The short-story does not demand the consistency in treatment of the
long story, for there are not so many elements to marshal and direct
properly, but the short-story must be original and varied in its
themes, cleverly constructed, and lighted through and through with the
glow of vivid imaginings. A single incident in daily life is caught as
in a snap-shot exposure and held before the reader in such a manner
that the impression of the whole is derived largely from suggestion.
The single incident may be the turning-point in life history, as in
_The Man Who Was_; it may be a mental surrender of habits fixed
seemingly in indelible colors in the soul and a sudden, inflexible
decision to be a man, as in the case of _Markheim;_ or it may be a
gradual realization of the value of spiritual gifts, as Björnson has
concisely presented it in his little story _The Father_.

The aim of the short-story is always to present a cross-section of
life in such a vivid manner that the importance of the incident
becomes universal. Some short-stories are told with the definite end
in view of telling a story for the sake of exploiting a plot. _The
Cask of Amontillado_ is all action in comparison with _The Masque of
the Red Death. The Gold-Bug_ sets for itself the task of solving a
puzzle and possesses action from first to last. Other stories teach a
moral. _Ethan Brand_ deals with the unpardonable sin, and _The Great
Stone Face_ is our classic story in the field of ideals and their
development. Hawthorne, above all writers, is most interested in
ethical laws and moral development. Still other stories aim to portray
character. Miss Jewett and Mrs. Freeman veraciously picture the
faded-put womanhood in New England; Henry James and Björnson turn the
x-rays of psychology and sociology on their characters; Stevenson
follows with the precision of the tick of a watch the steps in