to a bright phantasy by an imagination that
is near to childhood and has not lost its morning's brightness.

_What Every Woman Knows_ (produced in 1908) shows Barrie's dramatic
art at its height. He knows how to introduce variety and to give his
characters an opportunity to reveal themselves. Every word, every
movement of the heroine, Maggie Shand, adds to the unfolding of a
fascinating personality. A period of intensely dramatic action may be
followed by a comparative pause, such as occurs when the audience sees
Maggie's husband slowly realize her cleverness and helpfulness,
--qualities that had been long apparent to every one else.

Barrie shows the ability to present dramatically situations that are
emotionally appealing or delightfully humorous. His plays exhibit
admirably the deep feelings, the momentary moods, the resourcefulness,
or the peculiar whimsicalities of men and women.

John Galsworthy.--As a means of presenting social problems,
Galsworthy utilizes the drama even more than the novel. Faulty prison
systems, discords between labor and capital, discrepancies between law
and justice, are some of the themes he chooses to dramatize. _The
Silver Box_ (1906) ironically interprets Justice as blind rather than
impartial. The poor man is often punished while the more fortunate man
goes free. _Strife_ (1909), in some respects the most powerful of his
plays, illustrates the clash between capital and labor. In _The Eldest
Son_ (1912), the conflict is between two social orders. _Justice_
(1910), which secured reforms in the English prison system, shows how
a young man is affected by an inflexible but legal punishment; and how
such a method fails to assist him humanely to a better manhood, but
drives him to lower and lower depths.

In _Joy_ (1907), a delightful play, Galsworthy momentarily
relinquishes social problems for a drama of more personal emotion. In
the mystical, poetical composition, _The Little Dream_ (1911), he
presents an allegory of the maiden in the Alps, dreaming first of the
simple mountain life and then of the life in cities. With its
spiritual note and delicate fancy, _The Little Dream_ turns a golden
key on the ideal world beyond the strife and gloom dramatized in the
sociological plays.

Galsworthy has good stagecraft. His characterization is distinct and
consistent. His plays are simple in construction and direct in
movement. He strictly avoids rhetorical and theatrical effects, but
his drama