Chapter I: Front Matter

THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1919 AND THE YEARBOOK OF THE AMERICAN SHORT STORY

EDITED BY
EDWARD J. O'BRIEN

EDITOR OF "THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1915"
"THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1916"
"THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1917"
"THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1918," ETC.

BOSTON
SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1918, by Margaret C, Anderson, Charles Scribner's Sons, Smart Set Company, Inc., and The Century Company.

Copyright, 1919, by The Boston Transcript Company.

Copyright, 1919, by The Century Company, Harper & Brothers, The Bellman Company, The Pictorial Review Company, The Ridgway Company, The Curtis Publishing Company, The American Hebrew, and The McCall Company.

Copyright, 1920, by Gulielma Fell Alsop, Sherwood Anderson, Edwina Stanton Babcock, Djuna Barnes, Frederick Orin Bartlett, Agnes Mary Brownell, Maxwell Struthers Burt, James Branch Cabell, Horace Fish, Susan Glaspell Cook, Henry Goodman, Richard Matthews Hallet, Joseph Hergesheimer, Will E. Ingersoll, Calvin Johnston, Howard Mumford Jones, Ellen N. La Motte, Elias Lieberman, Mary Heaton O'Brien, and Anzia Yezierska.

Copyright, 1920, by Small, Maynard & Company, Inc.

* * * * *

TO
ANZIA YEZIERSKA

* * * * *

BY WAY OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Grateful acknowledgment for permission to include the stories and other material in this volume is made to the following authors, editors, and publishers:

To the Century Company, Miss Margaret C. Anderson, Editor of The Little Review, Harper & Brothers, The Bellman Company, The Pictorial Review Company, Charles Scribner's Sons, The Ridgway Company, The Curtis Publishing Company, The Smart Set Company, Inc., The Editor of The American Hebrew, The McCall Company, Miss G. F. Alsop, Mr. Sherwood Anderson, Miss Edwina Stanton Babcock, Miss Djuna Barnes, Mr. Frederick Orin Bartlett, Miss Agnes Mary Brownell, Mr. Maxwell Struthers Burt, Mr. James Branch Cabell, Mr. Horace Fish, Mrs. George Cram Cook, Mr. Henry Goodman, Mr. Richard Matthews Hallet, Mr. Joseph Hergesheimer, Mr. Will E. Ingersoll, Mr. Calvin Johnston, Mr. Howard Mumford Jones, Miss Ellen N. La Motte, Mr. Elias Lieberman, Mrs. Mary Heaton O'Brien, and Miss Anzia Yezierska.

Acknowledgments are specially due to _The Boston Evening Transcript_ for permission to reprint the large body of material previously published in its pages.

I shall be grateful to my readers for corrections, and particularly for suggestions leading to the wider usefulness of this annual volume. In particular, I shall welcome the receipt, from authors, editors, and publishers, of stories published during 1920 which have qualities of distinction, and yet are not printed in periodicals falling under my regular notice. Such communications may be addressed to me at _Bass River, Cape Cod, Massachusetts_.

E. J. O.

CONTENTS[1]

[Note 1: The order in which the stories in this volume are printed is not intended as an indication of their comparative excellence; the arrangement is alphabetical by authors.]

PAGE
INTRODUCTION. By the Editor xiii

THE KITCHEN GODS. By G. F. Alsop 3
(From _The Century_)

AN AWAKENING. By Sherwood Anderson 24
(From _The Little Review_)

WILLUM'S VANILLA. By Edwina Stanton Babcock 34
(From _Harper's Magazine_)

A NIGHT AMONG THE HORSES. By Djuna Barnes 65
(From _The Little Review_)

LONG, LONG AGO. By Frederick Orin Bartlett 74
(From _The Bellman_)

DISHES. By Agnes Mary Brownell 82
(From _The Pictorial Review_)

THE BLOOD-RED ONE. By Maxwell Struthers Burt 96
(From _Scribner's Magazine_)

THE WEDDING-JEST. By James Branch Cabell 108
(From _The Century_)

THE WRISTS ON THE DOOR. By Horace Fish 123
(From _Everybody's Magazine_)

"GOVERNMENT GOAT." By Susan Glaspell 147
(From _The Pictorial Review_)

THE STONE. By Henry Goodman 167
(From _The Pictorial Review_)

TO THE BITTER END. By Richard Matthews Hallet 178
(From _The Saturday Evening Post_)

THE MEEKER RITUAL. By Joseph Hergesheimer 200
(From _The Century_)

THE CENTENARIAN. By Will E. Ingersoll 225
(From _Harper's Magazine_)

MESSENGERS. By Calvin Johnston 237
(From _The Saturday Evening Post_)

MRS. DRAINGER'S VEIL. By Howard Mumford Jones 269
(From _The Smart Set_)

UNDER A WINE-GLASS. By Ellen N. La Motte 297
(From _The Century_)

A THING OF BEAUTY. By Elias Lieberman 305
(From _The American Hebrew_)

THE OTHER ROOM. By Mary Heaton Vorse 312
(From _McCall's Magazine_)

"THE FAT OF THE LAND." By Anzia Yezierska 326
(From _The Century_)

THE YEARBOOK OF THE AMERICAN SHORT STORY, NOVEMBER, 1918, TO SEPTEMBER, 1919 351

Addresses of American Magazines Publishing Short Stories 353

The Biographical Roll of Honor of American Short Stories 355

The Roll of Honor of Foreign Short Stories in American Magazines 364

Volumes of Short Stories Published, November, 1918, to September, 1919: An Index 366

Articles on the Short Story, October, 1918, to September, 1919 372

Magazine Averages, November, 1918, to September, 1919 381

Index of Short Stories Published in American Magazines, November, 1918, to September, 1919 384