Eric of the Strong Heart

This issue contains "Eric of the Strong Heart" by Victor Rousseau, a five-part serial originally published in Railroad Man's Magazine from November 16 to December 14, 1918. The story follows Eric Silverstein, a timid New York intellectual of Russian-Jewish descent who works on Norse studies and takes evening constitutional walks. While downtown, he becomes trapped in a crowd entering a dime museum where he encounters Princess Editha, a young woman dressed in authentic tenth-century Saxon garb, accompanied by a cowardly giant named Knut and a wise dwarf named Egbert. Speaking to Editha in the Anglo-Saxon dialect she uses, Eric rescues her from the museum proprietor's contract and the hostile crowd, escaping with the group aboard a streetcar heading toward the Battery. The narrative blends adventure, linguistics, and mysterious fantasy elements, featuring Eric's unexpected heroism.