Bunner's services were secured. Half
of his short life was spent in editorial connection with that paper. To
his wisdom and literary abilities is due in large measure the success
which has always attended the enterprise. Bunner had an intimate
knowledge of American character and understood the foibles of his
countrymen; but he was never cynical, and his satire was without
hostility. He despised opportune journalism. His editorials were clear
and vigorous; free not from partisanship, but from partisan rancor, and
they made for honesty and independence. His firm stand against political
corruption, socialistic vagaries, the misguided and often criminal
efforts of labor agitators, and all the visionary schemes of diseased
minds, has contributed to the stability of sound and self-respecting
American citizenship.

Bunner's first decided success in story-telling was 'The Midge,' which
appeared in 1886. It is a tale of New York life in the interesting old
French quarter of South Fifth Avenue. Again, in 'The Story of a New York
House,' he displayed the same quick feeling for the spirit of the place,
as it was and is. This tale first appeared in the newly founded
Scribner's Magazine, to which he has since been a constant contributor.
Here some of his best short stories have been published, including the
excellent 'Zadoc Pine,' with its healthy presentation of independent
manhood in contest with the oppressive exactions of labor organizations.
But Bunner was no believer in stories with a tendency; the conditions
which lie at the root of great sociological questions he used as
artistic material, never as texts. His stories are distinguished by
simplicity of motive; each is related with fine unobtrusive humor and
with an underlying pathos, never unduly emphasized. The most popular of
his collections of tales is that entitled 'Short Sixes,' which, having
first appeared in Puck, were published in book form in 1891. A second
volume came out three years later. When the shadow of death had already
fallen upon Bunner, a new collection of his sketches was in process of
publication: 'Jersey Street and Jersey Lane.' In these, as in the still
more recent 'Suburban Sage,' is revealed the same fineness of
sympathetic observation in town and country that we have come to
associate with Bunner's name. Among his prose writings there remains to
be mentioned the series from Puck entitled 'Made in France.' These are
an application of the methods of Ma