congenial surroundings, ending in his tragic death in the world war. FISHER, DOROTHY CANFIELD. 1879 The Squirrel Cage. Holt. 1912. Grosset. Home Fires in France. (Short stories). Holt. 1918. Raw Material. (Short stories.) Harcourt. 1923. Mrs. Fisher's life is as interesting as her books. She was born in Kansas, where her father was president of the University of Kansas, and where she was taught mathematics by General Pershing. She took the degree of PH.B. at Ohio State University of which her father was president, and later the degree of PH.D. at Columbia University of which her father was librarian. She was for three years secretary of the Horace Mann School in New York City. Mrs. Fisher has taken a very active interest in education. Hei book, "A Montessori Mother," (Holt) was instrumental in introducing the Montessori pedagogical methods to American readers. "Self Reliance" (Bobbs) is a strong plea for smaller schools for children. Her books of games and her immensely popular juvenile, "Understood Betsy," shows the author's real knowledge of young people. In her works of fiction, Mrs. Fisher has dealt with the subject of divorce in "The Squirrel Cage," and with heredity in "The Bent Twig." "Hillsboro People" is a group of New England character sketches, having delightful verses by Sarah N. Cleghorn scattered through it. "The Brimming Cup" and "Rough Hewn” are problem novels. The second is the earlier life of the people in the first. GEROULD, KATHARINE FULLERTON. 1879 Vain Oblations. Scribner. 1914. The Great Tradition and Other Stories. Scribner. 1915. Hawaii, Scenes and Impressions. Scribner. 1916. Mrs. Gerould is at her best as a short story writer. Her appeal is always intellectual and never emotional. Her characters are interesting but rarely lovable. The great care with which she uses the English language and the psychological analysis which she expends on her characters have caused her to be classed with the Henry James school of writers. Her two novels, "Lost Valley" and "Conquistador" are elaborate and ambitious works too involved for a short story writer. "Conquistador" is a tale of a Scotch covenanter, American born, living in Mexico during the Villa raids. Mrs. Gerould as an essayist is well-known to the rising generation as one of its sternest disapprovers. In her "Modes and Morals" she has indicted a generation, and condemned the whole school of young British novelists as lacking in originality. NORRIS, KATHLEEN. 1880 Mother. 1911. Doubleday; Grosset. Saturday's Child. Doubleday; 1914. Grosset. The Story of Julia Page. Doubleday; 1915. Grosset. Harriet and the Piper. Doubleday; 1920. Burt. The Beloved Woman. Doubleday. 1921. Certain People of Importance. Doubleday. 1922. Butterfly. Doubleday. 1923. 1922. Mrs. Norris began her literary career as a reporter on a California newspaper. Her first story, "Mother," was published in The American Magazine. Later the story was enlarged to twice its original length and published as a book. It was enthusiastically commended by Theodore Roosevelt, and had the unique dis tinction of running as a serial in the Ladies' Home Journal after its publication in book form. Mrs. Norris's next two books are long stories rather than novels. In "The Story of Julia Page" she wrote a full length novel and the first volume of what has been called her trilogy of American womanhood. "Julia Page," "Rachel," and "Martie" are three careful and finished characterizations of American women. "Undertow" is a shorter novel of two young married spendthrifts. "Josselyn's Wife" is a story of fashionable New York life, involving a murder and a trial. "Sisters" is a California story of a hasty marriage and its long repentance. Mrs. Norris is essentially a novelist of social and family life in America. Her themes are daring, her style is vivid, and her stories are full of closely woven details. She is the wife of Captain Charles Gilman Norris, U. S. A., the author of "Salt." Captain Norris is a younger brother of Frank Norris, the novelist. Questions 1. Which of her earlier novels has Mrs. Atherton rewritten? 2. What historical novel has Mrs. Atherton written? 3. What dialect stories has Alice Brown written? 4. What prize did Alice Brown win? 5. What was Mrs. Deland's first book? 6. Give the title of a book dealing with divorce by Margaret Deland. By Edith Wharton. By Dorothy Canfield Fisher. By Kathleen Norris. 7. Give the title of a book dealing with heredity by Margaret Deland. By Dorothy Canfield Fisher. By Ellen Glasgow. 8. What book by Mrs. Wharton contains no women characters? 9. Name a political novel by Gertrude Atherton. One by Ellen Glasgow. 10. Name two novels of the Civil War and of the Reconstruction period by Mary Johnston. By Ellen Glasgow. 11. Name two historical novels by Mary S. Watts. 12. What non-fiction books has Gene Stratton-Porter written? 13. Where and what is the Limberlost? 14. Name a poetic drama by Mary Johnston. 15. What is the scene of most of Willa Cather's novels? 16. What American woman has won the Pulitzer prize for the best drama of the year? 17. What woman writer has been classed with the Henry James school? 18. What two women have been awarded the Pulitzer prize for the best novel of the year? 19. What novel deals with life on the Nebraskan prairies? CHAPTER XXXIV AMERICAN HUMORISTS SOME of the most serious books ever written have been written on the subject of humor. Humor can be a very grave subject indeed. A review of humor from the days of Aristophanes' "Birds" and "Frogs" down to today's comic supplements cannot fail to show that humor is based on strict psychological laws and is a matter of studied effort and long practice. As Thomas Masson in "Our American Humorists" has said, humorists are always professionals. Humor is never an accident. It is a long premeditated affair and there is nothing spontaneous about it. Mr. Masson quotes Richard Connell, the author of "Monsieur Pettipon," in an article on "Taking Humor Seriously": "Sir," said an editor of Punch, "I'll have you understand that our jokes are not to be laughed at!" That Punch editor is typical. from Aristophanes to Ade, humorists have desired to be taken seriously; that is to say, they have wished to be acknowledged by more than the few to be the men of intellect, penetration, weight and philosophy that in fact they are. The following books seem to bear out the humorists' claim that "Humor must be taken seriously but not solemnly." Books about Humor MEREDITH, GEORGE. 1828-1909. An Essay on Comedy. Scribner, Modern Student's Library. 1897. MARTIN, EDWARD SANDFORD. 1856 On Parody. Holt. (Essay plus anthology). BERGSON, HENRI. 1859 Laughter; an Essay on the Meaning of the Comic. Macmillan. 1911. MASSON, THOMAS L. 1866 Our American Humorists. 1922. Dodd. SIDIS, BORIS. 1867 The Psychology of Laughter. Appleton. 1913. CANNAN, GILBERT. 1884 Satire. Doran, Art and Craft of Letters. 1914. SULLY, JAMES. 1842 An Essay on Laughter. Longmans. 1907. GREIG, J. Y. T. The Psychology of Laughter and Comedy. Dodd. 1923. STONE, CHRISTOPHER. Parody. Doran, Art and Craft of Letters. Early American Humor American humor began with Irving's "Knickerbocker History of New York." Other humorists of the early period were: Josh Billings, Max Adeler, Bill Nye, Hans Breitmann, and Artemus Ward. All these men wrote under pseudonyms, as was the fashion of the day. There is little demand for their work at the present time outside of anthologies. Interest in Artemus Ward (Charles Farrar Browne) has been revived by a recent biography, "Artemus Ward and His Work" by Don Seitz (Harper). Strangely enough the only one of these early humorists remaining in print is Hans |