moor, the contest
in playing the pipes and the adventures of David and Catriona in
Holland--these are things to read many times and enjoy the more at
every reading. Stevenson, like Jack London, is a writer for men; he
could not draw women well, When he brings one in there is usually an
end of stirring adventure, just as London spoiled _The Sea Wolf_ with
his literary heroine.

[Illustration: STEVENSON'S HOME AT VALIMA, SAMOA, LOOKING TOWARD
VAEA]

Of Stevenson's short stories the finest are _The Pavilion on the
Links_, a tale of Sicilian vengeance and English love that is full of
haunting mystery and the deadly fear of unknown assassins; _Markheim_,
a brilliant example of this author's skill in laying bare the conflict
of a soul with evil and its ultimate triumph; _The Sire de Maletroit's
Door_, a vivid picture of the cruelty and the autocratic power of a
great French noble of the fifteenth century, and _A Lodging for the
Night_, a remarkable defense of his life by the vagabond poet, Villon.
Other short stories by Stevenson are worth careful study, but if you
like these I have mentioned you will need no guide to those which
strike your fancy.

The vogue of Stevenson's essays will last as long as that of his
romances; for he excelled in this literary art of putting his
personality into familiar talks with his reader. He ranks with Lamb
and Thackeray, Washington Irving and Donald G. Mitchell. Read those
fine short sermons, _Pulvis et Umbra_ and _Aes Triplex_, the latter
with its eloquent picture of sudden death in the fulness of power
which was realized in Stevenson's own fate. Read _Books Which Have
Influenced Me_, _A Gossip on Romance_ and _Talk and Talkers_. They are
unsurpassed for thought and feeling and for brilliancy of style.

But above everything looms the man himself--a chronic invalid, who
might well have pleaded his weakness and constant pains as an excuse
for idleness and railings against fate. Stoic courage in the strong is
a virtue, but how much greater the cheerful courage that laughs at
sickness and pain! Stevenson writing in a sickbed stories and essays
that help one to endure the blows of fate is a spectacle such as this
world has few to offer. So the man's life and work have come to be a
constant inspiration to those who are faint-hearted, a call to arms of
all one's courage and devotion.

THOMAS HARDY AND HIS TRAGIC TALES OF WESSEX

GREATEST LIVING WRITER OF ENGLISH FICTION--BECA