donn, Rivers of Damascus (_McCall_, Oct., 1926).

Canfield, Dorothy, Here Was Magic (_W. H. C._, Feb.).

Carver, Ada Jack, The Old One (_H._, Oct., 1926); Singing Woman (_H._,
May).

Chapman, Elisabeth Cobb, With Glory and Honour (_C._, June).

Clark, Valma, Candlelight Inn (_Scr._, Nov., 1926); The Tact of
Monsieur Pithou (_Scr._, May).

Clarke, James Mitchell, Punishment (_Ad._, Apr. 1).

Cobb, Irvin S., The Wooden Decoy (_H. I. and C._, Dec., 1926); This
Man’s World (_H. I. and C._, May); Louder Than Words (_H. I. and
C._, June); As Brands from the Burning (_H. I. and C._, July);
Faith with Works (_H. I. and C._, Aug.).

Cohen, Octavus Roy, Idles of the King (_S. E. P._, Aug. 6); The Porter
Missing Men (_S. E. P._, Aug. 20).

Connell, Richard, The Lady Killer (_S. E. P._, Nov. 27, 1926); In
Society (_S. E. P._, Mch. 5).

Cram, Mildred, From a Château Kitchen (_D._, June).

Crowell, Chester T., The Trick (_S. E. P._, Apr. 2).

Daniels, Roger, Bulldog (_S. E. P._, Nov. 13, 1926).

Davis, Elmer, The Ruinous Woman (_C._, May).

Detzer, Karl W., The Superior Woman (_C._, Jan.).

Dickson, Harris, On the First Sand Bar (_S. E. P._, Jan. 15); The
Sealed Wager (_S. E. P._, May 21); Foresight (_S. E. P._, Aug. 27).

Dobie, Charles Caldwell, Slow Poison (_H._, July).

Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, The Beautiful and Beloved (_S. E. P._,
Apr. 2); The Third Woman (_C. T._, May 29); Stepmother
(_S. E. P._, June 4); He Man (_S. E. P._, July 30).

Dwyer, James Francis, Dreve of Virginia (_R. B._, Oct., 1926).

Edmonds, Walter D., Who Killed Rutherford? (_Scr._, Mch.).

Eliot, Ethel Cook, Heaven Knows (_Arch._, Mch.).

Ellerbe, Alma and Paul, “Done Got Over” (_Col._, Nov. 27, 1926).

Fairbank, Janet, The Thin Red Line (_W. H. C._, Jan.).

Farnham, Walter, David (_Ad._, Nov. 8, 1926).

Ferber, Edna, Blue Blood (_H. I. and C._, Mch.).

Fisher, Rudolph, Blades of Steel (_Atl._, Aug.).

Flynn, T. T., Twenty Fathoms Under (_S. S._, Apr. 25).

Gale, Zona, A Way of Escape (_W. H. C._, Oct., 1926).

Gilkyson, Phoebe, The Portrait (_H._, Jan.).

Gilson, Charles, Three Thieves (_Ad._, Mch. 15).

Gordon, Eugene, Game (_Op._, Sept.).

Hackett, Francis, The Cinder (_C._, Nov., 1926).

Hartman, Lee Foster, The Reek of Limes (_P. R._, Apr.).

Hemingway, Ernest, The Killers (_Scr._, Mch.); Fifty Grand (_Atl._,
July).

Hergesheimer, Joseph, Collector’s Blues (_S. E. P._, Oct. 2, 1926);
Trial by Armes (_Scr._, Mch.); Natchez (_S. E. P._, May 21); New
Orleans (_S. E. P._, July 23).

Hervey, Harry, The Lover of Madame Guillotine (_McClure_, Jan.).

Heyward, Du Bose, The Half Pint Flask (_Book._, May).

Hopper, James, When It Happens (_H._, May).

Hughes, Rupert, They Were Americans Too (_McCall_, Feb.); The River
Pageant (_H. I. and C._, July).

Hume, Cyril, The Count’s China Teeth (_C. H._, Apr. 2).

Jackson, Margaret W., Birds of a Feather (_McCall_, Oct., 1926).

Jaffé, Margaret Davis, Shut In (_C. W._, Oct., 1926).

Jordan, Elizabeth, The Little Red-Haired Girl (_C. T._, Oct. 31, 1926).

Kelly, Eleanor Mercein, Monkey Motions (_P. R._, Oct., 1926); Emiliana
(_S. E. P._, Oct. 2, 1926); Fête-Dieu (_S. E. P._, Dec. 18, 1926);
Charivari (_S. E. P._, Feb. 12); Interlude (_S. E. P._, June 25);
Nostalgia (_S. E. P._, Aug. 13).

Kerr, Sophie, The Bad Little Egg (_L._, Nov. 6, 1926); Mrs. Mather
(_C._, June); Mister Youth (_D._, July).

King, Basil, The Supreme Goal (_McCall_, Apr.).

Kirk, R. G., Transfer (_S. E. P._, Oct. 9, 1926).

Krebs, Roland, The Sport of Kings’ County (_C. H._, June).

Kyne, Peter B., The Devil-Dog’s Pup (_G. H._, Nov., 1926); The Tidy
Toreador (_H. I. and C._, Apr.); Bread upon the Waters (_H. I. and
C._, Aug.).

Lane, Rose Wilder, Yarbwoman (_H._, July).

Logan, James T., Lawrence Avenue (_Op._, Aug.).

MacDougall, Sally, Wild Music (_H._, Sept.).

McFee, William, The Wife of the Dictator (_R. B._, May); The Roving
Heart (_R. B._, July).

MacGrath, Harold, The Fiddle String (_R. B._, Jan.).

McLean, Margharite Fisher, The Lonesome Christmas-Tree (_Scr._, Dec.,
1926).

Marquand, J. P., Lord Chesterfield (_S. E. P._, June 18).

Marquis, Don, When the Turtles Sing (_Scr._, Apr.); A Keeper of
Tradition (_Scr._, Aug.).

Mumford, Ethel Watts, The Ghosts of China Gardens (_P. R._, Nov.,
1926).

O’Reilly, Edward S., In Our Midst (_P. R._, Oct., 1926).

Paul, L., Heat (_Ad._, Mch. 1).

Popowska, Leokadya, The Living Sand (_H._, June).

Rhodes, Eugene Manlove, The Bad Man and the Darling of the Gods (_H.
I. and C._, July).

Roe, Vingie, Doc Virginia (_McCall_, Aug.).

Saunders, Louise, Formula (_H._, Oct., 1926).

Sawyer, Ruth, Four Dreams of Gram Perkins (_Am. Merc._, Oct., 1926).

Scobee, Barry, Monotony (_Ad._, Nov. 8).

Scoggins, C. E., White Fox (_S. E. P._, Sept. 17).

Shay, Frank, Little Dombey (_Scr._, Jan.).

Singmaster, Elsie, The Fiery Cross (_Atl._, Oct., 1926); Pomp an’
Glory (_S. E. P._, Oct. 9, 1926); Aged One Hundred and Twenty
(_S. E. P._, Mch. 12).

Smith, Garret, Sitting Pretty for Life (_L._, Feb. 5).

Spears, Raymond S., On Getting Acquainted (_Ad._, Feb. 15).

Springer, Fleta Campbell, Severson (_H._, June).

Starrett, Vincent, The Incomplete Angler (_S. S._, Aug. 10).

Steele, Wilbur Daniel, Autumn Bloom (_P. R._, Nov., 1926); A Drink
of Water (_H._, Jan.); Sailor! Sailor! (_P. R._, July); New Deal
(_Scr._, Aug); Sooth (_H._, Aug.); Speed (_P. R._, Aug.).

Stone, Elinore Cowan, An Hour Before Dinner (_Col._, Dec. 18, 1926).

Suckow, Ruth, Eminence (_Am. Merc._, Mch.); The Little Girl from Town
(_H._, Aug.).

Synon, Mary, Amy Brooks (_G. H._, Mch.).

Tarkington, Booth, Mr. White (_S. E. P._, Mch. 12); Hell (_S. E. P._,
July 16).

Tarleton, Fiswoode, Eloquence (_Ad._, Oct. 8, 1926).

Taylor, Ellen du Pois, Nostalgia (_H._, Feb.); Shades of George Sand!
(_H._, Mch.).

Torrey, Grace B., One Medium-Sized Dog (_W. H. C._, Oct., 1926);
Bartley, B. A. (_S. E. P._, Oct. 30, 1926).

Tupper, Tristram, Three Episodes in the Life of Timothy Osborn
(_S. E. P._, Apr. 9).

Welles, Harriet, The Stranger Woman (_Scr._, Dec., 1926); Her
Highness’ Hat (_W. H. C._, Aug).

Wetjen, Albert Richard, Shingles out of Bandon (_Ad._, Oct. 8, 1926);
The Covenant of the Craddocks (_Ad._, Feb. 1); The Strange
Adventure of Tommy Lawn (_Ad._, Mch. 15).

Wiley, Hugh, The _Patriot_ (_R. B._, June).

Williams, Ben Ames, Coconuts (_S. E. P._, Oct. 9, 1926); Opportunity
(_S. E. P._, Jan. 8); Altitude (_S. E. P._, Jan. 15); A Needful
Fitness (_C. T._, Jan. 23).

Williams, Jesse Lynch, A Man’s Castle (_R. B._, Feb.).

Wister, Owen, The Right Honorable the Strawberries (_H. I. and C._,
Nov., 1926); Lone Fountain (_H. I. and C._, Apr.).

Wylie, Elinor, King’s Pity (_W. H. C._, Sept.).

LIST II

Stories ranking second:

Adams, Frank R., Love’s Pair o’ Dice (_L._, Feb. 26); Oysters in
Season (_L._, Apr. 2).

Addington, Sarah, Mr. Dickens’ Little Boy (_D._, Dec., 1926); Tornado
(_D._, July); Clodhopper (_D._, Sept.).

Aldrich, Bess Streeter, “He Whom a Dream Hath Possest” (_Am._, June).

Aley, Maxwell, Mr. Petty’s Garden (_W. H. C._, Apr.).

Anderson, Frederick Irving, Finger Prints (_S. E. P._, Oct. 23, 1926).

Andrews, G. G., Fire (_C. T._, Mch. 6).

Avery, Stephen Morehouse, Where Angels Fear to Tread (_Col._, Sept.
25, 1926); “Circle Wide, We’ll Meet above the Clouds” (_McCall_,
May).

Bailey, Temple, So This Is Christmas! (_McCall_, Dec., 1926).

Balmer, Edwin, The Round Bullet (_L._, Jan. 29); Double Exposure
(_L._, Sept. 3).

Banning, Margaret Culkin, Amateur (_H._, Dec., 1926); Not in Politics
(_S. E. P._, Dec. 25, 1926); The Favorite Daughter (_Col._, May
28).

Barker, Elsa, The Jade Earring (_R. B._, Nov., 1926).

Bechdolt, Frederick, For the Girl Back Home (_H. I. and C._, May).

Bellah, James Warner, Boppo and the Awful Whiffs (_Col._, Mch. 12);
The Silly Major (_Col._, Apr. 9); The Gods of Yesterday
(_S. E. P._, Apr. 30); Boppo Refuses (_Col._, June 11).

Benét, Stephen Vincent, The Amateur of Crime (_Am._, Apr.).

Blochman, L. G., Ways That Are Dark (_Ev._, Mch.).

Borden, Mary, An Accident on the Quai Voltaire (_F._, Mch.).

Borland, Hal, The Heifers (_Book._, Oct., 1926).

Boyd, Thomas, The Fickle Jade (_C. H._, Dec., 1926); The Fighting
Face (_S. S._, Dec. 25, 1926); Old Timers (_C. G._, Mch.);
Grandfather’s Dog (_Scr._, July).

Brackett, Charles, The Monster’s Child (_S. E. P._, Oct. 23, 1926); As
Suggested (_S. E. P._, Jan. 22).

Brady, Mariel, Georgia Washington (_G. H._, Feb.).

Brown, Bernice, Marie Celeste (_D._, Aug.).

Brown, Royal, The Sixth Hat (_L._, Mch., 19).

Buckley, F. R., Peg Leg Retires (_W. S._, Apr. 2).

Burt, Katharine Newlin, Heartbreak Homestead (_L._, Apr. 23).

Burt, Struthers, Masquerade (_C. T._, Oct. 3, 1926).

Butler, Ellis Parker, I Beg Your Pardon (_W. H. C._, June); Happy
Harry (_Mun._, June); Mad Marix (_Mun._, July).

Canfield, Dorothy, A Basque Windfall (_W. H. C._, Apr.).

Carman, Dorothy Walworth, Every Thursday (_H._, Jan.).

Chamberlain, George Agnew, The Red, Red Tree (_S. E. P._, Nov. 13,
1926).

Child, Maude Parker, Diamonds in the Rough (_S. E. P._, Dec. 4, 1926).

Child, Richard Washburn, When I’m Rich Enough (_Col._, Apr. 2).

Clearing, Robert, Mother Cuts Loose (_W. H. C._, Mch.).

Cockrell, Stephena, Lafayette’s Sheets (_G. H._, Sept.).

Connell, Catharine, Life Isn’t Like That, Father! (_W. H. C._, Aug.).

Connell, Richard, Room at the Top (_Col._, Feb. 19).

Cooper, Mary Lispenard, Moth-Mullein (_H._, Nov., 1926).

Cross, Ruth, Mr. Tightwad Meets His Match (_P. R._, Jan.)

Croy, Homer, Wilkie’s Unforgivable Sin (_P. R._, Apr.).

Davenport, Walter, Dr. Lysander (_Col._, Nov. 6, 1926).

Davis, Aaron, The Armored Heart (_W. H. C._, Sept.).

Davis, Elmer, The $125,000 Marriage License (_McClure_, Nov., 1926).

Davron, Mary Clare, Icebergs (_R. B._, Feb.).

Delano, Edith Barnard, Enough Is Enough (_S. E. P._, July 16).

Delmar, Vina, The Belle of Barnesville (_L._, Aug. 6).

Detzer, Karl, A Call for the Doctor (_S. S._, Sept. 25).

Dickson, Harris, Two of a Trade (_S. E. P._, Nov. 20, 1926).

Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, Guinevere (_S. E. P._, Jan. 1); You Can
Have Three Wishes (_W. H. C._, June).

Edgar, Day, The Last Patrician (_S. E. P._, May 14); Sic Semper
(_S. E. P._, Aug. 13).

Egan, Cyril B., Passion Play (_C. W._, Sept.).

England, George Allan, Johnny Moaner (_Ev._, June).

Erskine, John, Nausicaa Receives (_Col._, July 16).

Evans, Ida M., Mrs. Galahad (_C. T._, Nov. 7, 1926).

Falkner, Leonard, Corpus Delicti (_D. S. M._, Oct. 30, 1926).

Ferber, Edna, Perfectly Independent (_H. I. and C._, Dec., 1926).

Fitzgerald, F. Scott, Jacob’s Ladder (_S. E. P._, Aug. 20).

Flynn, T. T., Mountain Top Mystery (_Clues_, Mch.); Through the Red
Death (_S. S._, July 10); Peg Leg (_C. T._, Aug. 14).

Ford, Sewell, The Woman Who Never Forgot (_H. I. and C._, Dec., 1926).

Fowler, Richard B., Practicality in Practice (_Scr._, Feb.); Elmer’s
Imperfect Day (_W. H. C._, Sept.).

Frost, Meigs, O., They’s Always Thoroughbreds (_Ev._, Jan.).

Gale, Zona, A Winter’s Tale (_H. I. and C._, June).

Gelzer, Jay, Man’s Size (_G. H._, Feb.).

Gilbert, Kenneth, Strength of the Hills (_Sun._, Sept.).

Gould, Bruce, Sky Scrapes (_B. B._, Oct., 1926).

Hallet, Richard Matthews, Theed Harlow’s Cadenza (_S. E. P._, Apr. 2).

Hergesheimer, Joseph, A Further Study of Plants (_S. E. P._, Oct. 16,
1926); Albany (_S. E. P._, May 7); Washington (_S. E. P._,
June 4); Lexington (_S. E. P._, June 18); Charleston (_S. E. P._,
July 9).

Hopper, James, Stilts and a Complex (_R. B._, Nov., 1926); The
Derringer (_L._, May 7).

Hughes, James Perley, The Glass Stalker (_Mun._, May).

Hughes, Rupert, The Big Boob (_L._, May 14).

Humphreys, Ray, In All His Glory (_W. S. M._, Apr. 2).

Huse, Harry G., Red Symbols (_Ad._, June 11).

Huston, McCready, The Lamp (_Scr._, Dec., 1926).

Irwin, Wallace, American Beauty (_S. E. P._, Jan. 8); Thanks for the
Buggy Ride (_S. E. P._, Jan. 15).

Irwin, Will, Through a Loophole in the Law (_L._, Feb. 12).

Jackson, Charles Tenney, Big Timber (_S. S._, Feb. 25); Fingers
(_S. S._, Sept. 25).

James, Will, The Young Cowboy (_Scr._, Jan.).

Jerard, Elise Jean, The Treat (_Col._, May 14).

Johnson, Nunnally, A Portrait of the Writer (_S. E. P._, Oct. 16,
1926).

Johnston, Isabel, The Lavender-Flowered Crime (_McCall_, Oct., 1926).

Jordan, Elizabeth, John Henry’s Inferiority Complex (_C. T._, July 10).

Kahler, Hugh MacNair, The Puppet (_S. E. P._, Oct. 16); Elbowroom
(_S. E. P._, Aug. 20).

Kelly, Eleanor Mercein, Las Señoritas (_S. E. P._, Mch. 26); Sky
Pastures (_S. E. P._, Apr. 23).

Kerr, Sophie, The Sloane Temper (_Am._, Mch.); Hush-Me-Dear (_L._,
Feb. 19); Mimi-Mary (_Col._, Nov. 13, 1926); They Told Her
Everything (_D._, May).

Kilbourne, Fannie, If We Have Each Other (_S. E. P._, Dec. 11, 1926);
Red Hair (_McCall_, Jan.); With a Modern Leading Lady (_S. E. P._,
July 9); A Married Man’s Job (_S. E. P._, Aug. 20).

Lardner, Ring, Fun Cured (_H. I. and C._, Jan.); Hurry-Kane (_H. I.
and C._, May); Then and Now (_H. I. and C._, June); The Spinning
Wheel (_H. I. and C._, July).

Lea, Fannie Heaslip, That’s Life (_G. H._, Feb.); On the Air (_G. H._,
Apr.); Caprice Itself (_McCall_, June).

Leach, Paul R., Miscellany (_L._, Dec., 1926).

Lincoln, Joseph C., An Honest Man’s Business (_S. E. P._, July 23).

Lloyd, Beatrix Demarest, Villa Beata (_S. E. P._, Apr. 30);
Alimentation’s Artful Aid (_S. E. P._, June 11); A Tidiness in the
Affairs of Mr. Tracy (_S. E. P._, Aug. 27).

Looms, George, The Lights of the Harbour (_E._, Aug.).

McBlair, Robert, One Christmas Morning (_Elks_, Dec., 1926); Twisted
Gun Gap (_Elks_, Mch.).

McCarter, Margaret Hill, The Guardian of the Jack Oaks (_McCall_,
Dec., 1926).

McCulloch, F. H., The Code of Boys and Dogs (_McCall_, Nov., 1926).

McKenna, Edward L., Hardware (_Ad._, Apr. 1).

McMorrow, Will, Battle Honors (_Pop._, Feb. 7).

Marmur, Jacland, Copra (_Ad._, Jan. 1).

Marquand, J. P., Good Morning, Major (_S. E. P._, Dec. 11, 1926); The
Cinderella Motif (_S. E. P._, Mch. 5).

Mason, Grace Sartwell, The Way to Heaven (_H._, Dec., 1926).

Means, E. K., A Farewell Tour (_Mun._, Dec., 1926).

Merrill, Kenneth Griggs, The Cross (_Scr._, Dec., 1926).

Merwin, Samuel, The Million-Dollar Buckwheats (_McCall_, Oct., 1926);
The Cat Jumps Quick (_McCall_, July); The Morning Star (_Col._,
Aug. 27).

Mitchell, Ruth Comfort, Of the Fittest (_R. B._, Oct., 1926);
Dangerous but Passable (_W. H. C._, Nov., 1926).

Montague, Margaret Prescott, The Golden Moment (_Atl._, Oct., 1926);
The Last Tenth (_H._, Nov., 1926).

Montross, Lois Seyster, Iron Dogs (_L. H. J._, Nov., 1926).

Montross, Lynn, The Vulgar Boatman (_Col._, Aug. 13).

Morton, Leigh, A Poor Man’s Cottage (_McCall_, May).

Mumford, Ethel Watts, The Scales of Justice (_Mun._, July).

Nason, Leonard H., The General’s Aide (_S. E. P._, Nov. 6, 1926).

Neidig, William J., Rubies of Mogok (_S. E. P._, Oct. 9, 1926); The
Dagga Smokers (_S. E. P._, Dec. 11, 1926).

Norris, Kathleen, The Irish Song Bird (_H. I. and C._, Dec., 1926).

Osborne, William Hamilton, A Rum Proposal (_R. B._, Oct., 1926).

Pangborn, Georgia Wood, The North Wind (_C. T._, Dec. 19, 1926).

Parker, Maude, Raise or Quit (_S. E. P._, Mch. 5); Exploration
(_S. E. P._, June 11).

Patterson, Norma, Ships That Pass (_G. H._, Jan.).

Pattullo, George, Eels (_S. E. P._, Mch. 12).

Pelley, William Dudley, The Prodigal Angel (_L._, June 18).

Perry, Peter, the State’s Witness (_Fl._, Oct. 23, 1926).

Post, Melville Davisson, The Leading Case (_Am._, June).

Pulver, Mary Brecht, They Knew What They Wanted (_S. E. P._, Dec. 4,
1926).

Reese, Lowell Otus, Fool Ridge (_S. E. P._, Nov. 6, 1926).

Ritchie, Robert Welles, Rapahoe Bob (_C. G._, Jan.).

Roche, Arthur Somers, Love Was Different Then (_H. I. and C._, Feb.).

Roe, Vingie E., Smoke in the Gulch (_McCall_, Jan.).

Rose, Will, Splurgin’ (_Scr._, Jan.).

Ross, Mary Lowry, The Real Mrs. Alward (_S. E. P._, Nov. 20, 1926);
Three Husbands in Paris (_S. E. P._, May 21).

Russell, John, The Bright Reversion (_Col._, May 14).

Rutledge, Maryse, Skyscrapers (_S. E. P._, Apr. 16).

Sangster, Margaret E., Mountains (_G. H._, May); Loveliness (_G. H._,
Aug.).

Savell, Morton, The Wings of a Lark (_S. S._, Feb. 25); Bird in Hand
(_C. T._, Sept. 18).

Saxby, Charles, The Little Mercy of Men (_Col._, Feb. 19).

Schisgall, Oscar, Come On, Row! (_D. S. M._, Oct. 30, 1926); In
Kashla’s Garden (_W. T._, May).

Scott, R. T. M., Peter’s Tower (_Am._, Mch.).

Scoville, Samuel Jr., The Mouse and the Lion (_Col._, Oct. 30, 1926).

Seifert, Shirley, Dumb Bunnies (_Col._, Nov. 27, 1926).

Sheehan, Perley Poore, A Feud of the High Sierras (_S. S._, June 25).

Shenton, Edward, All the Boats to Build (_Scr._, Oct., 1926).

Singmaster, Elsie, There Was Joan of Arc (_L. H. J._, Mch.).

Skerry, Frederick, Touched in Passing (_Col._, Feb. 12).

Squier, Emma-Lindsay, The Room of the Golden Lovers (_Col._, Mch. 19);
The Bells of Culiacán (_G. H._, May); The Gipsy Road (_D._, May).

Starrett, Vincent, The Woman in Black (_S. S._, Dec. 10, 1926); The
Murder on the Ace’s Trick (_S. S._, June 10).

Stone, Elinore Cowan, Be My Valentine (_W. H. C._, Feb.).

Storm, Marian, Discovery (_F._, Nov., 1926).

Stribling, T. S., It Don’t Mean Nothin’ to Men (_P. R._, Oct., 1926).

Synon, Mary, You Meet Such Nice People (_G. H._, July).

Tarleton, Fiswoode, Miracles (_Ad._, Mch.).

Terhune, Albert Payson, Early Birds (_Col._, Oct. 16, 1926); The True
Romance (_D._, Nov., 1926); The Battle of the Gods (_Col._, Dec.
4, 1926); Loot (_Col._, Aug. 13); The Short Cutters (_L._, Aug.
27).

Terrill, Lucy Stone, Sidewalks? Yes (_S. E. P._, Oct. 16, 1926).

Thomas, Elizabeth Wilkins, Deer (_W. H. C._, June).

Tisdale, Frederick, Down to Babylon (_P. R._, Dec., 1926).

Train, Arthur, The Viking’s Daughter (_S. E. P._, Feb. 5).

Triem, Paul Ellsworth, Will Morning Never Come? (_D. S. M._, Nov. 13,
1926).

Turnbull, Agnes Sligh, Flood-Gates (_McCall_, Nov., 1926); Holly at
the Door (_McCall_, Dec., 1926).

Valensi, Marion Poschman, The Girl Who Set Out to Marry Money (_Am._,
Nov., 1926); Roseleaves and Moonlight (_McCall_, Mch.).

Van de Water, Virginia Terhune, How It Worked (_Mun._, Dec., 1926).

Waldron, Webb, Jim Comes Home (_W. H. C._, Mch.).

Wallace, S. E., Kenyon Stands by (_S. S. M._, Aug.)

Warren, Lella, The Wrong Twin (_H. I. and C._, July).

Watkins, Maurine, Alimony (_H. I. and C._, July).

Watkins, Richard Howells, The Ace of Aerobats (_Mun._, Sept.); Conover
Crashes in (_S. S._, Sept. 10); Fly-by-Night (_Ad._, Sept. 15).

Weiman, Rita, Dinner Is Served (_R. B._, Dec., 1926); Slow Torture
(_L._, Apr. 16).

Wetjen, Albert Richard, The First Law of Nature (_Col._, June 11); The
Mate Stands by (_Col._, July 23).

White, Stewart Edward, “Free, Wide, and Handsome” (_Am._, May).

Wiley, Hugh, The Power of the Press (_S. E. P._, Oct. 9, 1926).

Williams, Ben Ames, Skins (_S. E. P._, Oct. 23, 1926); Aside after
Lucre (_S. E. P._, Dec. 4, 1926).

Williams, Valentine, The Thumb of Fat’ma (_C. T._, Aug. 7).

Williams, Wythe, En Garde (_S. E. P._, Oct. 30, 1926); Destiny
(_S. E. P._, Nov. 20, 1926).

Wilson, Mary Badger, Dust Behind the Sofa (_S. E. P._, Dec. 4, 1926).

Worts, George F., The Nimble Snail (_Mun._, Oct., 1926).

LIST III

Stories ranking third.

Abbott, Eleanor Hallowell, The Steps That Went up into the Sky
(_G. H._, Nov., 1926); Turkey in the Oven (_W. H. C._, Nov., 1926).

Banning, Margaret Culkin, Rich Man, Poor Man (_S. E. P._, Oct. 9,
1926); Delicatessen Love (_C. T._, Apr. 24).

Bari, Valeska, the Goddess of Liberty (_F._, July).

Barnard, Leslie Gordon, The Guest of Honor (_L. H. J._, July).

Barretto, Larry, The Phantom Major (_Ad._, Nov. 23, 1926).

Bellah, James Warner, Boppo Takes a Bird’s-Eye View (_Col._, May 7);
Old Waffle Ear (_Col._, July 2).

Benét, Stephen Vincent, Miss Willie Lou and the Swan (_C. G._, Nov.,
1926).

Benson, Stuart, Ramadin’s Daughter (_Col._, Oct. 9, 1926).

Boyd, Thomas, Dark in a Shell Hole (_S. S._, Feb. 10); Two Lean and
Hungry Looks (_S. S._, Apr. 10); Shootin’ Keno (_C. G._, June).

Bretherton, Vivien R., Trinket (_McCall_, May).

Caffrey, Andrew A., Aerial Blue (_Ad._, Nov. 23, 1926).

Clausen, Carl, On the Midnight Tide (_B. B._, Nov., 1926); Around the
Horn (_C. T._, June 12); The Shining Door (_R. B._, July); The
Father of His Son (_C. T._, Aug. 21); The Three of Us (_P. R._,
Sept.).

Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, Too Much Class (_S. E. P._, Oct. 9, 1926).

Edward, Cecil A., The Russian (_Atl._, June).

Elliott, Stuart E., Whom the Gods Love (_L. H. J._, June).

Franken, Rose L., The Lady in the Back (_C. T._, July 31).

Gale, Zona, Heart of Youth (_L. H. J._, Oct., 1926).

Goodman, Blanche, Nocturne (_Book._, Feb.).

Hamilton, H. M., Liberty (_A. A._, Oct. 23, 1926).

Jones, Vara Macbeth, Danny Goes Druid (_C. W._, Mch.).

Kroll, Harry Harrison, Good to the Last Drop (_Ev._, Jan.).

Lea, Fannie Heaslip, The Brute (_G. H._, Oct., 1926).

Lovelace, Delos, Toe of the Stocking (_C. G._, Dec., 1926).

McMorrow, Thomas, Hinkle against Fayne (_S. E. P._, Oct. 30, 1926).

Marquis, Don, The High Pitch (_Col._, May 28).

Mason, Grace Sartwell, Sweet Tooth (_W. H. C._, May).

Miller, Helen Topping, A Bird Flies Over (_G. H._, Oct., 1926).

Montague, Margaret Prescott, Hog’s Eye and Human (_F._, Aug.).

Montross, Lois Seyster, The Golden Legend (_L. H. J._, Apr.).

Moravsky, Maria, The Ode to Pegasus (_W. T._, Nov., 1926).

Nebel, Frederick L., Grain to Grain (_B. M._, Nov., 1926).

Parmenter, Christine Whiting, David’s Star of Bethlehem (_Am._, Jan.).

Pelley, William Dudley, Martin’s Tree (_Am._, Apr.).

Perry, Lawrence, Barbed Wire (_Col._, Oct. 16, 1926).

Portor, Laura Spencer, One Night (_W. H. C._, May).

Post, Melville Davisson, The Survivor (_Am._, Oct., 1926).

Pruden, Oliver, Black Salve (_S. S._, July 10).

Ritchie, Robert Welles, You Take ’Em as They Flies (_S. S._, Jan. 25).

Sears, Zelda, Out of the Fourth Dimension (_Mun._, Oct., 1926).

Shore, Viola Brothers, A Handy Manuel (_S. E. P._, Oct. 2, 1926).

Shore, Viola Brothers and Fort, Garrett, The Prince of Headwaiters
(_L._, Apr. 9).

Singer, Mary, Fathers (_G. H._, Aug.).

Singmaster, Elsie, Finis (_Book._, Aug.).

Speare, Dorothy, Sweet but Dumb (_P. R._, Apr.).

Steele, Harwood, An Affair of Courage (_S. S._, Mch., 25).

Synon, Mary, A Girl Called Stella (_P. R._, Nov., 1926).

Taggard, Genevieve, The Shirt (_Book._, Nov., 1926).

Tilden, Freeman, The Two-Browning Man (_L. H. J._, May).

Topham, Thomas, In All His Glory (_D. S. M._, Oct. 16, 1926).

Treleaven, Owen Clarke, Vengeance (_S. S._, May 25).

Van de Water, Frederic F., Angels and Yellowjackets (_L. H. J._, Oct.,
1926); He Sendeth His Rain (_C. G._, Apr.).

Vance, Louis Joseph, Base Metal (_Col._, Oct. 30, 1926).

Ware, Edmund, The Boy and the Wind (_Am._, Aug.); So-Long, Old Timer
(_L. H. J._, Aug.).

Weadock, Louis, Bottles and Stoppers (_Clues_, Nov., 1926).

White, Ared, The Watch on the Rhine (_Ev._, Mch.).

White, Nelia Gardner, “Treasures” (_Am._, Jan.); Helga (_Am._, Aug.).

Whitehead, Henry S., The Left Eye (_W. T._, June).

Wolff, William Almon, A Lady of Leisure (_L._, June 18).

LIST IV

Of short short stories the following rank highest:

Anderson, Nels, Old Whitey (_Am._ Merc., Jan.).

Benson, Stuart, A Soldier (_Col._, July 2).

Bromfield, Louis, The Scarlet Woman (_McClure_, Jan.).

Child, Richard Washburn, The Man at the Bottom (_Col._, Aug. 13).

Cohen, Octavus Roy, Stamped Out (_Col._, Oct. 9, 1926); Sunset
(_Col._, Oct. 23, 1926).

Crawford, Nelson Antrim, Frock Coats (_H. J. Q._, January).

Davenport, Walter, All Aboard (_Col._, Sept. 17).

Davis, Bob, The Hard-Boiled Egg (_Col._, Aug. 6).

Dell, Floyd, The Blanket (_Col._, Oct. 16, 1926).

Doyle, Lynn, Smoke (_Mun._, Dec., 1926).

Edholm, Charlton Lawrence, The Fame of Usskar (_C._, Oct., 1926).

Fagin, N. Bryllion, The Queerness of Kate (_E._, Feb.).

Farrar, John, Primrose Pavilion (_Col._, Jan. 15).

Gale, Zona, Another Lady Bountiful (_H. I. and C._, Feb.); Blue Velvet
(_P. R._, June); Tommy Taylor (_R. B._, June).

Hare, Amory, Three Lumps of Sugar (_H. I. and C._, May).

Hecht, Ben, The Lifer (_R. B._, Feb.); Don Juan’s Rainy Day (_C. H._,
May).

Hoyt, Nancy, Things Like That Happen Only in Dreams (_C. H._, Dec.,
1926).

Kniffin, Harry A., Aftermath (_C. W._, July).

Kyne, Peter B., The Devil Drives (_Col._, Dec. 18, 1926).

Martin, Helen R., The Wooing of Weesie (_L. H. J._, Jan.).

Merwin, Samuel, The Old Blood (_Col._, Jan. 22).

Mish, Charlotte, A Woman Like That (_Y._, Apr.); Pretenders (_Y._,
June); The Moment of Triumph (_D. S._, June).

Nelson, Gaylord, Moonshine (_C._, Oct., 1926).

Norris, Kathleen, The Ring (_H. B._, Oct., 1926).

O’Donnell, Jack, The Killer (_L._, Jan. 1).

Phillips, Michael J., Back to Apple Harbor (_R. B._, Oct., 1926).

Powel, Harford, Jr., The Finest Lie in the World (_Col._, Mch. 19).

Singmaster, Elsie, Sandoe’s Pocket (_W. H. C._, Oct., 1926); Miss
Glynn (_Col._, Oct. 9, 1926); The Christmas Guest (_P. R._, Dec.,
1926); The Legacy (_D._, May).

Toohey, John Peter, The Trouper (_Col._, Apr. 23).

Way, Isabella, Sachet (_E._, July).

Wetjen, Albert Richard, A Loyal Man (_Col._, Jan. 15).

White, Owen P., The Simpleton (_Col._, Nov. 27, 1926).

Williams, Ben Ames, Victory (_Col._, Apr. 30); Red Hair (_Col._, July
2).

Worts, George F., Woman’s Work Is Never Done (_Col._, Mch. 19).

The short story has known better seasons, says a reader who, moved by indigestion and nausea, forswears the magazine tale of to-day as food unfit. The trouble with this reader lies partly in his having the world too much with him, late and soon. He finds no recreation in reading contemporary fictionists, or fiction about the present of which he is integrally a part. He believes he laments the Stockton and Bunner model; rather he laments the day of Stockton and Bunner. This nostalgia for the dear, dead days that are no more demands a superfiction, a glorification of the past. The demand is satisfied best by fictive biography, which has never known a better season. Because the satiated reader has no desire for short stories, he should condemn them all no more than one who has eaten too many clams condemns all clams.

Yet too many stories of to-day are like O. Henry’s clam shells “from which the succulent and vital inhabitants” have forever departed. A critical reader finds himself saying, “This tale was made on order from the editor,” or “So-and-so is writing under too great pressure; he is tired.” A disturbing fact is the absence of humour, for humour is the unfailing index to superabundance of vitality.

Among hopeful signs may be mentioned, first, a number of new writers appearing in the better as well as the humbler magazines; several are represented in this volume. Second, from what has been called the incoherent left side and the technically correct right side, a new form may be emerging; I suggest tentatively “The Mold,” by Clarice Blake (_Century_, May), and “Sooth,” by Wilbur Daniel Steele (_Harper’s_, August). Third, the war story is slowly developing out of that emotion remembered in tranquillity which, on occasion, is as necessary to prose as to poetry. The period of recollection has produced good results, chiefly in the work of Thomas Beer, Thomas Boyd, Leonard Nason, and James Warner Bellah. Finally, a number of veterans are creating with undiminished vigour: Irvin S. Cobb, tales of the Tennessee River; Harris Dickson, reminiscences of Mississippi River gambling days; Booth Tarkington, adventures in the supernatural.

In the eight years of _O. Henry Memorial Prize Stories_, no reviewer of the annual collection--so far as I have discovered--has ever suggested a better story of a given year than those included between its covers. The fact is either gratifying or amusing; gratifying if the reviewer recognizes the selections as one of the best possible in the premises; amusing if the reviewer damns the whole lot--unless, to be sure, he damns all stories published in the period.

The Committee know what they demand in a story and read hundreds to salvage the comparatively few which best meet the demand. The first desideratum is a narrative constructed about characters in a struggle or complication having a definite outcome expressed or implied. Every story in this book satisfies this first test. In “Child of God” the struggle is Willie’s against the social order; the order crushes him, but by his death he wins; The Killers are out for their man and, though they fail this time, ultimately they will not fail; the Scarlet Woman is at odds with society; Jukes agonizes to escape from the sea--he never will escape; “Fear” is nothing less at bottom than the conflict in Paterson’s soul; on the surface it offers a display of spectacular conflicts between enemy planes; “Night Club” hints at a half-dozen conflicts (see page 84); “Singing Woman” relates the final stages in a lifelong rivalry; “He Man” instances a struggle with the sea and hunger; I have spoken of the struggle in “Done Got Over” as one between superstition and enlightenment; of that in “Shades of George Sand!” as one between the individual and environment; “With Glory and Honour” implies pretty strongly that Hal Levering conquered himself before he changed his ways; “Monkey Motions” reveals awkwardness and genius working to final expression; “Four Dreams” relates four vain efforts of Gram; Bulldog’s fights and his escape lead to his climactic rescue of the judge; “The Little Girl” symbolizes the helplessness of all childhood through the concrete instance of Patricia’s failure.

All writers and all critics are agreed upon other well-known desiderata, which neither the author nor the critic needs consciously to enumerate. Familiarity with the laws and limitations of the art is as necessary to judging fiction as insistence upon them is deplorable if such insistence means undervaluing a narrative that may smash all laws and succeed, it may so happen, because of the fact. He who follows an uncharted way may discover, or he may not discover, new lands.

That standards of reviewers differ may be illustrated by the following quotations drawn from reviewers of _O. Henry Memorial Prize Stories_, 1926:

“Miss Williams’s introduction | “The introduction is, it
is of great interest, as it | must be said, an unpleasant
takes us behind the scenes | piece of work ... in a style
with the judges ... but still | whose lack of distinction is in
the collection itself remains | marked contrast to the stories
disappointing.”--Hartford | that follow.”--New York
_Courant_, January 23, 1927. | _Sun_, January 18, 1927.
|
“Miss Williams in her introduction | “It is at least refreshing
considers each | after the monotones of praise
story with critical seriousness, | to which introducing editors
and analyzes, and | have almost invariably
praises, and compares, till | treated us; and even though
one can’t help wondering | one may not always agree
what she would say of a | with the specific comment
Chekhov or a Maupassant.”--The | ... that fact need not detract
_Saturday Review of | from one’s approval of this
Literature_, May 28, 1927. | tempered, tentative editorial
| attitude as constituting a
| salutary and genuinely respectable
| criticism.”--New
| York _Herald-Tribune_, January
| 30, 1927.
|
“If Wilbur Daniel Steele | “All competent readers
had never written a better | will agree with the official
story than ‘Bubbles’ he | judges as to the wisdom of
would never have achieved | their first choice. ‘Bubbles’
the fame and popularity | is a profound, subtle, and
which he not unjustly | highly finished piece of
enjoys.”--Richmond (Va.) | work.”--New York _Sun_, January
_News Leader_, January 17, | 18, 1927.
1927. |
|
“To me the story [Bubbles] | “Mr. Steele’s really stupendous
is not convincing enough to | story, ‘Bubbles’--it
be really successful. Despite | is difficult not to overdo
deft craftsmanship the story | superlatives in writing of this
fails to become important, | appalling little masterpiece
and even its pattern is beautiful | ... is one of Mr. Steele’s
artifice rather than art.”--The | supreme achievements.”--Hartford
_Saturday Review of | _Courant_, January
Literature_, May 28, 1927. | 23, 1927.
|
“Sherwood Anderson wins | “Of the stories in this
the second prize with a story | book, that by Sherwood Anderson
called ‘Death in the Woods’ | [Death in the Woods]
in which he is at his | is the most important.”--New
worst.”--Richmond _News | York _World_, January
Leader_, January 17, 1927. | 19, 1927.
|
“‘Death in the Woods’ has | “Mr. Anderson’s story
the curious distinction no | strikes the authentic Anderson
story of Mr. Anderson’s could | note. He has seldom done
lack, but would have hardly | anything more powerful
made him the reputation he | within its limits and never
so magnificently deserves.” | anything more characteristic.”
--New York _Post_, February 5, | --New York _Sun_, January
1927. | 18, 1927.
|
The New York _Times_ reviewer | The order of the stories
(January 23, 1927) remarks, | (see the table of contents for
“The relegation of | the 1926 collection) is, after
Mary Heaton Vorse’s story | the three prize stories,
[The Madelaine] to the back | alphabetical by authors.
of the book makes the reader |
wonder if these authorities |
on the short story ... really |
know a story when they see |
it.” |

CHILD OF GOD

BY ROARK BRADFORD

From _Harper’s_