Joseph A. Altsheler, whose story, “The Lost Herd,” follows, is a
representative type of the new generation of Southerners in
contemporary literature.
Born, reared and educated in the South, he has won successive and
substantial laurels in both journalism and literature, and is at
present the unusual combination of a successful figure in both fields.
Born in Kentucky, that commonwealth that has contributed so many
distinguished workers to the literary history of the day, he attended
the local schools of his native heath in the southern part of the
state until entering Vanderbilt University, where he ranked high in
class work, being a Latin scholarship man.
After leaving college, he immediately took up journalistic work in
Louisville with _The Evening Post_, subsequently going with the
_Courier-Journal_, with which paper he remained several years, gaining
wide journalistic experience as legislative correspondent, dramatic
critic, city editor and editorial writer.
In 1892 Mr. Altsheler followed the almost inevitable ambition of the
American with pronounced literary attainments, migrating to the broad
and inviting field of the metropolis, since which time he has
successively filled responsible positions with the _New York World_,
being at present in charge of its tri-weekly edition.
About nine years ago Mr. Altsheler turned his attention seriously to
fiction, since which time he has produced no less than ten novels, in
many of which he has drawn largely upon his own extensive personal
experiences as a journalist.
His first book was “The Sun of Saratoga,” while his latest is “Guthrie
of the Times,” a contemporary romance with a strong political flavor.
He has now in press “The Candidate,” also a novel of the day, and
likewise treating of political life, this time in the West instead of
in Kentucky.