largest and all else must wait.
After finishing “The Eyes of the World,” Mr. Wright embarked on the building of a home in the Santa Monica mountains near Hollywood, California. So in the summer of 1915 the little family of five began making their residence in the new canyon home, one of nature’s delightful spots.
Then again, the author went into camp in the Arizona desert while writing “When a Man’s a Man.” For he finds it very helpful to live in the atmosphere of his story while doing the actual writing and he also avoids frequent interruption. I think he got more real enjoyment out of this story than any he has previously done. It is a story of the out-of-doors in this great unfenced land where a man must be a man. I suppose, too, he enjoyed writing this work so much, partly, because it comes so easy for him to just tell a story without the intervention of some nerve racking problem. The only book he has heretofore written that is purely a story is “The Shepherd of the Hills,” and I sometimes wonder to what proportion of his readers does this Ozark story hold first place. For all such, I am sure, “When a Man’s a Man” will find a reception of special heartiness because it is just a fine, big, wholesome novel of simple sweetness and virile strength.
I have written this sketch of Harold Bell Wright that you may know him as intimately, if possible, as if you had met him in person. But should you have the opportunity of making his acquaintance do not deny yourself the pleasure. If you are a lover of his books I am sure you are just the kind of person that the author himself delights to meet.
“Relay Heights,” February 15, 1916.