O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1921 | Page 5

satirized so bitterly, by Sinclair Lewis, in
"The Post Mortem Murder" (Century, May), as to challenge wonder,
though so subtly as to escape all save the initiated.
Sophie Kerr's "Wild Earth" makes capital in like legitimate manner of
the little shop girl and her farmer husband. Wesley Dean is as far
removed from the Down Easterner of a Mary Wilkins farm as his wife,
Anita, is remote from the Sallies and Nannies of the farmhouse. Of the
soil this story bears the fragrance in a happier manner; its theme of wild
passion belongs to the characters, as it might belong, also, to the man
and woman of another setting. "Here is a romance of the farm," the
author seems to say; not sordid realistic portrayal of earth grubbers. So,
too, Tristram Tupper's "Grit" reveals the inspiration that flashed from
the life of a junkman. So Cooper and Creagan evoke the drama of the
railroad man's world: glare of headlight, crash of wreckage and voice of
the born leader mingle in unwonted orchestration. "Martin Gerrity Gets
Even" is reprinted as their best story of this genre.
The stories of Ethel Watts Mumford declare her cosmopolitan ability
and her willingness to deal with lives widely diverse. At least three
rank high in the estimation of her fellow-committeemen. "Aurore," by
its terseness and poignant interpretation of the character of the woman
under the Northern Lights touches poetry and is akin to music in its
creative flight. The Committee voted to include it in Volume III, under
the author's protest and under her express stipulation that it should not
be regarded as a candidate for either prize. That another of her stories
might have found place in the collection is indicated best by the
following letter:
The Players 16 Gramercy Park New York City

November 16th
Re. O. HENRY MEMORIAL PRIZE.
To Dr. B.C. Williams, 605 West 113 Street, New York City.
My Dear Doctor Williams,
I mailed to you yesterday a copy of a story by Ethel Watts Mumford,
entitled "Funeral Frank," published in the Detective Story Magazine
two weeks ago--for your consideration in awarding the O. Henry
Memorial prize.
I think it is the best short story I have read in a long time both for
originality of subject and technical construction.
The choice on the author's part of such an unsuspected (by the reader)
and seemingly insignificant agent for the working of Nemesis, I think
shows great skill. I say seemingly insignificant because a little dog
seems such a small and unlikely thing to act the leading part in a
criminal's judgment and suggested regeneration--and yet all lovers of
animals know what such a tie of affection may mean, especially to one
who has no human friends--and even while it works, the victim of
Nemesis as the author says "is wholly unconscious of the irony of the
situation."
Apart from this I think the tale is exceedingly well told in good English
and with the greatest possible economy of space.
Yours very truly, Oliver Herford.
"Waiting," by Helen R. Hull, stands first on the list of Grove E. Wilson,
who thinks its handling of everyday characters, its simplicity of theme
and its high artistry most nearly fulfil, among the stories of the year, his
ideal of short story requirements. Though admired as literature by the
Committee, it seemed to one or two members to present a character
study rather than a story. Certainly, in no other work of the period have
relations between a given mother and daughter been psychologized

with greater deftness and skill.
Other members of society reflected in the year are preachers, judges,
criminals, actors, and actresses. For some years, it is true, actor and
actress have been treated increasingly as human beings, less as puppets
who walk about on the stage. This volume contains two stories
illustrating the statement: "The Urge," by Maryland Allen, which
marshalls the grimly ironic reasons for the success of the heroine who
is the most famous comedienne of her day; "Fifty-Two Weeks for
Florette," which touches with a pathos that gave the story instant
recognition the lives of vaudeville Florette and her son. It is not without
significance that these stories are the first their respective authors have
published.
0.F. Lewis brings the judge to his own bar in "The Day of Judgment,"
but had difficulty in finding a denouement commensurate with his
antecedent material. The Committee Preferred his "The Get-Away" and
its criminals, who are Presented objectively, without prejudice, save as
their own acts invoke it. Viciously criminal is Tedge, of "The Man
Who Cursed the Lilies," by Charles Tenney Jackson. The Committee
value this narrative for the power and intensity of its subject matter, for
its novel theme, for its familiar yet seldom-used setting, for its poetic
justice and for its fulfilment