MERCURY, INC. COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY P. F. COLLIER & SON COMPANY. COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY BILL ADAMS. COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY S. S. MCCLURE COMPANY. COPYRIGHT, 1926, 1927, BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY. COPYRIGHT, 1927, BY HARPER & BROTHERS. COPYRIGHT, 1927, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS. COPYRIGHT, 1927, BY THE CENTURY COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES AT THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y. ACKNOWLEDGMENT For the Committee the chairman thanks authors, editors, and agents, with whose friendly coöperation this volume is prepared. BLANCHE COLTON WILLIAMS. New York City, January, 1927. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION. By Blanche Colton Williams ix CHILD OF GOD. By Roark Bradford 1 THE KILLERS. By Ernest Hemingway 15 THE SCARLET WOMAN. By Louis Bromfield 25 JUKES. By Bill Adams 34 FEAR. By James Warner Bellah 53 NIGHT CLUB. By Katharine Brush 84 SINGING WOMAN. By Ada Jack Carver 97 WITH GLORY AND HONOUR. By Elisabeth Cobb Chapman 109 BULLDOG. By Roger Daniels 126 HE MAN. By Marjory Stoneman Douglas 149 “DONE GOT OVER.” By Alma and Paul Ellerbe 175 MONKEY MOTIONS. By Eleanor Mercein Kelly 192 FOUR DREAMS OF GRAM PERKINS. By Ruth Sawyer 208 THE LITTLE GIRL FROM TOWN. By Ruth Suckow 220 SHADES OF GEORGE SAND! By Ellen du Pois Taylor 239 INTRODUCTION THE JUDGES 1. EMMA K. TEMPLE } 2. ISABEL WALKER } 3. HARRY ANABLE KNIFFIN } _First_ 4. KATHARINE LACY } _Judges_ { 5. FRANCES GILCHRIST WOOD } _Final_ { 6. DOROTHY SCARBOROUGH } _Judges_ { 7. BLANCHE COLTON WILLIAMS } _Chairman_ { 8. ROBERT L. RAMSAY { 9. MAXIM LIEBER 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 _Readers_, _First Judges_ 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 _Final Judges_. In preparing this the ninth volume of the series, the O. Henry Memorial Committee selected more than six hundred stories from some twenty-five hundred published in the year October, 1926, to September, 1927, inclusive. Of these six hundred the best according to the votes of at least two judges are listed in the following pages. From the fifty stories ranking highest were chosen, in the usual process of elimination by five final judges, the fifteen included in this volume. “Child of God,” by Roark Bradford, received four votes for first place, and wins by a number of points. To this story, published in _Harper’s Magazine_, April, 1927, is awarded the first prize of $500. Four candidates were considered for second place. One judge preferred “Singing Woman”; another, “Shades of George Sand” (closely followed by “The Little Girl from Town”); another, “Fear”; two others cast votes for “The Killers.” To this last named story, which wins by points, is awarded the second prize of $250. “The Killers,” by Ernest Hemingway, was published in _Scribner’s Magazine_, March, 1927. For the special prize awarded the best short short story, the following were nominated by one or more of the judges: “Another Wife,” by Sherwood Anderson; “Sandoe’s Pocket,” by Elsie Singmaster; “Tommy Taylor,” by Zona Gale; “The Scarlet Woman,” by Louis Bromfield. “The Scarlet Woman” leads and receives therefore the award of $100. The story was published in _McClure’s_, January, 1927. * * * * * Among the fifteen stories ranking highest, four happen to be about the American Negro. The increasing representation of this race in brief fiction I observed in my introduction to _O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories_ of 1925. Of that year Du Bose Heyward’s “Crown’s Bess” and Julia Peterkin’s “Maum Lou” were reprinted; John Matheus’s “Fog,” Frederick Tisdale’s “The Guitar,” and Elsie Singmaster’s “Elfie” were mentioned. The volume for 1926 reprinted Arthur Huff Fauset’s “Symphonesque” and Lyle Saxon’s “Cane River.”...