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 +-----------------+----------------
| | *