he same confident recognition of the superficial cheapness and
commonness of the stuff she handles; but in her stories she also attests
the right to be named with them for the gift of penetrating to the heart
of life. No one with the love of the grotesque which is the American
portion of the human tastes or passions, can fail of his joy in the play
of the obvious traits and motives of her Hebrew comedy, but he will fail
of something precious if he does not sound the depths of true and
beautiful feeling which underlies the comedy."

A similar distinction marks Edna Ferber's story entitled "The Gay Old
Dog."

Of the English short story writers who have published during the past
year in American periodicals, Mr. Galsworthy has presented the most
evenly distinguished work. Hardly second to his best are the six stories
by J. D. Beresford and D. H. Lawrence, both well known realists of the
younger generation. Stacy Aumonier has continued the promise of "The
Friends" with three new stories written in the same key. Although the
vein of his talent is a narrow one, it reveals pure gold. Good
Housekeeping has published three war stories by an Englishwoman, I. A.
R. Wylie, which I should have coveted for this book had they been by an
American author. But perhaps the best English short story of the year in
an American magazine was "The Coming of the Terror," by Arthur Machen,
since republished in book form.

Elsewhere I have discussed at some length the more important volumes of
short stories published during the year. "A Munster Twilight," by Daniel
Corkery is alone sufficient to mark a notable literary year. And "The
Echo of Voices," by Richard Curle is hardly second to it. Yet the year
has seen the publication of at least three other books by English
authors who are new to the reading public. Thomas Burke, Caradoc Evans,
and Arthur Machen have added permanent contributions to English
literature.

In "A Handbook on Story Writing," Dr. Blanche Colton Williams has
written the first definitive textbook on the subject. Its many
predecessors have either been content to deal with narrow branches in
the same field, or have exploited quite frankly and shamelessly the
commercial possibilities of story writing as a cheap trade. Dr.
Williams's book will not be in all likelihood superseded for many years
to come, and the effects of her work are already to be seen in the short
stories of many established writers.

In the death of Edward