Short Stories of the New America: Interpreting the America of this age to high school boys and girls
General
Short Stories of the New America: Interpreting the America of this age to high school boys and girls
Short stories; World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction
Arthur Stanwood Pier is a distinguished writer of stories for young
people and since 1896 one of the editors of _The Youth’s Companion_.
Among Mr. Pier’s books are _The Boys of St. Timothy_, _The Jester of St.
Timothy_, _Grannis of the Fifth_, _Jerry_, _The Plattsburgers_, _The
Pedagogues_, and _The Women We Marry_. In _A Night Attack_ we are given
a vivid picture of the life of the soldier in training and of the
sympathetic relations of officers and men.
* * * * *
Mary Brecht Pulver has in _The Path of Glory_ written one of the finest
stories of the war. The manner in which a poor and humble family of
mountaineers secured distinction and very real happiness, though it was
tinged with sadness, makes a story of gripping interest and one that
cannot fail to make every reader kinder and more humane in his
intercourse with those less favored than himself.
* * * * *
Fisher Ames, Jr., is a well-known author of stories for boys. Mr. Ames
has been appointed the official historian of the Red Cross Society and
has gone to Europe (1918) as a commissioned officer in the United States
Army.
In _Sergt. Warren Comes Back from France_ the author makes us see very
clearly the heroic figure of the blind soldier, and we realize that
under the spell of such a personality the voters would unanimously
decide to spend their money in France and relinquish the idea of making
their town more beautiful. In the words of one of the villagers, “Sergt.
Warren can see straight even if he is blind,” and the crowd will always
respond to such leadership.
* * * * *
Arthur Guy Empey is an American and a soldier of the Great War, who
after a life at the Front in which he did all that a brave man can do
for the cause of humanity and survive, has written of some of his
adventures in _Over the Top_, one of the best-known books of the war. In
the chapter which we have called “The Coward” he shows the splendid
regeneration of a despicable man.
The “hero” in this story is an Englishman, as Mr. Empey fought in the
British army before America entered the war, but the phase of human
nature portrayed in “The Coward” must have been observable in all the
belligerent armies.
The cowardice of the few, however, was entirely concealed and atoned for
by the splendid bravery of the many, and considerable numbers of men,
who, when drafted, might have been designated as cowards, are leaving
the army with a record of brave action in times of great danger.
* * * * *
Frederick Orin Bartlett, the author of _Chateau Thierry_, was born in
Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1876 and was educated in the public schools
of that city, in a private school abroad, at Procter Academy, Andover,
New Hampshire, and at Harvard. He has been connected with several Boston
newspapers and is a well-known writer of short stories.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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