Short Stories of Various Types Part 39

from Edinburgh University. Immediately afterward he began to practice as a physician, but although he attained no little success in this profession, it is as a writer that all the world knows him.

He made his first real appearance as an author in 1887 when he published _A Study in Scarlet_. It was in this novel that the wonderful Sherlock Holmes was introduced to the public. Dr. Doyle soon attained immense popularity by his narratives of _The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes_, which were first published in the _Strand Magazine_. This popular character returned at intervals in several other novels: _The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes_, _The Hound of the Baskervilles_, _The Return of Sherlock Holmes_, and others.

These ingenious stories of the success of the imperturbable Sherlock Holmes in detecting crime and disentangling mystery have become known wherever the English language is spoken. It is a notable thing to be able to create a character that is known even by people who have never heard of the author, or who have never even read a book. Ask any little street lad who Sherlock Holmes is, and see what he answers.

It is regrettable, however, that people know Sir Conan Doyle entirely as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, when his best work has really been done in other novels, such as _The Adventures of Brigadier Gerard_, _Rodney Stone_, _The White Company_, and _Beyond the City_.

His late works include plays as well as numerous novels. It is noteworthy that in all his writings women have played but little part.

His men characters, on the other hand, are many and varied, as well as sharply defined. As an author Conan Doyle has a wonderful gift of narrative, unusual imagination, fine constructive powers, and an effective style.

The Red-Headed League

203, 1. Sherlock Holmes. See biographical sketch of Conan Doyle.

206, 1. Freemason. A member of a secret order.

207, 1. Omne ignotum pro magnifico. All the unknown is as something wonderful.

221, 1. Sarasate. A famous Spanish violinist.

224, 1. Sleuth hound. Detective.

227, 1. The Sholto murder and the Agra treasure. This refers to another Sherlock Holmes story, _The Sign of Four_, which you may enjoy reading.

230, 1. Napoleons. French gold coins worth 20 francs each.

231, 1. Partie carree. A party of four.

237, 1. L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre c'est tout. Man is nothing, his work is everything.

SIR JAMES MATTHEW BARRIE (Page 238)

Sir James Matthew Barrie, one of the best loved of contemporary novelists and dramatists, was born in 1860 in Kirriemuir, Scotland. His formal education was completed at Edinburgh University. And although his mature life has been spent largely in England, his stories reflect the village and country life of his native and beloved Scotland.

J. M. Barrie, as he is usually called, is a person interesting but difficult to know because of the reserve and shyness of his race. He has a sweetness of nature and a joy in life born of sympathy and faith.

All these characteristics, together with his whimsical humor, are part of his great charm. One cannot help loving the man as one reads about him or reads his stories. The mental picture of him which one receives is of a shy and meditative little man, inconspicuous of dress, getting over the ground with strides almost as long as himself, and with a face that one cannot meet without stopping to look after it.

Barrie's mother, Margaret Ogilvy, is really the heroine of practically all of his stories and plays. From her, this man, shy of women, has learned all he knows of her s.e.x. This accounts in part for the goodness and purity in his works. From his mother, too, he inherited his whimsically gay vision of life. Thus, his plays and novels, so much purer than those of many of his contemporaries, are never dull, for they are lightened by his wit, his fanciful humor, and his love for humanity.

The man's genial satire and kindly humanity may be distinguished in the selection, "The Inconsiderate Waiter," which you will read in this collection. The lovable Barrie, with his tenderness for child life, his poetic fancy and whimsical invention, will be revealed to you more truly when you have read his novels, _Sentimental Tommy_, _Tommy and Grizel_, _The Little Minister_, _The Little White Bird_, and his play _Peter Pan_.

The Inconsiderate Waiter

239, 1. Chartreuse. A highly esteemed liqueur, which derives its name from the celebrated monastery of the Grand Chartreuse, in France, where it is made.

240, 1. The Derby. The most important annual horse race of England, founded in 1780 by the Earl of Derby and run at Epsom, in the spring.

ALPHONSE DAUDET (Page 266)

Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897) was a French humorist and satirist, who wrote novels, plays, and short stories. He was born in Provence in southeast France, a district of which he is typical in the warmth of his imagination. He lived for a time at Lyons but later went to Paris, where he came in contact with the literary artists of the capital.

Monsieur Daudet, like the moody, imaginative Hawthorne of America, was guided and influenced in his literary career by his wife, whose inspiring but practical mind guided his impulsive and impressionable nature into its best outlet.

As a writer Daudet is remarkable for the grace of his style and the keenness of his observations. Literary critics appreciate him, not only for his polished style, but also for his originality and insight into human nature.

The Siege of Berlin

266, 1. The Siege of Berlin. This is a story of the Franco-Prussian War, the war between France and Germany in 1870. War was declared in July and the opening battle was fought the first of August before the French had had time to complete their preparations. This battle, at Wissemburg, resulted in a heavy loss for the French troops.

The fighting during August of 1870 covered much the same ground contested during the World War. It is especially interesting to note that it was at Sedan that the French met their great defeat in September, 1870, and that Sedan was captured by the French shortly before the signing of the Armistice in November, 1918.

The battle of Sedan in 1870 meant the total defeat of the French army, and the Germans immediately began a four months' siege of Paris. After terrible suffering the city surrendered to the enemy in January, 1871.

The territory of Alsace-Lorraine lost by France to Germany in the war of 1870 was returned after the World War.

2. Arc de Triomphe. Sometimes called the Arc de l'Etoile. The great triumphal arch at the head of the Avenue des Champs-elysees, begun by Napoleon to celebrate his victories and completed by Louis Philippe.

After the Germans marched under it in triumph after the siege of Paris, chains were stretched across the roadway and the order was given that no one was to drive under the arch again until the lost provinces should be restored to France. In the great celebration on July 14, 1919, the armies of the victorious French and their Allies marched up the avenue under the Arc de Triomphe.

3. A cuira.s.sier of the First Empire. A cuira.s.sier is a cavalryman whose body is protected by a cuira.s.s, a piece of defensive armor, covering the body from neck to girdle, and combining a breastplate and a back piece. The First Empire was the Empire of France under Napoleon I, 1804-1814.

267, 1. Mac Mahon. The Marshal of France during the War of 1870.

269, 1. Mayence. The German town of Mainz, where one of the strongest German fortresses is located.

273, 1. Invalides. The Hotel des Invalides is an establishment in Paris where French veterans are maintained at the expense of the state. Part of the building is a great military museum where trophies of war are exhibited. Among them are German guns captured in the World War.

Napoleon is buried in the Dome des Invalides, a chapel in this building.

274, 1. The Tuileries. The palace of the French kings in Paris.

275, 1. Uhlans. Prussian cavalrymen.

SELMA LAGERLoF (Page 276)

Selma Lagerlof, who was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1858, is the Swedish idol in literature. She has had a series of honors such as rarely have fallen to the lot of a woman novelist, the climax of which has been the winning of the n.o.bel prize.[C] This enrolls her in a small group of authors of cosmopolitan interest--writers who belong to the whole world. Yet she is a woman who aspires to no prominence. She is modest, retiring, and unconscious of self.

[C] The n.o.bel prizes are prizes given for the encouragement of men and women who work for the interests of humanity, and were established by the will of Alfred B. n.o.bel (1833-1896), the inventor of dynamite, who left his entire estate for this purpose. They are awarded yearly by the Academy of Sweden, for what is regarded as the most important work during the year in physics, chemistry, medicine or physiology, idealistic literature, and service in the interests of peace. The prizes, averaging $40,000 each, were first awarded in 1901.

No other Swedish writer of any period has so faithfully mirrored the soul of the Swedish people as has Selma Lagerlof, nor has any other writer been so wors.h.i.+pped by her people. In her native province her work has sunk deep into the hearts of the people. The places and characters she has described have become so intimately a.s.sociated with her stories and legends that the real names are constantly being confused with the fict.i.tious ones she has given them in her _Wonderful Adventures of Nils_ and _Gosta Berling_. Everywhere in Sweden one finds postal cards representing scenes from the _Wonderful Adventures of Nils_. This is an enchanting fairy story that may be compared to the fairy cla.s.sics of Grimm and of Hans Andersen. In it fact and fancy are delicately interwoven with the geography and natural history of Sweden.

Miss Lagerlof's popularity is not confined exclusively to Scandinavian countries, however. In Germany, Russia, and Holland, she is more widely read than almost any other foreign writer. In recent years, moreover, she has conquered France, and since the bestowal of the n.o.bel prize, she has become a world figure. It is since that event that she has become known in America, though she is not yet read here so much as she deserves.