_The Ransom of Red Chief and Other Stories_, by _O. Henry_, as chosen for boys by _Franklin K. Mathiews_ (Doubleday, Page & Co.). It was a happy thought which inspired Mr. Mathiews to make his selection. In it the reader will find many old favorites well balanced by less familiar stories. Mr. Mathiews knew well that no coaxing was necessary to introduce these stories to boys, and has wisely dispensed with any educational apparatus. _Gold and Iron_, by _Joseph Hergesheimer_ (Alfred A. Knopf). In these three careful studies in time and place Mr. Hergesheimer has sought to reproduce certain aspects of our American tradition. With a meticulous attention to detail, and a keen eye for salient incident, he has slowly built up three portraits which rank with the best that American fiction has given us in the past few years. The comparison with Mr. Galsworthy is an obvious one, but emphasizes a difference rather than a resemblance. There is a certain asceticism of color and emotion in these novelettes alien to Mr. Galsworthy’s romantic temperament. _Long Ever Ago_, by _Rupert Hughes_ (Harper & Brothers). During the past few years I have had frequent occasion to comment upon these admirable studies of Irish American life as they first appeared in the magazines. I regard them as the definitive chronicle of the first Irish American generation in its process of assimilation by New York. But it is more than this, for it is a series of richly humorous little dramas, with an inimitable flavor of their own. _Tales From a Famished Land_, by _Edward Eyre Hunt_ (Doubleday, Page & Co.). Mr. Hunt has been a prominent official of the American Relief Commission in Belgium, and these poignant stories, continuing as they do the record of Mr. Hunt’s earlier book, “War Bread,” are largely based on actual happenings. But the author has looked upon events with the imaginative eye of a born story writer, and it is hard to forget such finely wrought pictures as “Ghosts” and “Saint Dympna’s Miracle.” _Gaslight Sonatas_, by _Fannie Hurst_ (Harper & Brothers). I have expressed my opinion so frequently as to the permanent human values of Miss Hurst’s work that I can only remark here that “Gaslight Sonatas” is one of the very few permanent short story books. Of the seven stories in the volume two have been previously published in volumes of this annual. _Abraham’s Bosom_, by _Basil King_ (Harper & Brothers). This short story, now republished in book form from the Saturday Evening Post, is an imaginative rendering of spiritual experience independent of sensory phenomena. Its effectiveness is due to its direct sense of reality and incisive characterization.