Part 28

For vividness of sense-suggestion--color, sound, smell, feeling--Joseph Husband’s smooth-flowing narration of a year’s experience in a soft-coal mine is worthy of study. The blackness which is 'absence of light rather than darkness,' the submerging silence, the seeping gas-vapors, the nervous consciousness of lurking danger--all these give indisputable atmosphere. What grim tragedy, awful in its heavy brutality, might not here be grimly enacted! Instead, there is work--the grimy, sweating work of the underground; hard muscles, and senses not too alive to material forces. An occasional superstition gives life to the blackness--a strange white phantom that dazzles the sight and blinds the understanding with unreasoning fear. But most vivid of all is the blackness and the work.

_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_

1. How does the author’s preface add to the interest in his narrative? Are your expectations of his added power borne out?

2. Do you find Mr. Husband more able in his descriptions of large scenes, masses of buildings, groups of people,--or in the individualizing of the single person or thing?

3. Is the setting for the work, or the work itself, the chief purpose of the narrative? Which do you find the more interesting?

4. Can you explain the author’s feelings of mortification as he first enters upon his duties?

5. What are some of the elements that make for the vividness of the scenes?

6. Why is the occasional mention of color so effective?

7. Contrast the mental occupations during a period of temporary leisure in a coal mine with a similar rest hour in the upper world?

8. From reading this narrative, can you offer any reasons why the ancient peoples believed mines to be inhabited by a race of gnomes?

WOMAN’S SPHERE

S. H. KEMPER’S short stories reveal a genuinely sympathetic understanding of child-life. Mr. Kemper’s present home is in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

The plot itself is slight: the presentation of a ball--a _worsted ball_--as a birthday present to a boy of nine! The comic element immediately suggests itself; Wilbur discovers that it may come very near tragedy--not for him, but for Aunt Susan. To be so inconceivably old that one cannot understand what a ball of gay worsted would mean to a boy who had already practised imaginary curves with a magnificent white sphere bearing the proud blue label of the American League! All Wilbur’s chivalric nature is called out to keep his great aunt from knowing how great is her misunderstanding, and how keen his aching pity that age could be so terrible.

Is there, perhaps, a suggestion here of refined propaganda?--Education for women--higher, broader, what you will?

_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_

1. Contrast Aunt Susan with Wilbur’s grandmother.

2. Mention certain significant items that contribute to the realism of the various situations.

3. Comment on the way in which Wilbur’s fancy works, as he views the ball in anticipation.

4. What was there in Aunt Susan’s conversation that reveals her lack of understanding of boy nature?

5. Is there any element of surprise in the way Wilbur takes his disappointment? Comment fully upon his varied emotions.

6. What is the marked contrast between Aunt Susan and Wilbur’s father?

7. Which paragraph is most interesting from the point of view of setting? Why?

8. Comment on the aptness of the title.

BABANCHIK

CHRISTINA KRYSTO lived the first nine years of her life, from 1887 to 1896, in Russia. She then came with her father’s family to America, settling on a ranch. Her vocation is ranch-work; her avocation is writing. Miss Krysto’s _The Mother of Stasya_ is published in the June (1918) _Atlantic_.

An Armenian, a Revolutionist, a voluntary exile, desiring in his old age nothing so much as the privilege of serving Russia, whose government, institutions, and rulers he had fought all his seventy years--such is Babanchik. Russia had driven his twenty-year-old daughter into an exile of hard labor, had imprisoned his son for the best ten years of his life; and Babanchik died because his strength was too weak to carry him back to serve her. Shall you call it patriotism in a man who cursed his native land with a hymn of everlasting hate? racial instinct in one whose Armenian birth made him an object of official suspicion? Here there could be no overpowering conviction that his country’s civilization must be protected against the dreaded Kultur. Yet the desire comes--not only his own, but the command of his imprisoned son, that he serve Russia.

There are other beautiful things in Christina Krysto’s story, not the least of which are the suggestive bits of description of the life in the Georgian village. Yet Babanchik, of the caressing name, product of that strange country whose people grow more incomprehensible as the Great War progresses, interesting as he is, directing the summer play in the Caucasian Mountains, is a thousand times more wonderful when swayed by the unnamed power that returns him dead to Russia.

_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_

1. What are the characteristics in Babanchik that make him a favorite with the children?

2. Contrast the Babanchik who played with the children with the Babanchik who talked with the father.

3. What were Babanchik’s most serious interests?

4. What circumstances of his birth hampered his influence with the Russian government?

5. How was his ambition to become a member of the city Duma crushed?

6. In spite of government intervention, what were some of the beneficial influences which Babanchik found that he could exert?

7. What was there in the government of Russia that was particularly distasteful to a man of Babanchik’s nature?

8. What strong traits of Babanchik are brought out in that long furious fight for his children in the Russian prison?

9. What effect did the war have upon Babanchik’s view of Russia?

10. What hastened the old man’s desire to return?

11. Comment upon the author’s artistic close.

ROSITA

ELLEN MACKUBIN was, several years ago, a frequent contributor to the _Atlantic_. Nearly all her stories are tinged with the military spirit with which she was thoroughly familiar.

The cause of the deed is never revealed to the garrison; its consequences can only be surmised. Indeed the true standing of the affair as tragedy is only guessed. The instigator of the quarrel between Major Prior and Jerry Breton, the perpetrator, and the victim of the tragedy unite in the person of one christianized just enough to suffer for the savage instincts she had never learned to control. We see her just once, Rosita, the beautiful, the impulsive, the passionate; the next time she is dead. It is the feeling of repressed power that makes Ellen Mackubin’s story grip the attention. In a few short pages, three--possibly four--characters are made to live, and a tragedy wrecks two lives.

_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_

1. Discuss which of the common elements of story--setting, plot, character, theme, or style--is here most prominent.

2. Discuss the way in which the separate characters are introduced and the complication arranged.

3. How can Jerry’s treatment of the commanding officer on the day of the dress parade be condoned?

4. How does the reader feel regarding Rosita’s vague declaration that she will rid Jerry of Prior’s unfairness?

5. On the night of the shooting, what motive prompted Jerry to fling the pistol far over the edge of the bluff?

6. Describe the effects which the tragedy produced upon the garrison.

7. What were Jerry’s feelings during the days immediately succeeding the tragedy?

8. How does the reader decide the question as to who is the really guilty person?

PERJURED

EDITH RONALD MIRRIELEES is a member of the English Department of Leland Stanford Junior University.

It was a useless lie. Robbins knew that, as soon as he had spoken it. But it stopped the boys' teasing. Once spoken, events followed in too rapid succession for him to do more than qualify his statement; the bald accusation remained. Repetition had done more than confirm the story in Sutro; it had benumbed Robbins’s own sense of exactness. His reputation for truth constantly confronted him; sometimes it made it easier for him, but increasingly often he saw the difficulty of reconciling the lie with himself. On the other hand, time and self-torture strengthened the conviction that truth must prevail and that no innocent man could suffer by the law. And so it proved. Robbins, the boy who had tried to save himself from momentary discomfiture, who had deliberately placed a man in direct accusation for murder, found himself, not a self-righteous person who by a last act of grace redeems the innocent and places himself on a martyr’s pedestal; instead, he found himself a perjured youth, no better than the truck-gardener Emerson in whom truth itself lost credence.

That a malignant fate had placed the name of the guilty man in the boy’s mouth, comes with no shock; the author has so carefully prepared our minds for that very verdict, that we are merely surprised that we could have forgotten the bits of telling evidence. The interest begins and ends with a boy of sixteen who in weakness was forsworn.

_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_

1. Comment on the appropriateness of the direct opening. Is such a method more appropriate to one type of story than another?

2. Describe the steps by which the author prepares for, without explaining, his climax.

3. How does the author focus attention, not on the murderer and criminal, but on the individual problem of Robbins? Would you have preferred a more detailed explanation of the cause of the crime?

4. Why is Emerson introduced?

5. Is the enormity of the injury he is doing ever clear to Robbins?

6. What other stories are included, but left untold, in this one?

7. What, to you, is the most significant thing in the author’s handling of the narrative? Why would such a story not lend itself to scenic production?

WHAT MR. GREY SAID

MARGARET PRESCOTT MONTAGUE, living among the West Virginia mountains, has written many successful stories of the Hill people whom she knows so well.

To make of the little blind child of the coal-miner a compellingly human little soul, yet to touch him with a warmth and beauty of imagination so exquisite that it pains the heart; to do all this so deftly, so tenderly that one draws a quick breath of wonder--these are only bare suggestions of the power that created Margaret Prescott Montague’s _What Mr. Grey Said_.

_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_

1. Contrast the richness of sense-perceptions of Stanislaus with his poverty of all things else.

2. Analyze the elements that make up the charm of Stanislaus. Aside from the pathetic, what is the strongest interest?

3. How does Miss Julia help to prolong the suspense?

4. Would the story have been as powerful if it were entirely tragic?

5. Would the story have gained if Stanislaus were presented in direct contrast to the other blind children? Why would a longer story have been weaker?

6. Does the dialect contribute to the charm of the story? What is the real function of dialect?

7. Does the ending seem a makeshift to avoid a difficulty? How has the author succeeded in making the ending not only possible but probable?

A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION

E. MORLAE was an American who, in the early days of the Great War, enlisted in the French Army and became a Soldier of the Legion. Many of his war experiences are graphically told in his various articles in _The Atlantic Monthly_.

'We spent our time eating and sleeping, mildly distracted by an intermittent bombardment': these were the breathing spells; active work found analogy only in the regions below. Yet either adventure was told with equal calm. That is what impresses one in Sergeant Morlae’s narrative. It is so grimly calm, almost impersonal. There is no careless enthusiasm, excited hilarity, or mad vengeance--simply a job to be done. The enemy alive present a target; dead, a source of added comfort for one’s self, a souvenir for one’s brother, or, if need be, material for a parapet. One’s life before and after has nothing to do with the present. And this is even more terrible for what it leaves unsaid.

There is, however, no lack of vividness in _A Soldier of the Legion_. The matter-of-factness of the telling deceives us only for a time, until the intrusion of a crisp, 'Hell kissed us welcome'; or, more significant still, 'And we were counted: eight hundred and fifty-two in the entire regiment, out of three thousand two hundred who entered the attack on the 25th of September.'

_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_

1. Does the conversational tone of the narrative make it any the less vivid?

2. When is the author’s power of vivid portrayal most apparent?

3. What ideas do you get of the Legion’s views of the enemy? Contrast it with other war stories you have read. Could it be accounted for by the type of men who entered the Foreign Legion?

4. What in the author’s account suggests the general morale of the troops?

5. What does the grimness of the occasional bits of humor convey as to the mental state of the men? What do these occasional jokes gain by their very scarcity?

6. What new ideas of war come to you from Sergeant Morlae’s account?

THE BOULEVARD OF ROGUES

MEREDITH NICHOLSON has won most of his popularity as a novelist. He is, however, an accomplished essayist, a poet of distinction, and a keen critic of current literary and political matters. More recently, he has become interested in the writing of short stories. His home is in Indianapolis, where he was privileged to enjoy for many years an intimate friendship with James Whitcomb Riley, whose character Mr. Nicholson has sympathetically portrayed in his novel, _The Poet_, and in an illuminating essay in _The Atlantic Monthly_ for October, 1916.

Propaganda in such disguise needs no apology. Not only can we appreciate the cleverness of the trick as well as the earnestness of its author, but we relish what a very good thing a similar lesson would be for our own or for our neighboring cities.

At the same time, there is a worth-while character-study to be made of the Chairman of the Committee on Art, who presents a type almost as rare in fiction as it is in life.

_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_

1. The student will find it interesting to make a thorough study of Barton’s character--his cynicism, his practical good sense, and all his other prominent traits. A composition discussing all these could be made very interesting and enlightening.

2. Discuss the general political attitude of the average city councilman.

3. In an examination of the plot, what incident seems to you to mark the point of highest interest? Discuss fully.

4. How is Barton’s character relieved from any final censure for the spending of money for a statue of a rogue?

WHAT HAPPENED TO ALANNA

KATHLEEN NORRIS, a Californian by birth, has been a voluminous writer of magazine fiction since 1910, when she contributed two stories to the _Atlantic_--_What Happened to Alanna_ and _The Tide Marsh_.

To those who know Kathleen Norris’s _Mother_, nothing more need be said of this author’s ability to depict the wholesome sentiment of family life, without the sentimentality that clings to many of the ordinary short stories and novels. The less fortunate may make valuable acquaintance in the halls of Costello. F. X., Senior, 'undertaker by profession and mayor by an immense majority,' shares his position of importance by reason of the charms of his numerous offspring. Mrs. Costello is, of course, the centre of interest, as she is of the Costello circle, which means all who come within range of her generous hand and kindly word. Yet no one remains unindividualized. A few vivid strokes, and the picture is complete. If an artistic hand adds another touch now and then, we are never made conscious of technique. Especially is this true in the case of young Mrs. Church. And what more delightful could there be than the family conversations, which are quite as revealing in points of character as they are delightful in their flashes of humor?

_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_

1. What purpose does the detailed description of family life serve? Comment on the choice of detail.

2. Besides the plot, what are the most interesting elements in the story?

3. Could you suggest another climax?

4. What is gained by having Alanna solve her problem alone? How does the author arrange that the solution shall be thus accomplished?

5. Is Mrs. Church introduced for any reason other than her slight connection with the plot?

6. Is Mr. Costello as well portrayed as his wife? Can you suggest any reasons why he typifies the Irish-American rather than the native Irishman of the same rank?

7. How does Miss Norris achieve the atmosphere that she does?

8. Could the story be criticized as being sentimental?

SPENDTHRIFTS

LAURA SPENCER PORTOR (Mrs. Francis Pope) has long been engaged in literary work. Her essays and stories 'give proof of a versatility of experience as Protean as her talents.' Mrs. Pope is now connected with the editorial staff of one of the prominent New York magazines.

Perhaps that which impresses the reader most in _Spendthrifts_ is the production of an atmosphere that makes the strange seem real, and the commonplace take on a suggestion of the fanciful. Not half so wonderful is it that the woman of the orange-colored eyes should meet the lover of her youth, now a lay Franciscan, and live again with him the story of their love before a smilingly complacent husband, as that this story should have been unfolded before the eyes of a romantic little girl who went out to see the world in a rambling old coach. The author, like the successful playwright, completely transfers us to another world. The careful preparation of atmosphere is followed by a swift march of events to a climax the more powerful by the necessity of its restraint. The gradual trailing off into the dim romantic atmosphere out of which the story grew, calls for a curtain that may be raised again only on the author’s epilogue.

_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_

1. What can you say by way of comment on the somewhat leisurely beginning of this story?

2. What do you like best in the description of the old-fashioned 'bus?

3. Justify the author’s early paragraphs on the herds of dumb cattle.

4. Can you analyze the method by which the author makes even her most trivial details of the trip seem vital and interesting?

5. Is it true that most of these details--both narrative and descriptive--assume greater importance because they are seen through a child’s vision?

6. What items bring out the disturbed feelings of the Franciscan soon after he enters the 'bus?

7. Trace the details that very gradually portray the character of Louise’s husband.

8. What part does the description of the various costumes play in the portrayal of character?

9. As Louise analyzes to the Franciscan the past relations existing between them, do we find ourselves sympathizing with one or the other, or with neither?

10. What is the intended symbolism of the title, _Spendthrifts_?

11. What is symbolized by the herd of cattle?

CHILDREN WANTED

LUCY PRATT, a frequent contributor to magazines, lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

So slight is the plot in _Children Wanted_ that one might on reflection question whether there is a plot. In the actual reading, one becomes too absorbed in the very real situation that Miss Pratt presents to become coldly analytical. The vividness of Master Crosby Tarbell’s particular adventure with life is reflected, not only in the letter Mr. Henry Tarbell dispatches to a certain Pony Man, but in the reader’s own warm indignation at the carelessness, the cowardice, of compromising grown-ups in general. At the same time, Miss Pratt’s masterly use of commonplace detail, fully as much as the poignant bits of character delineation, such as that which ends the story, makes of _Children Wanted_ as effective a bit of narrative technique as it is a striking example of the propagandist’s art.

_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_

1. Is the chief interest of the story in the principal character or in the underlying theme?

2. Would the experience have meant as much to any child?

3. Why is the 'lady on the hill road' added to the list of customers?

4. What does Crosby’s father add to the story that Crosby’s mother could not? Would you have preferred to be told more about Mrs. Tarbell?

5. Do you find any explanations for the climax in the previous characterization of Crosby? How has the detailed description of the barn helped to reveal the lad’s sensitiveness?

THE SQUIRE

ELSIE SINGMASTER (Mrs. H. Lewars), a Pennsylvanian by birth and residence, has been writing at more or less irregular intervals ever since her first story was published in _Scribner’s Magazine_ twelve or thirteen years ago. Her reputation has been largely won by her sympathetic portrayal of the Pennsylvania Dutch character.

How adequately, how finally, a person can be characterized by his own conversations, all the principals in this little Millerstown drama demonstrate. Weakness, crudeness, selfishness, speak out their own existence. And, to shine by contrast in the midst of all this pettiness, is the figure of a man who makes the title 'Squire' mean what it has meant to certain English townships, and whatever more comes from responsibility assumed without force of precedent or hope of recompense.

_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_

1. What are the elements which produce the atmosphere of crudity that stands for Millerstown? Could any description of the town produce a like effect?

2. Would it have detracted from the story if Stemmel had been more elaborately portrayed?

3. How is the solution of the case prevented from appearing melodramatic?

4. Would the Squire’s sacrifice have gained or lost power if Adam and Sula were less irresponsible?

5. How do the Squire’s actions correspond to the tradition of his title? How different are they from what might have happened in a like situation in England?

6. Do you think Adam and Sula worthy of the Squire’s interest?

7. What stories growing out of this one remain to be told? Which would be the most interesting?

GREGORY AND THE SCUTTLE

CHARLES HASKINS TOWNSEND, an ichthyologist of international reputation, has been a member of many U. S. government commissions. His present address is The Aquarium, New York.

_Gregory and the Scuttle_, translated into the literal, means 'How the octopus came to the Aquarium.' In the literal version, the account might have been buried easily and unregretfully in the dry-as-dust records of the American Aquarium Society, or some such august receptacle of information; as it is, it becomes the easy, chatty adventure of one who proves himself human as well as scientific. Moreover, it behooves the practical investigator of the educative process to note that, by this sugar-coated method, various capsules of information slip down without violent contraction on the part of him who will be only entertained.

_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_

1. How is the title of the story indicative of its general tone?

2. Would Gregory’s vision of the adventure have been an interesting one? What would it lack that the scientist’s has?

3. When, if ever, does the scientist take the place of the story-teller?

4. What is the chief charm of the account? Would a series of such adventures--with all necessary variation--be altogether as delightful?

IN NOVEMBER

EDITH WYATT was born in Wisconsin, and educated at Chicago and Bryn Mawr. She has for years been a frequent contributor to the best of our American magazines. Her present home is in Chicago.