_War_ is such a story. Although little more than a vivid sketch it presents the brutality of war in all its horror,—not by picturing the slaughter of thousands, but by showing a boy,—shrinking, eager to perform his full duty, loving life, fearing death, stopping to gather apples in a boyish way,—a boy whose instinctive and noble hesitation to kill rebounds on himself, as if in irony, and causes his own death. In a certain sense, the boy with his kindly manhood and generous motives represents the American spirit. The opposite type of spirit, the love of war for war’s sake, brutality for the sake of brutality, is shown in the boy’s enemies,—harsh foreigners who hang men to trees, who shoot at the boy as at a target, and laugh at his death. The story individualizes war, and thereby gives emphasis to its horror. Such a story demands on the part of the author a heartfelt interest in his theme, an intense love of life, and the ability to write in realistic style. Jack London was deeply interested in the world of men. Far from being a recluse, he lived an active life with his fellows. He left his college class in order to go with other adventurers into the Klondike; he went to Japan, and seal hunting in the Behring Sea as a sailor before the mast; he tramped about the country; he traveled as a war correspondent, and went on an adventurous voyage into the South Seas in a 55-foot yacht. He wrote a great number of books, all of which show a quick understanding of the needs of humanity. Some of his works are thoughtful studies of social conditions. His best known books are: _The Call of the Wild_, _The Sea Wolf_, and _The Mutiny of the Elsinore_. He was born in San Francisco in 1876, and died in 1916. THE BATTLE OF THE MONSTERS By MORGAN ROBERTSON In this day when science plays so great a part in life it is only natural that many stories should be based on scientific knowledge. Since such stories must almost always more or less distort scientific truth in order to make the facts have story-interest they are usually called “pseudo-scientific,” that is, falsely scientific. Edgar Allan Poe, who did so much for the short story, was one of the first to write pseudo-scientific stories, his _Descent into the Maelström_, and _A Tale of the Ragged Mountains_ being good examples of his peculiar power. _The Battle of the Monsters_ is a wonderfully clever pseudo-scientific story. In it we enter the minute world of the microscope, every character being infinitesimally small.