Page:The Dial (Volume 75).djvu/224



HE fatuity of The Society of Arts and Sciences must be purely occasional, like an annual dinner, for one never hears of it except in connexion with the most ridiculous volume of short stories issued in association with the name of O. Henry. If it is actually a society which concerns itself in any way with arts and sciences, it ought promptly to separate itself, in the minds of intelligent people, from this yearly exhibition of commercialism and stupidity; if it exists only for the purpose of issuing this book, and awarding the prizes which go with it, the name is a contravention of commercial honesty. I leave the solution of the dilemma to the Society, whichever it is.

The more prizes it has, the more fatuous the Committee becomes. This year they had a special prize for the best story under three thousand words. (I must not be unjust, for "at first the Committee set the outside limit for the very brief story at 2,500 words. Later they rescinded their action in establishing that limit and