al inscrutability with Occidental suavity and
sureness, and set off the Oriental gentleman in American surroundings,
he brought together the nations in a new vision of the brotherhood of
man. This story was preferred, for the reasons implied, by Frances
Gilchrist Wood, who sees in Wu Fong's garden the subtle urge of acres
of flowers, asleep under the stars, pitted against the greed of
profiteers; who sees in answer to Western fume and fret the wisdom of
Confucius, "Come out and see my poppies." The story was rejected by
other members who, while applauding the author's motivation of
character, his theme, and his general treatment, yet felt a lack of
emotion and a faltering at the dramatic climax.

Wilbur Daniel Steele's "The Marriage in Kairwan" presents an appalling
tragedy which, if it be typical, may befall any Tunisian lady who
elects for herself man's standard of morality--for himself. Such a
story is possible when the seeing eye and the understanding heart of
an American grasps the situation in Kairwan and through the
technician's art develops it, transforms it, and bears it into the
fourth dimension of literature. The thread of narrative runs thinly,
perhaps, through the stiffly embroidered fabric, heavy as cloth of
gold; the end may be discerned too soon. But who can fail of being
shocked at the actual denouement? The story may be, as Ethel Watts
Mumford admits, caviar. "But if so," she adds, "it is Beluga
Imperial."

Donn Bryne's "Wisdom Buildeth Her House," is constructed on a
historic foundation, the visit that Balkis, Queen of Sheba, made to
Solomon, King of the Jews. Mr. Bryne has not only built a cunning
mosaic, plunging into the stream of Scriptural narrative for his
tessellations and drawing gems out of The Song of Solomon, but he has
also recalled by virtue of exercising a vigorous imagination, the
glory of the royalty that was Sheba's and the grandeur of her domain
in pictures as gorgeously splendid as those from an Arabian Night. He
has elaborated the Talmud story with mighty conviction from a novel
point of view and has whetted his theme on the story of a love the
King lacked wisdom to accept. The Chairman of the Committee prefers
this story; but other members assert that it lacks novelty and
vitality, nor can they find that it adds anything new to the Song of
Songs.

These three first choice stories, then, are strong in Oriental
flavour, characters, and setting.

Again, democracy (in the etymol