made it 3,000." O magnanimous Committee! O Committee which is aware that aesthetically 2,500 is as naught, whereas 3,000 is as 3,000! O God, as I wrote in reviewing their previous volume, O Montreal! O Committee which prefers "those narratives reflective of life"!) I have taken the quite unnecessary pains to read the stories in their volume—unnecessary because the introduction is quite enough, and more interesting. Some are not bad stories; most are. I suppose Mr Cobb's being the worst of even their lot, naturally won the prize. Most of the stories are dull, spiritually banal, intellectually vulgar, uninteresting in plot, weak in characterization, shabbily written—and not good interesting narratives. I cannot go on in decent language about the product before me, and I do not think it is required of me to make the exceptions specific. The O. Henry Memorial Award has been going on long enough for any self-respecting author to know better than to allow his work to appear in the annual volume. As for the introduction, I urge everyone to read it, for everything that is wrong and depressing in the American story is explained there—generally as everything that's right and entertaining. In addition to a Credo, the introduction provides a reasoned catalogue of the stories contained in the volume, and critical reasons for the rejection of others. You will learn that "only one dog story was considered for inclusion" and that Mr Beer has "successfully fictionized the Yankee family at home," that "a story otherwise excellent may fail to convince" (which it happens is written in connexion with one of the worst stories published during the year, not, however, included in this series) and that another story seemed "deftly to incorporate an episode in the life of Mark Twain. But the specialist in slang wrote roundly . . . 'Nope'" and so damned it. Here are specimen fragments of the Credo:
"I believe that every good story is based upon a struggle, not upon a tableau or picture. I admit (sic) that a complication enlarges and enriches the primary struggle.
"I believe in the aids of suspense, of clues, of dramatic forecast, of surprise and all the other arts at the story teller's command.
"I believe that an underlying truth, which is not propaganda or didacticism, exists at the basis of every good story.
"I believe that every story which lives, even momentarily, exists
