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does not aim to present the world's best short stories, nor to
illustrate the development of the form from Roman times to our own
day, nor to show how the technique of Poe differs from that of Irving:
its purpose is none of these things, but rather to use the short story as a
means of interpreting American life. Our country is so vast that few of
us know more than a small corner of it, and even in that corner we do
not know all our fellow-citizens; differences of color, of race, of creed,
of fortune, keep us in separate strata. But through books we may learn
to know our fellow-citizens, and the knowledge will make us better
Americans.
The story by Dorothy Canfield has a unique interest for the student, in
that it is followed by the author's own account of how it was written,
from the first glimpse of the theme to the final typing of the story.
Teachers who use this book for studying the art of short story

construction may prefer to begin with "Flint and Fire" and follow with
"The Citizen," tracing in all the others indications of the authors'
methods.
BENJAMIN A. HEYDRICK.
NEW YORK CITY, March, 1920.

CONTENTS
PAGE I. IN SCHOOL DAYS THE RIGHT PROMETHEAN FIRE
George Madden Martin 3 Sketch of George Madden Martin 16
II. JUST KIDS THE LAND OF HEART'S DESIRE Myra Kelly 21
Sketch of Myra Kelly 37
III. HERO-WORSHIP THE TENOR H. C. Bunner 41 Sketch of H. C.
Bunner 54
IV. SOCIETY IN OUR TOWN THE PASSING OF PRISCILLA
WINTHROP William Allen White 59 Sketch of William Allen White
73
V. A PAIR OF LOVERS THE GIFT OF THE MAGI O. Henry 79
Sketch of O. Henry 86
VI. IN POLITICS THE GOLD BRICK Brand Whitlock 91 Sketch of
Brand Whitlock 111
VII. THE TRAVELLING SALESMAN HIS MOTHER'S SON Edna
Ferber 117 Sketch of Edna Ferber 130
VIII. AFTER THE BIG STORE CLOSES BITTER-SWEET Fannie
Hurst 135 Sketch of Fannie Hurst 166
IX. IN THE LUMBER COUNTRY THE RIVERMAN Stewart
Edward White173 Sketch of Stewart E. White 185

X. NEW ENGLAND GRANITE FLINT AND FIRE Dorothy Canfield
191 HOW "FLINT AND FIRE" STARTED AND GREW Dorothy
Canfield 210 Sketch of Dorothy Canfield 221
XI. DUSKY AMERICANS THE ORDEAL AT MT. HOPE Paul
Laurence Dunbar227 Sketch of Paul Laurence Dunbar 249
XII. WITH THE POLICE ISRAEL DRAKE Katherine Mayo 255
Sketch of Katherine Mayo 273
XIII. IN THE PHILIPPINES THE STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPH OF
ISIDRO DE LOS MAESTROS James M. Hopper 279 Sketch of James
M. Hopper 295
XIV. THEY WHO BRING DREAMS TO AMERICA THE CITIZEN
James F. Dwyer 299 Sketch of James F. Dwyer 318
XV. LIST OF AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 321 Classified by
locality
XVI. NOTES AND QUESTIONS FOR STUDY 325

IN SCHOOL DAYS
Are any days more rich in experiences than school days? The day one
first enters school, whether it is the little red schoolhouse or the big
brick building that holds a thousand pupils,--that day marks the
beginning of a new life. One of the best records in fiction of the world
of the school room is called EMMY LOU. In this book George Madden
Martin has traced the progress of a winsome little maid from the first
grade to the end of high school. This is the story of the first days in the
strange new world of the school room.

THE RIGHT PROMETHEAN FIRE
BY

GEORGE MADDEN MARTIN
Emmy Lou, laboriously copying digits, looked up. The boy sitting in
line in the next row of desks was making signs to her.
She had noticed the little boy before. He was a square little boy, with a
sprinkling of freckles over the bridge of the nose and a cheerful breadth
of nostril. His teeth were wide apart, and his smile was broad and
constant. Not that Emmy Lou could have told all this. She only knew
that to her the knowledge of the little boy concerning the things
peculiar to the Primer World seemed limitless.
And now the little boy was beckoning Emmy Lou. She did not know
him, but neither did she know any of the seventy other little boys and
girls making the Primer Class.
Because of a popular prejudice against whooping-cough, Emmy Lou
had not entered the Primer Class until late. When she arrived, the
seventy little boys and girls were well along in Alphabetical lore,
having long since passed the a, b, c, of initiation, and become glibly
eloquent to a point where the l, m, n, o, p slipped off their tongues with
the liquid ease of repetition and familiarity.
"But Emmy Lou can catch up," said Emmy Lou's Aunt Cordelia, a
plump and cheery lady, beaming with optimistic placidity upon the
infant populace