mitted no personal preference or prejudice to influence my judgment
consciously for or against a story. To the titles of certain stories,
however, in this list, an asterisk is prefixed, and this asterisk, I
must confess, reveals in some measure a personal preference. Stories
indicated by this asterisk seem to me not only distinctive, but so
highly distinguished as to necessitate their ultimate preservation
between book covers. It is from this final short list that the stories
reprinted in this volume have been selected.

It has been a point of honor with me not to republish an English story
or a short story whose immediate publication in book form elsewhere
seems likely. I have also made it a rule not to include more than one
story by an individual author in the volume. The general and particular
results of my study will be found explained and carefully detailed in
the supplementary part of the volume. It only remains now to point out
certain passing characteristics of the year for the sake of
chronological completeness.

I suppose there can be no doubt that "Zelig" is by all odds the
most nobly conceived and finely wrought story of the year. It is
a peculiar satisfaction to find again this year, as in 1914, that
the best story is the work of an unknown author. Mr. Rosenblatt's
story is in my opinion even more satisfying as a report of life
than Mr. Conrad Richter's "Brothers of No Kin," which I felt to
be the best story published during 1914. The American public is
indebted to Professor Albert Frederick Wilson, of the New York
University School of Journalism for the discovery and encouragement
of Mr. Rosenblatt's literary genius. Professor Wilson's service to
American literature in this matter should be adequately acknowledged.

The _Bellman_, in which "Zelig" appeared, is remarkable for the
brilliance and power of its fiction. My averages this year show
clearly that its percentage of distinctive stories is nearly double
that of the American weekly which most nearly approaches it. The
quality of the _Bellman's_ poetry is a matter of national knowledge.
It is fully equalled by the _Bellman's_ fiction, which renders it
one of the three or four American periodicals necessary to every
student of our spiritual history.

One new periodical and one new short story writer claim unique attention
this year for their recent achievement and abundant future promise.
A year ago a slender little monthly magazine entitled the _Mid