Part 12 (1/2)

These letters were the first indication we had of the story's popularity, but they were very good evidence of it. An edition was issued; the book sold rapidly, and the sale since has been large and continuous.”

”How about your original contract with Mr. Roe?”

”Well, as a matter of fact,” said Mr. Dodd, ”the original contract was destroyed and another made on a different basis by which Mr. Roe is largely the gainer. From that time we have published everything that he has written, and our relations have always been very pleasant and close.”

”What is his most popular work?”

”'Barriers Burned Away' has had the largest sale. 'Without a Home'

stands second on the list, and, considering the fact that it was published ten years later, is most popular. 'Opening of a Chestnut Burr' comes next; 'Near to Nature's Heart' has had a very large sale, and the others follow closely. There is not one of his novels that has not had a wide circulation.”

”Have you any idea of the extent to which his books have been sold abroad?”

”All have been published in England and the colonies. Mr. Roe has in almost every instance arranged with English publishers for an authorized edition from advance sheets, and received compensation. His stories are also translated into German and French.”

”Barriers” was first published in 1872. It is reverently dedicated to the memory of the author's mother, and his own words as to how it came to be written have already been quoted. Many letters were received from young men acknowledging the helpfulness of this book.

”Play and Profit in My Garden” was Edward's first book on horticulture.

It was written in 1873 at Highland Falls, and was published serially in _The Christian Union_, then edited by Dr. Lyman Abbott. Reviewing the book just two years before his death, he claimed that he put into it more of his personality than into any of his other works.

It is a garden story of his own experience. The sandy knoll around the little country parsonage upon which grew only a vine or two, a few cherry trees and some common currant bushes, served as a beginning in this gardening venture. To that was added a small tract of adjoining land which was rented from a neighbor, making but two acres in all, yet the profits from this ground for one season alone amounted to two thousand dollars.

In this book he tells how his garden was stocked first with plants from the old home place, and how they brought back the sweet a.s.sociations of his childhood. He speaks, too, of his pleasure in selecting new varieties for trial from the gorgeously ill.u.s.trated catalogues that he received.

”What Can She Do?” was written the same year. Since that time numberless women have learned through the fortunes or misfortunes of life to solve this problem for themselves, but this book has found a place in many homes and by its influence has led young girls to be more helpful in the family circle as well as in the wider social spheres in which they move.

”Opening of a Chestnut Burr” (1874) suggested itself to Edward's mind while taking a walk one autumn along a wood-road on the grounds of the old homestead. Several of the characters are drawn from life, representing some eccentric people who lived near us in our childhood.

In a ”well-meanin'” man, ”Daddy Inggar,” we have a perfect picture of an old neighbor whom we children called ”Daddy Lis...o...b..” He lived in a little house opposite one of our father's apple orchards, and no watch-dog could have been more faithful than was this old man in guarding our fruit from the depredations of factory boys. He was very profane, more in his last years from habit, however, than from intentional irreverence, and sometimes when the Methodist clergyman was offering prayer in his home a sudden twinge of rheumatism would call forth a perfect volley of oaths, for which he would immediately afterward make most humble apologies. This book Edward dedicated to his wife.

”From Jest to Earnest” (1875) is dedicated to Edward's schoolmate and college friend, Rev. A. Moss Merwin. The story is nearly altogether imaginary, but was suggested by an actual house-party and the position of a clever hostess who was embarra.s.sed by the necessity for making the best of an unwelcome guest.

”Near to Nature's Heart” was written at Cornwall and published in 1876--the Centennial year. It is a Revolutionary story, and the scene is laid near West Point. ”Captain Molly” is of course historical, as is also the Robin Hood of the Highlands, ”Claudius Smith.” But most of the incidents of the story, as well as the leading characters, are imaginary.

A few years ago I met at a seash.o.r.e resort in Ma.s.sachusetts a cultured gentleman who held a high position in an educational inst.i.tution in that State. He told me that his only child, Vera, was named from the heroine of ”Near to Nature's Heart.” He had read all of my brother's books, but particularly enjoyed this one. And while in California making a trip to some of the high mountain pa.s.ses of the State I met a young couple living in a lonely canon, miles from any town, whose year-old baby was called Amy, in honor, they said, of the heroine of ”Nature's Serial Story.” They had no knowledge of my relations.h.i.+p to the author of the book.

”A Knight of the Nineteenth Century” (1877) was reverently dedicated to the memory of the writer's father. These lines form the preface:--

”He best deserves a knightly crest Who slays the evils that infest His soul within. If victor here, He soon will find a wider sphere.

The world is cold to him who pleads; The world bows low to knightly deeds.”

Soon after this book was offered for sale upon the railroad trains, a young man, who had tired of the humdrum duties of his home, started West to seek adventure in the excitements of mining life. He bought a copy, read it, and was so impressed by the writer's picture of true knightly deeds that he abandoned his purpose and returned to take up the obligations he had cast aside.

”A Face Illumined” (1878). A beautiful, but discordant, face once seen at a concert-garden suggested the t.i.tle and plot of this book. It interested Edward to imagine what such a countenance could express under the enn.o.bling influence of a pure Christian life. He says in his preface:--”The old garden and the aged man who grew young in it are not creations, but sacred memories.” It was our father who was constantly in the writer's mind as he rehea.r.s.ed the conversations with Mr.

Eltinge, and the enormous silver poplar that shaded the old man's front gate, the tool-house and pear tree, and the brook in which ”Ida Mayhew”

bathed her tear-stained face, were all drawn from originals.

”Without a Home” (1881). This book was announced two years before it was completed, for my brother studied with great care and patience the problems upon which it touches. He visited scores of tenements and station-houses, and sat day after day upon the bench with police judges. He also talked with many of the proprietors of city stores and with their employees, and his indignation was aroused when he found that in most of these establishments saleswomen were compelled to stand throughout the hot summer days, no provision being made for even an occasional rest. In regard to the victim of the opium habit in this story, he said once, ”I felt from the first that Mr. Joselyn was going to ruin and I could not stop him, and suffered much with him. I also felt the death of his daughter almost as much as if she had been a member of my own family.”