er 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.