The San Francisco call., 1910-03-13
Gossip of Books and Writers

Despite their FURIOUS energy anu
their genius for mechanical invention,
than the Japanese. The men are cruel
and dishonest in business and the
women are hard, immeasurably con-
ceited and impatient of the duties of
domesticity." This is the Indictment
of America made lately by the English
Saturday Review. The occasion was
a discussion of Mrs. Humphry Wards
novel, Marriage a la Mode" OF
Daphne, the American heroine of Mrs.
Wards novel, the English journal
says:
she is simply insufferable, con-
'ceited, pedantic, insolent, lecturing
everybody. The book may shock those
who make the mistake of regarding
the Americans as civilized people.
Daphne is a splendidly drawn type, the
woman who is swept into marriage by
a sudden gust of physical inclination;
is disappointed and disgusted by the
first experience of marriage, and then
impatiently cancels the contract, talk
ing about her career, her Individual
ity, her chances. OF course great
deal of the trouble" continues our
critic, lis caused by so many American
girls being left in uncontrolled posses
sion of so much money. Until the
United States adopts a decent and uni
form law of divorce we shall persist
in regarding the Americans as semi
civilized and as setting a very bad eX-
ample to the rest of the world"
There, now.
The essentially difficult choice of
short stories which the editors of the
Great English Short Story Writers"
have made for their two new volumes in
the Harper's Readers Library" has
1riv lor- rb.at
the short story must be complete In it
self; that it is short because il can not
be long; that it consists of a single in
cident" Thus the first example chosen
is '"The Apparition of Mrs. Veal" an
amusing half satire by Daniel Defoe.
Next comes a very serious ghost story
by James Hogg, The Mysterious
Bride" Among later writer's is Wash
ington Irving. represented by '"rhe
Devil and Tom Walker; Nathaniel
Hawthorne, by that strange tale, ''Hei-
deggers Experiment; Edgar Allan Poe,
one of the greatest students of the short
story, by 1.-THE Purloined Letter" From
Dickens comes THE Boots of the Holly
Tree Inn," and from DIR. John Brown his
never to be forgotten "Rab and His
Friends" catholic selection covers
recent short story writers-among them
Stevenson, Bret Harte. Frank r. Stock
ton. Thomas Hardy. Henry James, Mark
Twain, Gilbert Parker. Conan Doyle
has a Sherlock Holmes story, The Ad-
venture of the Speckled Bard" The
selection from Kipling is The Man
Who Would Be King" Finally there is
even a story by that most modern of
short story writers. o. Henry. THE
Hiding of Black Bill" Historical ref
erence is well served by such an as
sembiy and good reading is assured.
Because he dictates his novels, E.
Phillips Oppenheim has ample time for
travel and recreation. He gives few
hours in the forenoon to his secretary,
so that the afternoon is free for golf
and the evening for bridge, two games
over which he is extremely enthusiastic.
Mr.. Oppenheim is reputed to be one
of the best bridge players in England
and often plays at the same table with
another novelist, Frank Dandy (Mrs.
Frankau), who has also an enviable
reputation as a bridge player. He has
made IL one of the chief factors in his
recent story, Jeanne of the Marshes