who can perceive an epic in the most trivial events of every week day? Dreiser does not hunt for romance; he waits for it at home. The daily paper brings him more material than he wants. He has listed for us some of those thrillers that he can buy ready-made for a few cents. Here are a few of them, fresh from the printing-press. I. A young girl is in love with a young man whom her father dislikes. The girl and the boy have been drawn toward each other by that vital force which acts as a _deus ex machina_ in Dreiser’s novels (Dreiser calls _bio-chemistry_ what Goethe named _elective affinities_ and G. B. Shaw the _vital force_). Despite the father’s opposition the young couple marry in secret. The groom’s parent is furious when he hears of it. In a fit of drunkenness he kills his son. Only his daughter, by telling a lie, can save him at court. _What will she do?_ And do we need to go to Shakespeare or Corneille to find a thrill? What have capitalized abstractions, like Duty, Law, Justice, to do with this blunt, brutal and yet highly dramatic alternative? II. A man is born with a passion for business. If he can make a merger of several independent firms, he will be able to manufacture and sell to the public, at low cost, a product which will make him rich. But, in order to do this, he must face either one of the following possibilities: (_a_) He can form a stock company with equal rights for all of its members; (_b_) he can manufacture the article without personal profit or loss; (_c_) he can share the risks and profits of the venture with a few associates and strangle the competitors; (_d_) or stand pat. Attitudes (_b_) and (_c_) are called moral. If, on the contrary, the business man decides in favor of (_a_) or (_d_) he declares war on society. What will an intelligent and aggressive personality do and, once more, what have capitalized abstractions to do with such a mighty instinct when it is confronted by adverse circumstances? III. A young man has committed a crime. His father realizes that the crime of his son is his own fault since he failed to give the youth the right sort of education. The law expects the father to surrender his child, whom he loves with all his heart and for whose crime he feels responsible. What will the father do?