E-text prepared by Stan Goodman
Chosen by the Society of Arts and Sciences
With an Introduction by Blanche Colton Williams
Author of "A Handbook on Story Writing,"
"Our Short Story Writers," Etc.
Associate Professor of English, Hunter Collegeof the City of New York.
Instructor in Story Writing, Columbia University
(Extension Teaching and Summer Session).
EACH IN HIS GENERATION. By Maxwell Struthers Burt
"CONTACT!" By Frances Noyes Hart
THE CAMEL'S BACK. By F. Scott Fitzgerald
BREAK-NECK HILL. By Esther Forbes
BLACK ART AND AMBROSE. By Guy Gilpatric
THE JUDGMENT OF VULCAN. By Lee Foster Hartman
THE ARGOSIES. By Alexander Hull
ALMA MATER. By O. F. Lewis
SLOW POISON. By Alice Duer Miller
THE FACE IN THE WINDOW. By William Dudley Pelley
A MATTER OF LOYALTY. By Lawrence Perry
PROFESSOR TODD'S USED CAR. By L.H. Robbins
THE THING THEY LOVED. By "Marice Rutledge"
BUTTERFLIES. By "Rose Sidney"
NO FLOWERS. By Gordon Arthur Smith
FOOTFALLS. By Wilbur Daniel Steele
THE LAST ROOM OF ALL. By Stephen French Whitman
O. HENRY MEMORIAL AWARD PRIZE STORIES 1919, in its introduction,rendered a brief account of the origin of this monument to O.Henry's genius. Founded in 1918 by the Society of Arts and Sciences,through the initiative of Managing Director John F. Tucker, it tookthe form of two annual prizes of $500 and $250 for, respectively,the best and second-best stories written by Americans and publishedin America.
The Committee of Award sifted the periodicals of 1919 and foundthirty-two which, in their opinion, were superior specimens ofshort-story art. The prize-winners, determined in the manner setforth, were Margaret Prescott Montague's "England to America" andWilbur Daniel Steele's "For They Know Not What They Do." For thesestories the authors duly received the awards, on the occasion of theO. Henry Memorial dinner which was given by the Society at the HotelAstor, June 2, 1920.
Since it appeared to be a fitting extension of the memorial toincorporate in volume form the narratives chosen, they were included,either by title or reprint, in the first book of the series of whichthis is the second. Thus grouped, they are testimony to unprejudicedselection on the part of the Committee of Award as they are evidenceof ability on the part of their authors.
The first volume has met favour from critics and from laymen. Forthe recognition of tedious, if pleasant, hours necessary to ameticulous survey of twelve months' brief fiction, the Committee ofAward are grateful, as they are indebted to the generous coöperationof authors and publishers, but for whom the work would have beenimpossible of continuation.
The committee express thanks for the approval which affirms that"No more fitting tribute to the genius of William Sidney Porter(O. Henry) could possibly have been devised than that of this'Memorial Award,'" [1] which recognizes each story as "a definiteexpression of American life—as O. Henry's was," [2] which knows byinescapable logic that a story ranking second with five judges issuperior to one ranking first w