O. HENRY MEMORIAL AWARD PRIZE STORIES of 1921
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
u 3 1 ^Daiiid ©.oMcTKmj Sftbitang Chosen b society of 38 o arts and sciences Prize stories of 1921 9 \ A > Date Due j m^7 ym RICKS COLLEGE LRC [/ 3 1404 00 094 164 8 MEMORIAL 0. HENRY AWARD PRIZE STORIES 1921 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from Brigham Young University-Idaho http://archive.org/details/ohenrymemorialaw01will 0. HENRY MEMORIAL AWARD PRIZE STORIES of 1921 CHOSEN BY THE SOCIETY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BLANCHE COLTON WILLIAMS Author of "A Handbook on Storv Writing," "Our Short Story Writers,"' Etc. Associate Professor of English. Hunter College of the City of New York Instructor in Story Writing, Columbia Univer' sity (Extension Teaching and Summer Session) GARDEN CITY NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 1923 COPYRIGHT, 1921, 1922, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN Copyright, 1920, 1921, by The Ridgway Company, and The Metropolitan Publications, Inc. Copyright, 1921, by Harper & Brothers; The Curtis Publishing Company in the United States and Great Britain; Charles Scribner's Sons; The Crowell Publishing Company; Wm. H. Kofold; Consolidated Magazines Corporation (The Red Book Magazine) All rights reserved, and The Pictorial Review Company PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES AT THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y. t CD H cm CONTENTS PAGE The Heart of Little Shikara. By Edison Marshall i The Man Who Cursed the Lilies. By Charles Ten- ney Jackson 29 The Urge. By Maryland Allen 45 Mummery. By Thomas Beer 66 The Victim of His Vision. By Gerald Chittenden . 84 Martin Gerrity Gets Even. By Courtney Ryley Cooper and Leo F. Creagan 113 Stranger Things. By Mildred Cram .... 127 Comet. By Samuel A. Derieux 156 Fifty-Two Weeks for Florette. By Elizabeth Alex- ander Heermann 169 1/^Wild Earth. By Sophie Kerr 193 The Tribute. By Harry Anable Knimn .... 229 The Get-Away. By O. F. Lewis 234 "Aurore." By Ethel Watts Mumford 243 Mr. Downey Sits Down. By L. H. Robbins . 258 The Marriage in Kairwan. By Wilbur Daniel Steele 273 / Grit. By Tristram Tupper , 293 FOUNDER OF THE O. HENRY MEMORIAL COMMITTEE The plan for the creation of the O. Henry Memorial Committee was conceived and the work of the Committee inaugurated in the year 191 8 by the late John F. Tucker, LL.M., then Directing Manager of the Society of Arts and Sciences. The Society promptly approved the plan and appropriated the sum necessary to inaugurate its work and to make the award. The Committee is, therefore, in a sense, a memorial to Mr. Tucker, as well as to O. Henry. Up to the time of his death Mr. Tucker was a constant adviser of the Committee and an attendant at most of its meetings. Born in New York City in 187 1 and educated for the law, Mr. Tucker's inclinations quickly swept him into a much wider stream of intellectual development, literary, artistic, and sociological. He joined others in reviving the Twilight Club (now the Society of Arts and Sciences), for the broad discussion of public questions, and to the genius he developed for such a task the success of the Society up to the time of his death was chiefly due. The remarkable series of dinner discussions conducted under his management, for many years, in New York City, have helped to mould public opinion along liberal lines, to educate and inspire. Nothing he did gave him greater pride than the inception of the O. Henry Memorial Committee, and that his name should be associa ted with that work perpetually this tribute is hereby printed at the reques of the Society of Arts and Sciences. E. J. W. vu : INTRODUCTION In 19 i 8 the Society of Arts and Sciences established, through its Managing Director, John F. Tucker, the O. Henry Memorial. Since that year the nature of the annual prize and the work of the Committee awarding it have become familiar to writer, editor, and reader of short stories. To the best short story written by an American and published in America the sum of $500 is awarded; to the second best, the sum of $250. In 19 19 the prize winning story was Margaret Prescott Montague's " England to America"; in 1920 it was Maxwell Struthers Burt's "Each in His Generation." Second winners were: 1919, Wilbur Daniel Steele's "For They Know Not What They Do," and, 1920, Frances Noyes Hart's "Contact!" 1 In 192 1 the Committee of Award consisted of these members Blanche Colton Williams, Ph. D., Chairman Edward J. Wheeler, Litt. D. Ethel Watts Mumeord Frances Gilchrist Wood Grove E. Wilson And the Committee of Administration: John F. Tucker, 2 Founder of the O. Henry Memorial Edward J. Wheeler, Litt. D. Glenn Frank, Editor of The Century Magazine George C. Howard, Attorney. As in previous years each member of the Committee of Award held himself responsible for reviewing the brief fiction x The prizes were delivered on June 2, 1920, and on March 14, 192 1, at the annual memorial dinner, Hotel Astor. 2Deceased, February 27, 1921. See page vii. ix x INTRODUCTION of certain magazines and for circulating such stories as warranted reading by other members. Results in 192 1 differ in a number of respects from those of 1919 and 1920. In the earlier half year, January excepted, every reader reported a low average of current fiction, so low as to excite apprehension lest the art of the short story was rapidly declining. The latter six months, however, marked a reaction, with a higher percentage of values in November and December. Explanation of the low level lies in the financial depression which forced a number of editors to buy fewer stories, to buy cheaply, or to search their vaults for remnant of purchases made in happier days. Improvement began with the return to better financial conditions. The several members of the Committee have seldom agreed on the comparative excellence of stories, few being of sufficient superiority in the opinion of the Committee as a whole to justify setting them aside for future consideration. The following three dozen candidates, more or less, average highest: Addington, Sarah, Another Cactus Blooms {Smart Set, December). Alexander, Elizabeth, Fifty-Two Weeks for Florette 1 {Satur- day Evening Post, August 13). Allen, Maryland, The Urge {Everybody's, September). Arbuckle, Mary, Wasted {Midland, May). Beer, Thomas, Mummery {Saturday Evening Post, July 30). Burt, Maxwell Struthers, Buchanan Hears the Wind {Har- per's, August). Byrne, Donn, Reynardine {McClure's, May). Chittenden, Gerald, The Victim of His Vision {Scribner's, May). Comfort, Will Levington, and Dost, Zamin Ki, The Deadly Karait {Asia, August). Cooper, Courtney Ryley, and Creagan, Leo F. Martin, Gerrity Gets Even {American, July). Cooper, Courtney Ryley, Old Scarface {Pictorial Review, April). Cram, Mildred, Stranger Things— {Metropolitan, January). Derieux, Samuel A, Comet {American, December). Reprinted as by Elizabeth Alexander Heermann. ; INTRODUCTION xi Hull, Helen R., Waiting (Touchstone, February). Jackson, Charles Tenney, The Man who Cursed the Lilies (Short Stories, December 10). Kerr, Sophie, Wild Earth (Saturday Evening Post, April 2). Kniffin, Harry Anable, The Tribute (Brief Stories , September). Lewis, O. F., The Get-Away (Red Book, February); The Day of Judgment (Red Book, October). Mahoney, James, Wilfrid Reginald and the Dark Horse (Century, August). Marshall, Edison, The Heart of Little Shikara (Everybody's, January) Morris, Gouverneur, Groot's Macaw (Cosmopolitan, Novem- ber); Just One Thing More (Cosmopolitan, December). Mumford, Ethel Watts, "Aurore" (Pictorial Review, Febru- ary); The Crowned Dead (Short Stories, July); Funeral Frank (Detective Stories, October 29). Robbins, L. H., Mr. Downey Sits Down (Everybody's, June). Steele, Wilbur Daniel, 'Toinette of Maissonnoir (Pictorial Review, July); The Marriage in Kairwan (Harper's, December). Street, Julian, A Voice in the Hall (Harper's, September). Stringer, Arthur, A Lion Must Eat (McClure's, March). Tupper, Tristram, Grit (Metropolitan, March). Vorse, Mary Heaton, The Halfway House (Harper's, October). Wolff, William Almon, Thalassa! Thalassa! (Everybody's, July), The following stories rank high with a majority of the Committee: Anthony, Joseph, A Cask of Ale for Columban (Century, March). Baker, Karle Wilson, The Porch Swing (Century, April). Balmer, Edwin, "Settled Down" (Everybody's, February). Beer, Thomas, Addio (Saturday Evening Post, October 29) The Lily Pond (Saturday Evening Post, April 16). Biggs, John, Jr., Corkran of the Clamstretch (Scribner's, December). Boulton, Agnes, The Snob (Smart Set, June). Boyle, Jack, The Heart of the Lily (Red Book, February); The Little Lord of All the Earth (Red Book, March). ; xii INTRODUCTION Byrne, Dorm, The Keeper of the Bridge (McClure's, April). Canfield, Dorothy, Pamela's Shawl (Century, August). Connell, Richard, The Man in the Cape (Metropolitan, July). Cooper, Courtney Ryley, The Fiend (Cosmopolitan, March) Love (Red Book, June). Cram, Mildred, Anna (McCall's, March); The Bridge (Harper's Bazar, April). Derieux, Samuel A., Figgers Can't Lie (Delineator, April); The Bolter (American, November). Dreiser, Theodore, Phantom Gold (Live Stories, March). Ellerbe, Alma and Paul, When the Ice Went Out (Everybody's, May). England, George Allan, Test Tubes (Short Stories, March). Erickson, Howard, The Debt (Munsey's, February). Fraenkel, H. E., The Yellow Quilt (Liberator, December). Ginger, Bonnie, The Decoy (Century, October). Hart, Frances Noyes, The American (Pictorial Review, November), i Hergesheimer, Joseph, Juju (Saturday Evening Post, July 30); The Token (Saturday Evening Post, October 22). Hopper, Elsie Van de Water, The Flight of the Herons (Scribner's, November). Hughes, Rupert, When Crossroads Cross Again (Collier's, January 29). Hurst, Fannie, She Walks in Beauty (Cosmopolitan, August). Irwin, Inez Haynes, For Value Received (Cosmopolitan, November). Irwin, Wallace, The Old School (Pictorial Review, April). Kahler, Hugh MacNair, Like a Tree (Saturday Evening Postt January 22).