After a life of activity in many fields, Thomas Dixon entered the
writing lists with “The Leopard’s Spots” (1902), in which, powerfully
if somewhat unevenly, he depicted conditions in certain states of
the South under the carpet-bag and negro domination of the late
sixties. Following up the same phase of history, he introduced, in
“The Clansman,” the Kluklux Klan, and showed the work accomplished by
that mysterious organization in bringing about the redemption of the
afflicted district. Among Mr. Dixon’s later books are “The Traitor,”
“The One Woman,” and “The Sins of the Father.”
[Illustration: CAPT. RUPERT HUGHES]
_Harrison and Bacheller_
Henry Sydnor Harrison’s first novel, “Captivating Mary Carstairs,” was
published anonymously, but in 1911 “Queed” appeared under the author’s
own name, and at once took a place in the front rank of the year’s
successful novels. There was a reminiscence of Dickens in the tale.
Queed, “the little doctor,” as he is known to his associates in the
story, is redeemed from over-acute egotism through the agency of two
young women. At two years’ intervals following “Queed,” came “V. V.’s
Eyes” and “Angela’s Business.”
[Illustration: ERNEST POOLE]
Back in the nineties of the last century there was a corner of New
York City known as Monkey Hill. It was in the shadow of the Brooklyn
Bridge, and crowning it, standing far back from the street, was a kind
of chalet that served as a club for certain writing men. Among these
men was Irving Bacheller, and to pleasant evenings in the club may
be traced “Eben Holden” (1900), the most popular of Mr. Bacheller’s
many popular books. As early as 1893, he had written “The Master of
Silence;” “The Still House of Darrow” appeared in 1894. But it was
“Eben Holden” that made the author’s name for a time a household
word. That book was followed by “D’ri and I,” “Darrel of the Blessed
Isles,” and “Vergilius,” a tale of ancient Rome. In his later books,
such as “Keeping Up With Lizzie” and “Charge It,” Mr. Bacheller plays
whimsically with the problems of modern extravagance. His latest novel
is “The Light in the Clearing.”
[Illustration: ZANE GREY]
_Fiction Notes in Varied Keys_
If one novel can make a novelist, Ernest Poole earned the right to be
considered one of the makers of modern American fiction when he wrote
“The Harbor” (1915). Although the end of the story was somewhat marred
by over-insistence on sociological problems, in the first part of the
book the author struck a reminiscent note as charming as that struck
by Du Maurier in “Peter Ibbetson.” No one had paid much attention
to Mr. Poole’s earlier novel, “A Man’s Friends,” but in the general
recognition of “The Harbor,” as a work of far more than ephemeral
significance, there was hardly a dissenting voice. Not so widely
popular, but marked by the same high quality of workmanship, is Mr.
Poole’s later book, “His Family.”
Of the same generation at Princeton as Ernest Poole was Stephen French
Whitman, and as mention of Mr. Poole’s name inevitably suggests “The
Harbor,” so the name of Mr. Whitman calls up at once memories of
“Predestined.” Unlike “The Harbor,” “Predestined” was not, speaking
materially, a success. It was too grim, its ending was too pitiless.
But very few who read the story of the degeneration of Felix Piers were
able soon to forget it. In such later stories as “The Isle of Life” and
“Children of Hope,” Mr. Whitman has forsaken New York for Italy and
Sicily.
[Illustration: JOSEPH C. LINCOLN]
It is now almost twenty years since Henry Kitchell Webster and Samuel
Merwin began their writing careers in collaboration. Together they
wrote “The Short Line War” (1899), “Calumet K” and “Comrade John.” All
these were well-told tales, and the later years, when each man has been
working alone, have shown that neither one carried an undue share of
the burden. Mr. Webster’s books include “The Whispering Man,” “A King
in Khaki,” “The Ghost Girl,” “The Butterfly” and “The Real Adventure.”
Mr. Merwin’s work has been unusual in the variety of its themes.
Washington and the Constitution of the United States were ingredients
of “The Citadel.” The adventures of an American girl in China were
narrated in “The Charmed Life of Miss Austen.” Musical theories, the
segregated district of Yokohama, and incidents in Chinese hotels went
to the making of “Anthony the Absolute.” “The Honey Bee” is the story
of a woman whose life has been in an American department store, who
makes a trip to Paris, and there falls in love with one Blink Moran, of
the prize-ring.
[Illustration: JOSEPH LINCOLN’S HOME