Have we not then three distinct classes of publications which can be indexed with profit?
(a) Collected stories of authors, of whom we have listed at least 4,400.
(b) Periodical sets, which Poole indexed by titles only, but since 1900 the Readers' Guide has by both author and title.
(c) Collections of stories, of which 73 at least are available today.
Can we not characterize or classify our short story by some such terms as those used in the Philadelphia free library Catalog of Prose Fiction, published in 1904?
Have you ever been disappointed in reading a story? Have you not often wished to know if it were a "good" one or "worth while" before you began it? Indeed, have you not often refrained from reading one for fear of wasting your time?
How can we tell about these short stories? Are they good or bad? Detective or amorous? Psychological or mysterious?
Have you ever seen a short story reviewed? Have you any way of knowing? Must we read every one to find out?
Some may be characterized from the author. The Sherlock Holmes series are obviously detective stories. We can be pretty sure of Ambrose Bierce and Edgar Allan Poe. So stories in Harper's have a general tone quite characteristic.
Here at once is a most important and a most difficult part of such an index. Is not the value of Granger immensely increased by the topical index? Are we not laboring patiently to classify our novels by subjects? Why not also the short story?