gramme too gloomy for public taste. When the theatre at last opened, the plays offered were five in number, including a clever comedy by William Hurlbut called "The Bride," a vulgar piece by Edward Goodman entitled "En Deshabille," a gruesome but none the less excellent drama, "The Black Mask," comparable in grimness to Masefield's "Tragedy of Nan" and just as distinctive in workmanship. Stanley Houghton's "The Younger Generation," illustrated in comedy vein how a father may unwisely restrict a household and finally how he will be obliged to become more liberal in his interpretation of filial duty. As an afterpiece Grace George appeared in Barrie's "Half an Hour," a three-part sketch of a weak woman's rebellion against a brutal husband, and her ignominious return to him because of her inability to meet a poignant situation. through the distinctive work of Chrystal Herne and Guy Standing. There is a healthy love story which is told through the medium of blackmailing, secret service maneuvers, and murder, in all of which the girl is involved. But the happy ending comes as suddenly as a pure atmosphere comes to a smoky room, once the window is opened. The love element is sweet, and there is a climax surprise which startles the audience into being thoroughly illogical and unquestioning during the rest of the play. August Thomas's "Indian Summer" was filled with the insincere sentimentality of middle age. This dramatist cannot help but write bright lines, lines which give distinction to his dialogue. But the play was a queer assortment of mellowed love and disconnected melodrama. The play was roughly handled by the press, despite the efforts of John Mason to give conviction to the artist role. A disagreeable character is "Tante" as revealed in C. Haddon Chambers' dramatization of Anne Douglas Sedgwick's novel. This is a minute study of the artistic temperament that demands all or nothing, and wrecks the lives of those who come in its way. Miss Barrymore's interpretation was excellent, marked by ever increasing surety of technique and understanding. By far the most picturesque production was Laurence Housman and Granville Barker's "Prunella," a fantasy in which the dainty little heroine and Pierret love youthfully and mature sadly in a garden and mostly in the moonlight. Much of the verse was lost in inadequate reading, but on the whole the performance was marked by beauty and imagination, qualities one can ill-afford to treat brusquely. The whole performance A bright little comedy was Anne was marked by good taste and charm. Crawford Flexner's "The Marriage Two big spectacular productions Game," which once more brought to have marked the theatrical season. America Alexandra Carlisle, a strikOne was Thomas W. Broadhurst's des- ing actress and most suited to the ecration of Longfellow's "Evangeline," role she undertook, that of a whitewherein were mixed certain lines from washed woman who finds herself un"Hiawatha." The other piece was the invited on a yachting cruise. During imported Drury Lane spectacle called the trip she has the opportunity of "Hop o' My Thumb." There was an ingratiating herself with all the men opportunity here to give the children folk aboard and of telling the wives a real Christmas treat, but the piece of these same men some surprising was evidently put on with great haste truths regarding their inability to and with little feeling for pictorial hold their husbands and make them values save in one scene, the living loyal. If you play the game of marstatues, where the effect is wonder- riage, so she says, then you must fully maintained. Certain gross-play it to win. This is the whole nesses make the piece of doubtful ap- philosophy of the play. propriateness as a fairy tale for young folks. A most delightful comedy by G. A. Birmingham was "General John Re"At Bay," a frank melodrama by gan," who never existed, but who was George Scarborough, has met with invented by an American tourist for great success because of the excellence the purposes of waking up the village of the acting, largely sustained of Ballymey. Its humor depended on the credulousness in Irish character as well as on the expansive imagination of one Dr. O'Grady. The play was full of spontaneous fun. "The Man Inside" challenged expectancy because it was by Roland B. Molineux, once condemned to die; and because Belasco vouched for it. In thesis it made a plea for the rehabilitation of the criminal from within. The story possessed moral fervor rather than dramatic moments; and as usual afforded opportunity for some realistic stage management in an opium den scene. On the whole, the production was a disappointing Belasco venture. William Hurlbut had an excellent idea in his "The Strange Woman," wherein a girl, brought up in a French atmosphere and believing in fresh originality. But its farcical inIowa. But the dramatist fell into the error of cartooning his types, and it was Elsie Ferguson's charm alone that saved the piece. As Inez de Pierrefond she maintained a dignity that raised the comedy above bathos. Laurence Eyre's "The Things that Count," crude and stereotyped in many of its situations, was nevertheless most appropriate for the Christmas season. Its chief interest was in the development of a crusty old woman who possessed a heart of gold beneath. A transformation is effected in her on Christmas Eve by her grandchild and there are many pretty moments of sentiment. "The New Henrietta" is Bronson Howard's old “Henrietta" brought up to date. The mine, the villain, the financier, and Wall Street are much the same as they were in the 70's, but we have advanced in other directions since then. Victor Mapes and Winchell Smith have therefore repolished the old furniture. William Crane has been cast in his role of years gone by, when he played opposite to Robson, and the play has caught favor with the public. Henri Bernstein is the exploiter of the drama of one big scene. In "The Secret" he gives a little more care and attention to characterization than he gave in "The Thief." Mr. Belasco presented this play as a vehicle for Frances Starr, who had the part of a disagreeable woman intent on de she stroying whatever happiness found in her way. The dialogue lacked brilliancy and the situations were far from original. The psychology of the woman was wanting also in definiteness. "We Are Seven," a whimsical farce by Eleanor Gates, author of "The Poor Little Rich Girl," was disappointing. It contained many literary excellences, with charming touches of fresh originality. But its farcical incidents in no way blended with the legitimate whimsy of the main idea. "The Philanderer" is an early Shaw product, though now given for the first time in America; it is of course witty throughout, but the effort to satirize Ibsen seemed rather forced as it was acted. A poor English company was sent over by Granville Barker, faultily rehearsed, and in the main roles poorly cast. At the close of the year, the one pronounced success from the box office standpoint was George Cohan's "The Seven Keys to Baldpate," a mystery farce exhibiting clever technical manipulation, based on the novel of the same name. An author of sensational stories accepts a wager to go to Baldpate Inn, a summer resort, in the dead of winter, and in 24 hours-sequestered alone to produce a story of the kind for which he is famed. He is given the supposedly only key to the empty Inn. But he unearths the adventures of six others who possess keys to Baldpate, and exciting times follow. The interest and surprise depend on а clever turn of dramatic workmanship. As the year ends, we look with interest toward Winthrop Ames, who is about to announce the winner of the $10,000 prize offered by him some months ago for an American play. That managers are eagerly seeking the new dramatist is further evinced by the fact that the Princess Theatre has offered prizes to undergraduates of our colleges for one-act plays. We are facing no new problems as 1914 approaches, though we hear much of、 a French Theatre, of a Woman's Theatre, whatever that may be, and of a travelling theatre to go from school to school and present classic dramas; the latter idea is being fostered by Ben Greet. XXXIII. LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE AMERICAN LITERATURE (Nov. 15, 1912, to Nov. 15, 1913) Fiction. The greatest productivity in creative literature has been as usual of works of fiction. Speaking roundly, we may say that the publication of fiction has been somewhat less than in 1912. Of the books designed to appeal to a cultivated audience, which make only a small proportion of the whole, there are about 350 by American authors. Of English novels republished in America there are about half as many. Of the best fiction the proportion is somewhat different. In almost any list of "best novels" a full half is likely to be by English authors. The following review includes only the work of American writers, with mention of a few English or Canadian authors who are practically domesticated in the United States. long known life. In it Mr. Howells goes back to the days of his youth and presents the manners and characters that he sees through the vista of half a century of experience. Next to be noted is a set of stories dealing with the life-experience of some man or woman. In this group will be found more books that have attracted wide attention than in all other groups put together. Lifestories of women are: Ellen Glasgow's Virginia (Doubleday, Page & Co.), the plain but touching story of a woman of the old order who lives on into the new; Albert Edwards' Comrade Yetta (Macmillan), the lifeexperience of a Jewish girl in New York who rises from speeder in a sweat-shop to be a leader in the great social movement; Edith Wharton's The Custom of the Country (Scribners), a highly polished account of a sordid struggle for social success; Robert Herrick's One Woman's Life (Macmillan), an equally vivid account of a life of the same sort, less sordid and more probable; F. A. Kummer's A Song of Sixpence (Watt), still another and more sensational account of the American adventuress; Mary Johnston's Hagar (Houghton, Mifflin Co.), the life of a girl born in the quiet conventionality of the old South who becomes a cosmopolitan and a feminist; Daniel C. Goodman's Hagar Revelly (Mitchell Kennerley), ostensibly a study of why women go wrong; with others of less note. Stories of men are Mrs. Watts' Van Cleve (Macmillans), an almost historical study of an American and of America for the last 30 years; Coningsby Dawson's A Garden without Walls (Holt), a theory of life pre The most popular forms of fiction are still the tales of adventure, mystery, or romance which became respectable from a literary standpoint some twenty-five years ago. The best examples of fiction, however, show the seriousness of interest in reality, in actual life, that was a note of the nineteenth century. It is not that there are so many "transcripts of life" or so many discussions of problems, but that so many writers even of romantic or idealistic tendency seem to be intent on particular phases of actual life or on some secret of life that lies beneath the everyday surface. First to be named should be William D. Howells' New Leaf Mills (Harpers). Mr. Howells has been for years in character and achievement the chief figure in American fiction and this book shows the ripe and mature nature of one who has in sented in so charmingly idealized and evils of our social system. Such, too, imaginative a form that one almost are practically some books which are forgets that there is a theory in it; not ostensibly studies of social quesHenry R. Miller's The Ambition of tions, like Miss Bryant's Ruth Anne Mark Truitt (Bobbs, Merrill & Co.), (Lippincotts), a book full of life in a very able statement of what might which a love story is so soaked in be the career of a modern captain social atmosphere as itself to take of industry; Basil King's The Way rather a minor place in the reader's Home (Harpers), a story of a young mind, and Miss Münsterberg's Anna man which offers also an answer to Borden's Career (Appletons), one of the religious questions of the which the social interest often conday; Nelson Lloyd's David Malcolm ceals the satire on the woman who (Scribners), the development of a turns this way and that in her effort mountain boy into a cosmopolitan to be selfish in the altruistic modes journalist; Grace Lutz's Lo, Michael approved by society. Of this kind, (Lippincotts), a well-founded story, strangely enough is Jack London's though of slight actuality, of a man The Valley of the Moon (Macmillan), who rose from the slums and recog- which begins with a picture of curnized his responsibilities to those he rent conditions and people trying to had left behind. These books are very better them by current remedies, and different in character and degree of continues with the author's solution excellence, but all claim attention as of "back to the land.” Also to be stories of men and women who dis- noted here are Francis Lynde's story tinctly stand for some definite thing. of alleged politics, The Hon. Senator Akin to these are the books which Sagebrush (Scribners), and J. M. present some social group or some Forman's excellent presentation of phase of life, not, as a rule, because the suffrage movement in The Openanything of importance is enacted ing Door (Harpers). Some of these therein, but because the phase of life books are historical, like Stewart Edor group of people is significant or ward White's Gold, a book which is interesting. Such are Weir Mitchell's meant to present not a story or a Westways (Century Co.), which has character, but the life of the fortyfor its subject a family and a com- niner; and Mary Johnston's Cease munity as affected by the storm of Firing (Houghton, Mifflin Co.), and the Civil War; Meredith Nicholson's Thomas Dixon's The Southerner (ApOtherwise Phyllis (Houghton, Mifflin pletons), two books in which the Co.), a fine picture of a typical Ameri- writers seek to discern the real forces can character against an Indiana beneath the chaos and glamour of the background; Miss Cather's very beau- great war, the hardships, the dangers, tiful study of life on the prairie farm, the romance and the idealism. Even Oh Pioneers! (Houghton, Mifflin Co.); | John Fox's The Heart of the Hills Mrs. Stratton-Porter's. Laddie (Dou- (Scribners) differs from his earlier bleday, Page & Co.), which gives us stories of romantic incident because the feeling of the farm and the coun- he is absorbed in what is really an tryside; Mrs. Wiggins' Waitstill Bax- important phase of national life, ter (Houghton, Mifflin Co.), a picture namely, the emerging of the mounof country life in Maine; A. Mulder's taineer. So the other mountain stoThe Dominie of Harlem (McClurg), ries are apt to be studies of condia story full of the local color of tions rather than stories of incident, Dutch life in Michigan; and several like Francis N. Greene's excellent The more. A few books deal with some Right of the Strongest (Scribners). single question: such is Winston and in lesser measure C. N. Buck's Churchill's The Inside of the Cup The Call of the Cumberland (Watt). (Macmillan), a most stimulating pres F. H. Spearman's Merrilie Dawes entation of one of the most funda (Scribners) is a romantic tale enough, mental things in the religious life of but belongs here because under the to-day; such also is Miss Robins' romance lies the especial interest My Little Sister (Dodd, Mead & Co.), in a definite phase of life, that of a poignant presentation of the awful the stock exchange. So also Miss possibilities of one of the accepted | Marjorie Patterson's The Dust of the The Road (Holt) has its love story, | Indeed, there are stories of romance but its real interest is as a picture, very vivid and curious, of the theatre life. Among the books, realistic or not, which are occupied with actual fact, we must put a number of novels founded on the complications of sex, as Mr. Vance's Joan Thursday (Little, Brown & Co.), Miss DeJeans' The House of Thane (Lippincotts), Upton Sinclair's Sylvia (Winston), and Mrs. Martin's The Parasite (Lippincotts). Among the books full of the spirit of social questioning many will think we should place the book which is the most notable of the year, namely, Henry S. Harrison's V. C.'s Eyes (Houghton, Mifflin Co.). This is undoubtedly a book of characters, manners, problems, life itself, but differs from all those mentioned above in its structural power. While others are content to detail a career, to present a phase of life, to discuss a question, Mr. Harrison has felt it better to tell a fine story and let phases of life, social questions, careers and characters show for what they will. And herein he stands almost alone, for those who wish to show us life are usually indifferent to the emotional power of story, and those who have a story to tell are generally indifferent to, or perhaps unconscious of, character and life. and adventure over the whole world, from T. E. Harre's The Eternal Maiden (Kennerley), a story of the Esquimaux, to Rowland Thomas's tropical Fatima (Little, Brown & Co.). East arouses many imaginations, as, for example, in Mr. Isham's An Aladdin from Broadway (Bobbs, Merrill & Co.), Mason and Hilliard's The Bear's Claws (McClurg), Harold MacGrath's Parrot & Co. (Bobbs, Merrill & Co.), and others. There seem to be no real Zenda stories this year, though G. B. McCutcheon's A Fool and his Money (Dodd, Mead & Co.) comes somewhere near them. Here belong some of the historical novels. Most of these are Civil War stories; some are serious studies on a large scale and have been already mentioned. John Luther Long's War (Bobbs, Merrill & Co.) is in the beginning a most attractive picture of the life of a quiet Maryland farm in war time, but later becomes more a story of intrigue and adventure. Others are more frankly stories of incident and excitement, like Miss Lincoln's The Lost Despatch (Appletons), and Chittenden Marriott's Sally Castleton, Southerner (Lippincotts). Apart from Civil War stories there are few pieces of historical fiction to be noted, Canon Brady's The Fetters of Freedom (Dodd, Mead & Co.) and Miss Kingsley's Veronica (Appletons) being most worthy of remark. There have been as usual a large number of detective stories, some of which have given a new turn to familiar motives. Mrs. Rinehart's The Case of Jennie Brice (Bobbs, Merrill & Co.) and Miss Bunker's Diamond Cut Diamond (Bobbs, Merrill & Co.) are good examples of their author's ingenious craft. Burton Stevenson's The Gloved Hand (Dodd, Mead & Co.) has some new elements, but is not so strong as the stories which gave him his reputation. H. K. Webster's The Ghost Girl (Appletons) and Maximilian Foster's The The main interest of a great many of the books of the year lies in their stirring portrayal of adventurous incident, their baffling mystery, or their sentiment of romance. First to be named in this group is Rex Beach's The Iron Trail (Harpers). The book depicts a passing civilization, it is true, but it is read because there is something to be done of which the novelist tells us the story. There are many other of these stories of adventure in the great world. Among the best stories of the woods are H. Footner's Jack Chanty (Doubleday, Page & Co.), J. 0. Curwood's Isobel (Harpers), and H. H. Knibb's Stephen March's Way (Houghton, Mif- | Whistling_Man (Appletons) are inflin Co.). The great West has its genious, but do not seem to call stories of adventure, A. M. Chisolm's for additional remark. The Bishop's Precious Waters (Doubleday, Page Purse, however, by Oliver Herford and & Co.), Zane Grey's Desert Gold Cleveland Moffett, is noteworthy. It (Harpers), Ridgewell Cullom's Night is confusing in its multiplicity of Riders (Jacobs), and many more. | action, but the presentation of char |