Part 43

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.