I have read the four stories which you have been good enough to send me, and am prepared to tell you what I think about them. In my opinion the quality of a story depends upon several elements: 1, the theme; 2, the plot and its working out; 3, the language, including the style; 4, the effect on the reader. The theme is important. A motive which in real life is improbable (except of course in fairy tales and others of the sort) does not make a good story. A plot which suffers from the same defect or is not well worked out does not make a good story. Good English or whatever the language may be, which is easily understood by the reader, is essential. But the most important of all is the effect upon the reader. However irreproachable your theme, however well developed your plot, however fine your style or however choice your language, if the story does not ring true and does not convince the reader, it is not a good story.

Applying these principles to the stories you sent me, and which I return herewith, I should say that the story "There Dogs and a Rabbit" is well conceived, well written, but not convincing. The race motive is dragged into it unnecessarily. There was no dramatic necessity for this fine old woman to betray the secret of her origin, with the extremely probable effect of embarrassing her children and their future. The story would have been, from any standpoint but that of a colored reader, equally dramatic and effective without that disclosure. So the story is not convincing.

"Easy Pickin's" is merely a character sketch in dialect. I suspect this bum's condition was due to more than his wife's misconduct. He could not have been any good or he would have managed his wife better, nor would he have permitted his life to be ruined by a worthless woman. Speaking of dialect, in my view there is no such thing as Negro dialect. Dialect is a form of speech which has become to a -------------- 1646 Union Trust Bldg. Dr. DuBoisDu Bois, Page 2. certain extent fixed or at least conventionalized, like the Scotch dialect or perhaps the Pennsylvania Dutch speech. Negro dialect is largely if not entirely merely mispronunciation of English. Mr. OctaviusOctavus Roy Cohen has either dug up or created some forms of speech which savor of dialect, as for instance the phrase of which this would be an example, "Time is somethin' I ain't got nuthin' else but." But, generally speaking, Negro dialect is merely the local corruption of good English, except as it may here and there include some of the Elizabethan allocutions of which Mr. Mencken has collected so many in his "The American Language." A dialect which is so difficult that the reader has to stop to figure out what it means detracts from the interest of the story, in which respect this writer sins.

"High Yaller", the most ambitious of the four stories, is very well written. Of course an editor reading it with a view to publication could make certain suggestions as to the language and figures of speech here and there. The plot is well worked out, with a heroine and a hero and a villain, and its atmosphere may be a correct reflection of Negro life in Harlem, with which I am not very familiar, But to me at least the theme is not convincing. I have never yet met knowingly a fair colored girl who wanted to be darker. The almost universal desire is, as the advertising pages of the colored newspapers and periodicals bear witness, to get as much whiter as possible. So the story is not convincing.

"There Never Fell a Night so Dark" is in my opinion the best of the lot. The theme is human. It is a simple sketch, with some elements of improbability in the plot. For instance as I read her story, her son was killed in the war, and according to his story his son is in prison, innocent of course, though they turn out to be the man and the woman. But the little story touches the emotions and to that extent meets the essential requirement of a good story.

If I were grading the stories I should make "There Never Fell a Night so Dark" No. 1, "High Yaller" No. 2, "ThereThree Dogs and a Rabbit" No. 3, and "Easy Pickin's" No. 4.

I suspect you only wanted my opinion on the relative merit of the stories and that I have inflicted on you my -------------- 1646 Union Trust Bldg. Dr. DuBoisDu Bois, Page 3. reasons unnecessarily. If so you will pardon the superfluity.

Your letter found me and my family well, and we all join in sincere regards.