O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1919

O Henry Memorial Award Prize
Stories of 1919

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Title: O Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1919
Author: Various
Release Date: April 20, 2004 [EBook #12094]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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O. HENRY MEMORIAL AWARD
PRIZE STORIES
of 1919

CHOSEN BY THE SOCIETY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
BLANCHE COLTON WILLIAMS
1924

CONTENTS
ENGLAND TO AMERICA. By Margaret Prescott Montague
"FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO." By Wilbur Daniel
Steele
THEY GRIND EXCEEDING SMALL. By Ben Ames Williams
ON STRIKE. By Albert Payson Terhune.
THE ELEPHANT REMEMBERS. By Edison Marshall
TURKEY RED. By Frances Gilchrist Wood
FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS REWARD. By Melville Davisson Post
THE BLOOD OF THE DRAGON. By Thomas Grant Springer
"HUMORESQUE." By Fannie Hurst
THE LUBBENY KISS. By Louise Rice.
THE TRIAL IN TOM BELCHER'S STORE. By Samuel A. Derieux
PORCELAIN CUPS. By James Branch Cabell
THE HIGH COST OF CONSCIENCE. By Beatrice Ravenel
THE KITCHEN GODS. By G.F. Alsop
APRIL 25TH, AS USUAL. By Edna Ferber

INTRODUCTION
On April 18, 1918, the Society of Arts and Sciences of New York City
paid tribute to the memory of William Sydney Porter at a dinner in
honour of his genius. In the ball-room of the Hotel McAlpin there
gathered, at the speakers' table, a score of writers, editors and
publishers who had been associated with O. Henry during the time he
lived in Manhattan; in the audience, many others who had known him,
and hundreds yet who loved his short stories.
Enthusiasm, both immediate and lasting, indicated to the Managing
Director of the Society, Mr. John F. Tucker, that he might progress
hopefully toward an ideal he had, for some time, envisioned. The goal
lay in the establishing of a memorial to the author who had transmuted
realistic New York into romantic Bagdad-by-the-Subway.
When, therefore, in December, 1918, Mr. Tucker called a committee

for the purpose of considering such a memorial, he met a glad response.
The first question, "What form shall the monument assume?" drew
tentative suggestions of a needle in Gramercy Square, or a tablet
affixed to the corner of O. Henry's home in West Twenty-sixth Street.
But things of iron and stone, cold and dead, would incongruously
commemorate the dynamic power that moved the hearts of living men
and women, "the master pharmacist of joy and pain," who dispensed
"sadness tinctured with a smile and laughter that dissolves in tears."
In short, then, it was decided to offer a minimum prize of $250 for the
best short story published in 1919, and the following Committee of
Award was appointed:
BLANCHE COLTON WILLIAMS, Ph.D. EDWARD J. WHEELER,
Litt.D. ETHEL WATTS MUMFORD ROBERT WILSON NEAL,
M.A. MERLE ST. CROIX WRIGHT, D.D.
It is significant that this committee had no sooner begun its round table
conferences than the Society promised, through the Director, funds for
two prizes. The first was fixed at $500, the second at $250.
At a meeting in January, 1919, the Committee of Award agreed upon
the further conditions that the story must be the work of an American
author, and must first appear in 1919 in an American publication. At
the same time an Honorary Committee was established, composed of
writers and editors, whose pleasure it might be to offer advice and
propose stories for consideration. The Honorary Committee consisted
of
GERTRUDE ATHERTON EDWARD J. O'BRIEN FANNIE HURST
JOHN MACY BURGES JOHNSON MRS. EDWIN MARKHAM
ROBERT MORSS LOVETT JOHN S. PHILLIPS WILLIAM
MARION REEDY VIRGINIA RODERICK WALTER ROBERTS
CHARLES G. NORRIS EDWARD E. HALE MAX EASTMAN
CHARLES CALDWELL DOBIE MARGARET SHERWOOD
HAMLIN GARLAND JAMES BRANCH CABELL STUART P.
SHERMAN WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE STEPHEN LEACOCK
MAJOR RUPERT HUGHES EUGENE MANLOVE RHODES
The Committee of Award read throughout the year, month by month,
scores of stories, rejecting many, debating over others, and passing up a
comparative few for final judgment. In January, out of the hundred or
more remaining, they salvaged the following:

1. The Kitchen Gods, by Guglielma Alsop (_Century_, September).
2. Facing It, by Edwina Stanton Babcock (_Pictorial Review_, June).
3. The Fairest Sex, by Mary Hastings Bradley (_Metropolitan_,
March).
4. Bargain Price, by Donn Byrne (_Cosmopolitan_, March).
5. Porcelain Cups, by James Branch Cabell (_Century_, November).
6. Gum Shoes, 4-B, by Forrest Crissey (_Harper's_, December).
7. The Trial in Tom Belcher's Store, by Samuel A.