Life at High Tide

Life at High Tide

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Title: Life at High Tide Harper's Novelettes
Author: Various
Release Date: January, 2005 [EBook #7362] [Yes, we are more than
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Edition: 10
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LIFE AT HIGH TIDE
Harper's Novelettes
Edited By
William Dean Howells and Henry Mills Alden

CONTENTS:
THE IMMEDIATE JEWEL ........ MARGARET DELAND
"AND ANGELS CAME ........... ANNE O'HAGAN
KEEPERS OF A CHARGE ........ GRACE ELLERY CHANNING
A WORKING BASIS ............ ABBY MEGUIRE ROACH
THE GLASS DOOR ............. MARY TRACY EARLE
ELIZABETH AND DAVIE ........ MURIEL CAMPBELL DYAR
BARNEY DOON, BRAGGART ...... PHILIP VERRILL MIGHELS
THE REPARATION ............. EMERY POTTLE
THE YEARLY TRIBUTE ......... ROSINA HUBLEY EMMET
A MATTER OF RIVALRY ........ OCTAVE THANET

PREFACE
There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on
to fortune.
Thus the poet--and poetry, of the old order at least, always waiting
upon great events, has found in the high-tide flotations of masterful
heroes to fortune themes most flatteringly responsive to its own high
tension.
The writer of fiction has no such afflatus, no such high pitch of life, as
to outward circumstance, in his representation of it, as the poet has; and
therefore his may seem to the academic critic the lesser art--but it is

nearer to the realities of common human existence. He deals with plain
men and women, and the un-majestic moments of their lives.
"Life at High Tide"--the title selected for this little volume of short
stories, and having a real significance for each of them, which the
reader may find out for himself--does not reflect the poet's meaning,
and, least of all, its easy optimism. In every one of these stories is
presented a critical moment in one individual life-- sometimes, as in
"The Glass Door" and in "Elizabeth and Davie," in two lives; but it
leads not to or away from fortune--it simply discloses character; also, in
situations like those so vividly depicted in "Keepers of a Charge" and
"A Yearly Tribute," the tense strain of modern circumstance. In all
these real instances there are luminous points of idealism--of an
idealism implicit but translucent.
The authors here represented have won exceptional distinction as
short-story writers, and the examples given of their work not only are
typical of the best periodical fiction of a very recent period--all of them
having been published within five years--but illustrate the distinctive
features, as unprecedented in quality as they are diversified in character,
which mark the extreme advance in this field of literature.
H. M. A.

THE IMMEDIATE JEWEL
BY MARGARET DELAND
"_Good name, in man and woman, dear my lord, Is_ the immediate
jewel of their souls." --Othello.
I
When James Graham, carpenter, enlisted, it was with the assurance that
if he lost his life his grateful country would provide for his widow. He
did lose it, and Mrs. Graham received, in exchange for a husband and
his small earnings, the sum of $12 a month. But when you own your
own very little house, with a dooryard for chickens (and such stray
dogs and cats as quarter themselves upon you), and enough grass for a
cow, and a friendly neighbor to remember your potato-barrel, why, you
can get along--somehow. In Lizzie Graham's case nobody knew just
how, because she was not one of the confidential kind. But certainly
there were days in winter when the house was chilly, and months when
fresh meat was unknown, and years when a new dress was not thought

of. This state of things is not remarkable, taken in connection with an
income of $144 a year, and a