davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The New York herald., 1921-02-13

Peattie. il in class by itself. a
psychic fairy story. as Intangible as a
gossamer web. Margaret Oliphant's
THE Open Door," z. F. Benson's The
Man Who Went Too Far" and Mary
E. Wilkins Freeman's The Shadows
on the WALL" differing in interest, are
alike In satisfying that legitimate and
serious desire for the unknown. the
mysterious larger portion Of life. Haw-
thorne's THE White Old Maid" could
be admitted to the same category II the
unworldly flavor of its style did not
make 1t caviar for the mob" in this
day.
or stories which satisfy our primal
appetite for cold shivers along our
lumbar regions the best is THE Beast
With Five Fingers" by w. r. Harvey.
q thing nanifestly impossible and abb
surd in daylight. but story to be
welded by a person alone in large
house at midnight. Bierce's "Moxon's
Master and Montague James's "The
Stalls of Barchester Cathedral rival
The Beast With Five Fingers
Isaac X. Funk's THE Widows Mite
deserves separate mention as the SIN
gle factual account of experience with
the psychic in the book.
Famous Psychic Stories should be
guaranteed to give one or two eve
nings of delightful terror.
The New York herald., 1921-02-13
A Triple Man
PENGARD AWAKE. BY Ralph strau'

PENGARD AWAKE BY Ralph Straus
d. Appleton & Co.
Field Marshal Freud and his psyche
analysts may claim victory at last.
Their theories have been borrowed for
use in popular fiction, so that he who
is thrilled may read. Ralph Straus
has taken dreams and suppressed de-
sires and woven them into "Pengard
Awake" (Appleton), a Jekyll-Hyde
mystery thriller.
There Is one man, Mathieson, but
he appears as three, and that without
the aid of anything stronger than
claret in the story. BY the theories OF
dissertation and amnesia the hero be-
comes: /, a good natured, non-intro-
spective British soldier in the Boer
War; 2, a successful bookseller In
Chicago; 3. a brilliant Boston littera-
teur, who is of a scoundrelly nature.
but writes the great book of the age.
No. 2 is handsome but worried, No.
is insolert, wears glasses and has a
useless left arm; No. l is the happy
ending: No. 8 blackmails No. 2, and
both are In love with the same girl.
There are other complications, but the
author surmounts them all In a man.
ner more reminiscent of Mary Roberts
Rinehart or Anna Katharine Green
than of Herr Freud.
The New York herald., 1921-02-13
Read These Tales and Shudder

Sherlock Holmes and the modern Craig
Kennedy were founded. These men of
scientific Imagination. following their
respective lines of analysis and de-
duction, could only have been created
In a civilized community In which
certain kinds of crime have been
raised to high art. Since, Robin Hood,
the lovable crook, has been upon
the stage; but the equally interesting
pursuer of the not-so-lovable crook is
comparatively new possibility.
An early Craig Kennedy story Of
Arthur B. Reeves is given i'm the de-
tective stories, as is Anna Katherine
Green's gruesome Missing Page 49,"
1t requires peculiar imagination to
concoct such a story as that of the
closed room in the Van Broecklyn
house into which Violet Strange ven
lures after many years in search of
an important paper that has slipped
under the door. The picture drawn Of
the small boy wandering into the
closed room through a hidden door
way in the cellar, only to find his
father and mother fighting duel to
the death with rapiers by fltful moon
light, Is not soon forgotten.
Mr.. French suggests the riddle
stories as a form of mental gymnastics
tolerate any amount of mystery, even
touch of The supernatural In its
riddle stories. ii only the solution be
sufficiently earth-earthy. In the riddle
book are included among others THE
Mysterious Card" by Cleveland Mof-
fett; The Great Valdez Sapphire"
Hawthorne's The Birth Mark" and
Will1ie Collins's "a Terribly Strange
Bed
Under mystic humorous stories the
editor classes all those gently playful
stories wherein the ghosts do not al
ways terrifyy but occasionally conde-
scend to amuse. Theopile Gautier's
The Mummy's Foot" is reprinted in
this volume, as is Brander Mathews's
Rival Ghosts" the amusing story of
the house ghost Of the old New Eng
land homestead and the inherited per-
sonal ghost of the Scottish ancestral
castle, and the ensuing fracas in the
spirit land when the heir to the Scotch
castle trailing his personal attendant
ghost attempted to visit the old New
England homestead where the house
ghost had held sway unrivalled for
generations. Also in this volume is
the Enthusiastically French and Guy
de Maupassantesque tale of "The Man
With the Pale Eyes The curious
urge that leads the man who has COM
mitted double crime to confess, un-
der circumstances that make his con-
fession something that cannot be used
against him to prove his crime, is a
psychological trait of character that
De Maupassant would know how to
use adequately In rather shuddery
story.
The New York herald., 1921-02-13
An Evening Of Delightful Terror

FAMOUS PSYCHIC STORIES. Edited
by J. Walker McSpadden. Thomas Y.
Crowell Company.
The compiler of any sort Of an
thology is an unfortunate creature; he
is damned If he does and damned II
he DOESN'T" he possesses no part Of
the sanctuary of the creative writer;
he is. whatever his positive merits
certain to be condemned for his mega
tive sins of omission. BY some mystic
power he Is supposed to be able to
please "all sorts and conditions Of
men" In single thin volume. It is out
of compassion, then. that we waive all
our critical privileges to find fault
with Mr.. McSpadden for what he left
out: it is sufficient to our purpose to
say that he has brought together in a
single volume eleven short tales-and
one statement Of actual experience
of the psychic, all sufficiently inter-
esting to make the volume Of value.
There are two legitimate reasons for
reading psychic literature; 1t can be
done with a view to lifting ourselves
up toward something vaguely sensed
and desired: or 1t can be done for the
sake Of the delicious cold shivers that
run up ones spine. Both appetites can
be satisfied In this volume. OF stories
Of the first sort in this book. from
the Loom of the Dead" by Ella w.
The New York herald., 1921-02-13

The story Is told in the hall of King
Manus. the owner of the three power
full and most beautiful horses which
play large part in the story.
Eean, the fisherman's son, appren-
ticed to an enchanter. is trying to
flee from him and is caught one night
trying to steal one of the famous
horses. He is brought before the king
and condemned to death. The king,
however, is interested in him and says
that if he can remember time when
he was in greater danger than he is
now he shall go free.
Eean tells the king that Zabulun,
his master, the enchanter, was once
prince in Babylon. He wished to
steal the mirror which was at the top
of the tower beside the spear of MINI
rod. If this mirror was taken Babylon
would fall. The mirror was stolen and
the tower fell.
I'VE stood in the empty market place
and we looked toward the tower Of
Babylon. In its great height 1t stood
there. strong and wonderful, heard
the shouting OF the people around IT,.
Then I saw the great tower swing like
a child's swing. Dust rose up, cloud
after cloud and cloud over cloud. The
cries of the people came from out the
clouds. We stood there until we saw
the sun shine through cloud Of dust.
Then we knew that the tower of Baby
Ion was indeed fallen"
Eean meets Bird-of- Gold, a lovely
girl. who shares his dangers with him.
Together they undertake a journey to
Merlin, the enchanter of the Isle of
Britain. who will free them from Zab-
ulun. They take the journey on King
Manus's horses and on their return
are married in the palace.
"Eean and Bird-of-Gold took each
others hands. and the old blind
sage was brought down from the attic
chamber and he married Bird-of
Gold and Eean by the rays of the set
ting sun"
The New York herald., 1921-02-13

DEMOCRACY AND THE HUMAN
EQUATION. BY Alleyne Ireland. d.
p. Dutton & Co.
When q writer is so earnestly in
terested in his subject as Mr.. Ireland
he Is bound to make an interesting
book. When, as in the present volume,
he feels deeply that the matter in
hand is vital to national stability he
may be expected to go at it with spe-
cial energy. Mr.. Ireland goes at his
subject almost excitedly under the
mantle of polished diction and fiex-
ible vocabulary.
There is some danger that he may
seem to be giving a counsel of per-
lection if the reader agrees with his
general point of view. Or if the reader
finds that, after all, he believes the sit
uation as precisely formulated by the
author Is not so inevitably desperate
in it's consequences as the author be-
lieves, he may discount some of the
passionate convictions Of Mr. Ireland's
premises and thesis, and undervalue
the book, particularly the first half OF
il, as written at the top Of the authors
voice. But nobody can say that the
book is not interesting. 1t is fascinat-
ing and absorbing; it is packed full
Of fact and has texture of close
thinking and incisive expression.
II should be read by all Americans
who are conscious enough of the re-
sponsibility resting upon them, at this
time, to wish TO discover accurately
Just where we stand. nationally, and
to consider the existing state of
things political In the United States
with n quick sense OF their respective
individual duty toward themselves as
citizens Of a free government which
has changed many OF It's details I'm
form and effect while keeping the same
names of these details as were em-
ployed by the founders, who We're talk
ing about quite a different system of
government. For If they develop such
sense of individual responsibility
they will save the day for the body
Of citizens the main duty is OF i'm
dividual responsibility accepted and
acted upon. Much of the trouble ex-
isting has come from the too. general
tendency OF each individual to shirls
the duty OF keeping up his share OF
the national property to which they
have all fallen heir As a stimulant
To pOlftical self -rpSpect tho hootr abo,tId
do far more good than as any gem
eral appeal TO national PRIDE" The
American has not taken care Of his
national property any too well, and he
should delay being proud Of II until
The New York herald., 1921-02-13
A Mysterious African Drug
SWAMP BREATH. BY Robert Simp-
son. James A. McCann Company.

SWAMP BREATH. BY Robert Simp-
son. James A. McCann Company.
Barstow dressed with quiet implac-
ability" and wore a wealth OF tawny
hair, shot with streaks of iron gray"
and his wife. the superlatively beauti
full Muriel. had no soul, but vast
yearning for publicity. Barstow was
an M. p. and had just upset the Gov
.ernment when the story opens, but
as 1t was necessary to get him and
Muriel and the Other Woman to
Africa for the story Barstow is in
volved in a bank failure, abandons his
political career. gives up all his great
fortune to the banks creditors, and
accepts a Job as Provincial Commits
sioner in southern Nigeria. The Sec
ond lady, Eileen, had very red hair
and well poised temperament. with
an abundance Of soul. Nevertheless
the story that follows Is excellent Of
it's kinda moving plot, with salts
factorily human actors, In brilliantly
drawn tropical setting. Sometimes II
fairly sizzles. Naturally the carnage
is considerable and the casualty list
long. Only two Of the half dozen chief
actors survive, to live happily ever
after cor course they are Barstow
and the red haired Ei1een.)
The central theme Of the tale is the
effect of superheated tropical African
life upon white men--and women
and here Mr.. Simpson shows genuine
dramatic power and is on the whole
convincing" in his statement OF the
hideousness of the swamp breath"
that undermines mems morals and re-
duces life TO elementals. Eileen sayA
of Il: "The soul Of the Delta is cruel
and vicious and treacherous--every-
thing that is destructive. 1t is strong.
too; stronger than any of us II our
grip ie not constantly sure. II you lie
awake at night you can feel the rest
less surge of It: you can almost hear
II breathe and-and crawl"
Part of 1t is embodied in q devil
iehly malignant native drug labelled
yaka water, the effect Of which is not
only to destroy the body Of the taker
but also to fill him up with maniacal
hatreds and inspire him with homi-
cidal mania The wicked trader, Ma
cara, who falls in love with the soul
less Muriel, manages to administer
this drug to Barstow, with the result
rat Muriel is In danger of being spec
taculariy strangled and Barstow IL
very nearly down and out" but Eileen
intervenes. discovers the traders
plot, enlightens Barstow, and. OF
course, saves him. although a bullet
from Macara's gun also helps to cool
his fever. Muriel is carried on by
Macara. and they are both satisfac-
torily drowned, leaving the coast clear
The New York herald., 1921-02-13
Reviewed by
ELEANOR HAYDEN.


Reading mystery stories after reach
ing years Of discretion is like trying
to recapture any thrill of ones de-
parted childhood. One reads through
many stupid page and delves in
many an unmysterious mystery in
search of the sensation of acute terror
and delight that used to sweep through
the being upon discovering Poe or
Algernon Blackwood or A. Conan
Doyle for the first time. Though the
taste of the actual sensation has
passed, the memory of the thrill lin
gers.
Personally I shall never forget the
frigid intensity with which pages Of
the exploits of Sherlock Holmes were
perused Nothing to-day, however
chill and scientific. can offer the
breath-taking delight of such stories
as "The Speckled Band for instance.
Bell ropes and low whistles and win
dows over doors are always watched
with a peculiar respect due to the
strength of the vivid childish impress
sion, though The Speckled Band" is
not suggested as fare for the impress
sionable young.
Rereading is always a dangerous
business with things of this sort, for
the tragedy lies in finding that the
youthful thrill has departed. Perhaps
the solution lies. as Merrick suggested
in Conrad in Quest of His Youth" not
in revisiting the scenes Of youthful ro-
nance, but in the realization that as
long as any romance is possible one
is still young. AS long as any story
can give hair-raising thrill, one need
not revisit the scenes of the hair
raising thrills of ones early youth.
There are pages of Poe that / would
not willingly reread, and there is a
certain story of Algernon Blackwood's
about an Indian and a canoe, camp
and a lonely lake that it would hurt
me to discover no longer potent.
Under the general title of Master
pieces of Mystery Joseph Lewis
French has collected in four volumes
Of ghost stories, mystic humorous
stories, riddle. stories and detective
stories many old friends fortunately
for the reviewer, he left out The
Speckled Band") and some that are
unfamiliar. In each book Is a fore
word that explains a bit of the back
ground of each collection.
Though appreciating Poe and The
Purloined Letter" and THE Murders
in the Rue Morgue." one might not
have realized in ones early youth Cor
cared muchI) that Poe was the founder
of the modern detective story; that
his Auguste Dupin was the prototype
upon which French detective stories,
The New York herald., 1921-02-13
Qualitative Limitation Of the Vote Urged

he can be better satisfied with it's
market value in the eyes of sober
American citizenship and of the other
intelligent and hard working nations
of the world.
The American is by no means with
out fellows In his negligence, and It
comes about partly, in the authors
opinion, because Of the almost total
lack of any exact standards of gov-
ernmental requirements to which the
practice is required to measure up.
Says Mr.. Ireland:
1T is surely one of the most remark
able phenomena in the history of the
human race that the science of Gov
ernment : should latter twenty
centuries] have yielded results so un-
satisfactory that there is scarcely a
Government in the world to-day which
Is not threatened with radical change
of form and method, II not with actual
destruction, at the hands Of an ex-
asperated populace. And yet, l..
If we compare the methods followed In
the study Of chemistry, Of engineer
ing. of surgery '. with the
methods employed in the study Of
Government we soon discover the rea-
son why >. The student Of
chemistry flor instance records with
the utmost minuteness and accuracy
the exact conditions of his expert
ment.
Most students OF Government fol-
low an entirely different plan. They
begin by assuming to be true some
things which are insusceptible OF
proof, some that have been proved and
some that have been disproved. They
then proceed to discard from whatever
real facts they have before them an
those that are inconsistent with their
a priorf assumptions. Finally. they
reach such conclusions as might be
expected from such Investigations
when conducted by men who dare not
offend popular feeling In their conclu-
sions 1t is idle and pernicious
to believe that because human reac-
tions In the field OF politics cannot be
measured with the accuracy obtained
I'm chemical investigation
they cannot be measured with an ac-
curacy quite adequate to the purpose.
The actual situation
is that the only people in the United
States to-day who arc satisfied with
the condition OF Government are those
who. from its qualities of irrespon-
sibility. amateurism and defective
technique, derive their ability TO graf
ify their acquisitive instincts at the
expense of a supine public"
This is very straight talk. and Mr..
Ireland Goes not stop with assertions.
He argues his beliefs with actual
eagerness
Just so long [says hel as people
hold the extravagant views they now
hold about what Government ought to
do for them. and about what II can do
for them, and the absurd views they
now hold about IoU these things should
be done: just 80 long will most people
labor under n sense of injustice and
injury for they are expecting 10 get
from a Government what they could
only get from a miracle.
"The remedy for this state OF affairs
lies in education II education
In citizenship were undertaken seri-
ously In all schools and colleges, with
due regard to the vital as well as the
formal elements In Government, an
educational qualification could be re-
I qulred Of the voter.
The New York herald., 1921-02-13

The general effect on Government
OF substituting a qualitative for "A
purely quantitaive scheme of polit-
ical agency would be highly bene-
nctal.. :"
The author thinks that just now,
when the elective franchise has been
extended as to include practically the
whole population of adult citizens, "the
time Is ripe to begin a qualitative
limitation of the right to vote" Mr..
Ireland is disposed to lay overbalanc-
ing weight upon the hypothesis that.
heredity plays a far more important
part than environment in determining
the mental and moral qualities of the
individual, In the face OF the natural"
repugnance of many people to that
view. He devotes two deeply interest
ing chapters to this matter. reenforc-
ing his arguments and conclusions
with certain data of a nature cog
nate with those recently gained as
to the average mentality of the young
American adult, such men as were
drafted for the army. for instance
They are not very satisfactory.
Mr.. Ireland discusses at length the
changing conditions In this country
produced by the shifting of the pre-
ponderance Of population to the cities
from the country, from the farms TO
the factories. and the consequent diff
ficulties met by the individualism
which answered the country's needs
very well as a national policy for the
first century of It's existence. The bal
snce of power. he says. now rests un-
doubtedly with the urban nation as
opposed to the rural nation. The lat
ter asks little from Government be-
cause it can and does take care pretty
well of its own daily needs, but the
former makes stupendous demands
upon Government. endows It with an
enormous reserve and gets inadequate
return.
Perhaps the crux of Mr.. Ireland's
book, as II lies at the base Of his be-
lief, Is the thesis that the United
States began It's existence as repub-
lie, almost the antithesis Of pure
democracy. and that it would do we'll
to preserve the ancient tradition and
practice. The author believes fully in
representative bONtTflif1cnt dt OD-
posed to a government Of delegates
who follow the detailed instructions OF
those who elect them, even IL this
elective force be less his constituents
than the political party, or the party
machine. or the labor unions. or the
Prohibitionists or the liquor interests
then the system OF government OF
which he Is a part has ceased to be
that OF true expert representative
government, and has become simply
On instructed delegate. Mr. Ireland
notes the gradual land undoubtedI
disappearance OF representative gov
ernment IN the United States" with
very frank concern and depreciation.
And he also remarks that mo one who
has made a study of comparative gov
ernment is blind to the fact that most
people In the world prefer the worst
kind of bad government, IL It is self
government, to the best kind Of good
government II imposed from the out
side" The remedy, II one exists, is.
Of course. the development OF a public
opinion strong and cohesive enough to
require a higher standard Of daily civil
| behavior with a corresponding quail
| ity, intensified as In the limelight, of
the true representative of the citizen
The New York herald., 1921-02-13

The foreword to the volume of ghost
stories suggests that they are as old
as human speech. probably the first
form Of tale invented, to explain mys-
terious phenomena in a strange and
inexplicable world. Writers of ghost
stories are limited by no conventional
barriers. Their only limitations are
the confines of their own imaginations,
and the selected stories show the
variety of haunt that can be imagined.
Algernon Blackwood's 'The Lis
tener" has the same quality that most
of his studies of the supernatural
possess. They are curiously real and
The New York herald., 1921-02-13
Mystery-Makers Gathered Into Anthologies

of converts where nuns were I'm
molated because they broke some one
of the vows of their order. In "Sistey'
Maddelena' Ralph Adams Cram has
taken one Of the old legends and made
1t peculiarly moving little tale Of a
convent by the sea somewhere on the
Mediterranean and a youthful nun.
persuaded by young lover to forget
that she Is bound to the church. The
poignant love affair is discovered by
an austere superior who makes the
nun choose between her lovers life or
her own. The nun sacrifices herself.
Being walled up in the window of her
cell is her punishment. Her spirit,
sad sweet spirit, unable to rest until
the last rites of the church have been
performed over her dust, haunts all
newcomers to the convent until the
day when some one really interested
in helping this gentle ghost toward
eternal rest enters the convent walls
to sleep. The walled window Is dis.
covered. The sacred rites are per-
formed over the dust and the spirit
walks abroad no more.
There are other ghost stories in this
volume-"The Beast With Five Fin
gers" for example, and that tale OF
ships and ghosts at sea, The Yellow
Cat" AS an indication of the eternal
questioning Of the reality of the SUPER
natural the old letter to Sura of Pliny
the Younger is included. Its naive
query in regard to the line where
reality ends and unreality begins is as
unanswerable to-day as the day the
letter WAS written
The New York herald., 1921-02-13

for Eileen to complete the renovation
of her hero, even to putting him back
into Parliament.
Mr.. Simpson has succeeded in draw
ing very vivid picture Of the re-
pellent, sinister elements Of tropical
life. to the general conclusion that
empire builders who go there need be
supermen to come out of 1t un-
scathed. AS a story teller he holds
the readers interest from start to f1n-
ish. which is no small achievement In
book that is pitched in, SO high
key.