Dorothy Canfield (Dorothea Frances Canfield Fisher), the author of _Home
Fires in France_ from which "A Little Kansas Leaven" was taken, is one
of the most convincing and brilliant writers of the times. She always
writes with a purpose, but as all of her work is characterized by
originality, clearness, and the vital quality of human sympathy, there
is not a dull line in any of her fiction or her educational writings.
_Home Fires in France_ is a truthful record of Mrs. Fisher's impressions
of life in tragic, devastated France during the Great War. During much
of this period the author was working for the relief of those made blind
by war. The tremendous appeal to America made by this book testifies to
the sincerity and the genius of the author.
Dorothy Canfield was born in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1879. She obtained
degrees from Ohio State University and from Columbia and studied and
traveled abroad extensively, becoming an accomplished linguist. She is
the author, under the name of Dorothy Canfield, of some of the most
brilliant fiction of the day, _The Squirrel-Cage_, _The Bent Twig_, and
other novels, and under her married name, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, of
some valuable educational works, _The Montessori Mother_, _Mothers and
Children_, and other books of progressive ideas in education. Mrs.
Fisher is now in France (1918) carrying on her work of mercy for the
French soldiers and their families.
* * * * *
Elsie Singmaster (Mrs. Harold Lewars) lives in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania,
and has written most entertaining stories of that historic region and
also of the life of the descendants of the Dutch settlers of
Pennsylvania. Among her many stories are _When Sarah Saved the Day_,
_The Christmas Angel_, _The Flag of Eliphalet_, and _Stories of the Red
Harvest and the Aftermath_. This author is a frequent contributor to
magazines. In _The Survivors_ we watch the conflict in the breast of
stubborn old Adam Foust and rejoice with tears in our eyes when in the
time of his friend's need, love conquers, and Adam and Henry march
arm-in-arm down the village street. The story is told with the realism
and beauty that characterize all of this author's work, much of which
describes the everyday happenings of commonplace people with absolute
fidelity.
* * * * *
Albert Payson Terhune (1872- ) wrote his first book in collaboration
with his distinguished mother, "Marion Harland," a well-known name in
American homes. Mr. Terhune has written both novels and short stories
and is especially successful in the latter form. Among his best stories
are _Caritas_, _Night of_ _the Dub_, _Quiet_, and _The Wildcat_. In _The
Wildcat_ we watch with deepest interest the actions of a Southern
mountaineer, who, torn from his backwoods home by the draft, was forced
to adopt habits and manners and to submit to a discipline to which he
was utterly foreign. The mental gropings of this young American and the
manner in which he found his soul and his country make a fascinating
story.
* * * * *
James Francis Dwyer is an Australian by birth. Mr. Dwyer has traveled
extensively as a newspaper correspondent in Australia, the South Seas,
and South Africa. He came to America in 1907. He is the author of _The
White Waterfall_, _The Bust of Lincoln_, _The Spotted Panther_, _Breath
of the Jungle_, and _Land of the Pilgrim's Pride_.
In _The Citizen_ we have a beautiful picture of the vision of freedom
that came to Big Ivan in downtrodden Russia, and we see him and the
gentle Anna as they follow the beckoning finger of hope across Europe
and the broad ocean until, in the words of Ivan, they found a home in a
land "where a muzhik is as good as a prince of the blood."
* * * * *
Grace Coolidge is the wife of an Arapahoe Indian and has spent many
years upon the Indian Reservations. She has told of her observations
during these years in a charming little volume called _Teepee
Neighbors_. We feel that the stories are true and they are filled with
the pathos of life in the Reservations.
* * * * *
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.
In _Chateau Thierry_ he has portrayed very clearly a certain type of
easy-going, prosperous American,--the American who was aroused to the
knowledge of higher ideals and to the exigencies of a world at war by
the shock and the thrill that followed upon the active participation of
the American forces in the great conflict.