, in the
limning of whom he did his best work, are not really individuals;
rather are they types, symbols. His work was literary vaudeville,
brilliant, highly amusing, and yet vaudeville."[9] _The Duplicity of
Hargraves_, the story by O. Henry given in this volume, is free from
most of his defects. It has a blend of humor and pathos that puts it
on a plane of universal appeal.

George Randolph Chester (1869- ) gained distinction by creating the
genial modern business man of American literature who is not content
to "get rich quick" through the ordinary channels. Need I say that I
refer to that amazing compound of likeableness and sharp practices,
Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford? The story of his included in this volume,
_Bargain Day at Tutt House_ (June, 1905, _McClure's_), was nearly his
first story; only two others, which came out in _The Saturday Evening
Post_ in 1903 and 1904, preceded it. Its breathless dramatic action is
well balanced by humor. Other stories of his deserving of special
mention are: _A Corner in Farmers_ (February, 29, 1908, _Saturday
Evening Post_), _A Fortune in Smoke_ (March 14, 1908, _Saturday
Evening Post_), _Easy Money_ (November 14, 1908, _Saturday Evening
Post_), _The Triple Cross_ (December 5, 1908, _Saturday Evening
Post_), _Spoiling the Egyptians_ (December 26, 1908, _Saturday Evening
Post_), _Whipsawed!_ (January 16, 1909, _Saturday Evening Post_), _The
Bubble Bank_ (January 30 and February 6, 1909, _Saturday Evening
Post_), _Straight Business_ (February 27, 1909, _Saturday Evening
Post_), _Sam Turner: a Business Man's Love Story_ (March 26, April 2
and 9, 1910, _Saturday Evening Post_), _Fundamental Justice_ (July 25,
1914, _Saturday Evening Post_), _A Scropper Patcher_ (October, 1916,
_Everybody's_), and _Jolly Bachelors_ (February, 1918,
_Cosmopolitan_). His best collections are: _Get-Rich-Quick
Wallingford_ (1908), _Young Wallingford_ (1910), _Wallingford in His
Prime_ (1913), and _Wallingford and Blackie Daw_ (1913). It is often
difficult to find in his books short stories that one may be looking
for, for the reason that the titles of the individual stories have
been removed in order to make the books look like novels subdivided
into chapters.

Grace MacGowan Cooke (1863- ) is a writer all of whose work has
interest and perdurable stuff in it, but few are the authors whose
achievements in the American short story stand out as a whole. In _A
Call_ (August, 1906, _Harper's_) she surpas