How to study "The best short stories"

by Blanche Colton Williams

New York City,
November 30, 1918.

CONTENTS

STORIES IN THE YEARBOOKS

1915, 1916, 1917, and 1918.

		PAGE
A Simple Act of Piety. By Captain Achmed Abdullah	1918	[1]
The Sacrificial Altar. By Gertrude Atherton	1916	[8]
The Excursion. By Edwina Stanton Babcock	1917	[12]
Cruelties. By Edwina Stanton Babcock	1918	[14]
Onnie. By Thomas Beer	1917	[18]
Miss Willett. By Barry Benefield	1916	[21]
Supers. By Frederick Booth	1916	[23]
Buster. By Katharine Holland Brown	1918	[24]
Fog. By Dana Burnet	1916	[28]
The Water-Hole. By Maxwell Struthers Burt	1915	[31]
A Cup of Tea. By Maxwell Struthers Burt	1917	[33]
Ma’s Pretties. By Francis Buzzell	1916	[37]
Lonely Places. By Francis Buzzell	1917	[39]
The Wake. By Donn Byrne	1915	[42]
The Great Auk. By Irvin Cobb	1916	[44]
Boys Will Be Boys. By Irvin Cobb	1917	[48]
Chautonville. By Will Levington Comfort	1915	[51]
Laughter. By Charles Caldwell Dobie	1917	[52]
The Open Window. By Charles Caldwell Dobie	1918	[56]
The Lost Phoebe. By Theodore Dreiser	1916	[59]
La Dernière Mobilisation. By W. A. Dwiggins	1915	[61]
The Emperor of Elam. By H. G. Dwight	1917	[62]
The Citizen. By James Francis Dwyer	1915	[66]
The Gay Old Dog. By Edna Ferber	1917	[67]
Blind Vision. By Mary Mitchell Freedley	1918	[71]
Imagination. By Gordon Hall Gerould	1918	[73]
The Knight’s Move. By Katherine Fullerton Gerould	1917	[75]
In Maulmain Fever-Ward. By George Gilbert	1918	[77]
A Jury of Her Peers. By Susan Glaspell	1917	[83]
The Silent Infare. By Armistead C. Gordon	1916	[86]
The Cat of the Cane-Brake. By Frederick Stuart Greene	1916	[89]
The Bunker Mouse. By Frederick Stuart Greene	1917	[92]
Whose Dog—? By Frances Gregg	1915	[95]
Making Port. By Richard Matthews Hallett	1916	[96]
Rainbow Pete. By Richard Matthews Hallett	1917	[98]
Life. By Ben Hecht	1915	[100]
The Father’s Hand. By George Humphrey	1918	[101]
T. B. By Fannie Hurst	1915	[103]
“Ice Water, Pl—!” By Fannie Hurst	1916	[106]
Get Ready the Wreaths. By Fannie Hurst	1917	[109]
Mr. Eberdeen’s House. By Arthur Johnson	1915	[112]
The Visit of the Master. By Arthur Johnson	1918	[116]
The Strange-Looking Man. By Fannie Kemble Johnson	1917	[118]
Vengeance Is Mine. By Virgil Jordan	1915	[119]
The Caller in the Night. By Burton Kline	1917	[120]
In the Open Code. By Burton Kline	1918	[124]
Little Selves. By Mary Lerner	1916	[126]
The Willow Walk. By Sinclair Lewis	1918	[129]
The Weaver Who Clad the Summer. By Harris Merton Lyon	1915	[136]
The Sun Chaser. By Jeannette Marks	1916	[139]
The Story Vinton Heard at Mallorie. By Katharine Prescott Moseley	1918	[143]
Heart of Youth. By Walter J. Muilenburg	1915	[145]
At the End of the Road. By Walter J. Muilenburg	1916	[147]
At the End of the Path. By Newbold Noyes	1915	[149]
The Whale and the Grasshopper. By Seumas O’Brien	1915	[151]
In Berlin. By Mary Boyle O’Reilly	1915	[153]
The Interval. By Vincent O’Sullivan	1917	[154]
The Toast to Forty-Five. By William Dudley Pelley	1918	[156]
The Big Stranger on Dorchester Heights. By Albert Du Verney Pentz	1916	[159]
“A Certain Rich Man—.” By Lawrence Perry	1917	[161]
The Path of Glory. By Mary Brecht Pulver	1917	[165]
Extra Men. By Harrison Rhodes	1918	[170]
The Waiting Years. By Katharine Metcalf Roof	1915	[172]
Zelig. By Benjamin Rosenblatt	1915	[174]
The Menorah. By Benjamin Rosenblatt	1916	[176]
The Survivors. By Elsie Singmaster	1915	[178]
Penance. By Elsie Singmaster	1916	[180]
Feet of Gold. By Arthur Gordon Smith	1916	[182]
Solitaire. By Fleta Campbell Springer	1918	[184]
The Yellow Cat. By Wilbur Daniel Steele	1915	[189]
Down on Their Knees. By Wilbur Daniel Steele	1917	[192]
Ching, Ching, Chinaman. By Wilbur Daniel Steele	1917	[194]
The Dark Hour. By Wilbur Daniel Steele	1918	[200]
The Bird of Serbia. By Julian Street	1918	[202]
The Bounty Jumper. By Mary Synon	1915	[207]
None So Blind. By Mary Synon	1917	[210]
Half-Past Ten. By Alice L. Tildesley	1916	[212]
At Isham’s. By Edward C. Venable	1918	[214]
De Vilmarte’s Luck. By Mary Heaton Vorse	1918	[216]
The White Battalion. By Frances Gilchrist Wood	1918	[219]

GENERAL SUGGESTIONS

Read the story before taking up the exercises.

Consult the biographical data in the Yearbooks for 1916, 1917, and 1918.

Observe to what extent the various authors have reflected the country or region in which they have lived. What conclusions do you draw?

Many of the stories conform to the laws of the “Greek Unities.” Name them.