The sun., 1919-07-06
Some Stories in
July Magazines
By DOROTHY SCARBOROUGH.


timelness which tyrannizes over present
day fiction in distressing fashion. The
dryness of the stories may be merely a
sympathetic reflection Of the general July
aridity; or it may be a silent and con-
certed protest on the part Of authors
against prohibition, an attempt to demon
strate that literary inspiration is alcoholic
in its nature. At any rate readers will ex-
pericnce less pleasurable exhilaration than
usual from current magazine fiction. Save
for Il few exceptions the July stories
taste flat
The Saturday Erening Post has blithe
and entertaining love story by Sophie
Kerr, A Little Sister to Husbands, Sophie
Kerr has been writing some delectable
love stories of late, the best of which, to
my notion, was in the Post some time ago,
entitled A Clear Spring. Il may not
have the title correctly, since l am writing
this article down in the country, in Vir-
ginia, eight miles from a reference library,
but | remember the story distinctly as be-
ing unusually human in its appeal and ae
curate in its psychology a Little Sister
10 Husbands is lighter in tone, dealing with
more sophisticated characters. but it has
pleasant humor and shows similar compre-
hcnsion of the emotions Of youth in love.
Timo'hy j., by Richard Cameron Beer,
also in the Post, is character story of a
rather novel kind 1t swings along with
ragtime spirit and verve until the closing
scene, which shows genuine pathos. 1t
owes much of lis interest TO the effect of
contrast which it presents.
\ specific instance of i'll advised time
Illness is Mr.. Boyle, by Mary Raymond
Shipman Andrews, in Scribner's, which is
merely suffrage sermon masquerading as
fiction. Here, as is usually the case,
propaganda is fatal to the story. The
description of the law library and the dia-
logue between the facetious students and
the rich brogued Irish Waterman are ad-
mirable, but the incidents are patiently
artificial. Suffrage arguments-happily
little needed now-are excellent IN their
place, but they have spoiled more than one
piece Of good fiction.
The women's magazines are using an
excess of war material still, much of which
seems obviously purchased before the
armisticc. Though thrift suggests that 1t
be utilized, one cannot help hoping that
the supply may soon be e1hausted-be-
fore the readers patience is For ex-
ample, the Uomans Home Companion,
which usually publishes good fiction, has
this month two war stories, one an at
tempt at spy humor, The Most Erciting
Thing, by Mary Stuart Cutting. She
has written some admirable stories, but
this is not one of them. The NeiC Day,
by Katharine Robertson, is less a story
than a sketch, representing a Canadian
woman in war work
The two stories in the Century are SINH
lar in being grewsome accounts OF muir
ders, one because Of woman's infidelity;
fairly well told, but not altogether con-
vincng In Russian Tea House, by
Manuel Komroff, is the more effective OF
the two. because of its narrative economy
and suggestivencss. The atmosphere of
the tea house in revolutionary Russia is
given in a few paragraphs where most
writers would have taken pages. The
House Of 4tre's, by Thomas Beer, is
rather too involved in its method of get
ting the story across, in lis slow piecing
out of incidents. Such material as is used
here requires more dramatic and less
Icisurely treatment for the best effect,
though the reader will probably remember
the main happenings that Mr.. Beer
records.
Hdrper'S has several stories that are
intellectually intriguing, but without
strong emotional appeal. Shining Amor,
by Maxwell Struthers Burt; analyses the
soul of Prussan officer fairly effectively,
though the shifts in method of narration
which the author lmsuccesSfully denies
make itseem ncedlessly intricate in plan.