He wrote a number of extraordinarily good short stories, several stirring novels,—among which are _The King’s Jackal_, _Ransom’s Folly_, _The White Mice_, and _The Princess Aline_,—several plays, and a number of works of travel and war correspondence. Richard Harding Davis was born in Philadelphia in 1864, and died in New York in 1916. =San Juan.= A fortified hill position in Cuba, near Santiago de Cuba, captured in the Spanish-American War by the United States soldiers July 1, 1898. =Maitre d’hotel.= Chief attendant—head-waiter. =Embankment.= The Thames Embankment, a noted part of London. =Chasseur.= Footman. =Numero cinq, sur la terrace, un couvert.= Number five, on the terrace, one place. =Baiquiri.= A landing place in Cuba near Santiago de Cuba. The United States soldiers landed here, June 21-23, 1898. =Tampa.= A seaport in Florida. A SOURCE OF IRRITATION By STACY AUMONIER An interesting type of story shows an ordinary person in an extraordinary situation. In _Robinson Crusoe_, for example, an ordinary Englishman is left alone on an uninhabited island; in Stockton’s _The Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Aleshine_ two good old New England women with little worldly experience are wrecked on a mysterious island in the Pacific; in Howard Pyle’s _The Ruby of Kishmore_ a peace-loving Philadelphia Quaker is suddenly involved in a series of bloody encounters in the West Indies. Such stories always arouse interest or develop humor by the astonishing contrast between setting and characters, and they always emphasize character by showing how it acts in unusual circumstances. Thus _Robinson Crusoe_ at once attracts our interest and awakens admiration for the hero. _A Source of Irritation_ is especially clever in every way. There could be no greater contrast than that between old Sam Gates’ usual hum-drum, eventless life, and the sudden transfer to an aeroplane, a foreign land, the trenches, battle, and the search for a spy. Very rarely, too, is a character presented so emphatically as this 69-year-old gardener, with his irritable moods, his insistence on the habits of a life-time, his stolidity, and his real manliness. Equally rare is a story told so effectively, with just the proper combination of realism and romance, with quick touches of comedy and of tragedy, with a closeness to life that is indisputable, and a romance that is unusual. In its every part the story is a masterpiece of construction. Stacy Aumonier is an Englishman of Huguenot descent. =Swede.= A Swedish turnip. =Shag.= A fine-cut tobacco. “=Mare vudish.=” Merkwürdig, remarkable. =A fearful noise.= The English made an attack on the German aeroplane. =Uglaublich.= Incredible.