re time and effort in the
collecting of material than any book the author had written, but
probably gave him, at least, as much pleasure. He is very careful with
regard to descriptive detail, and even while writing "The Calling of Dan
Matthews" he was making a study of the desert and this great reclamation
project. Before sending his manuscript for publication he had it checked
over by the best engineers on the Pacific coast for inaccuracies in any
of his descriptions that involved engineering or reclamation problems.

"The Winning of Barbara Worth" bears the distinction, without doubt,
of being the only book ever published that called its publisher and
illustrator from a distance of two and three thousand miles, into the
heart of a great desert, for a consultation with its author. This story
of the Imperial Valley and its reclamation was written in the same study
as was "The Calling of Dan Matthews." A study of rude construction,
about eighteen by thirty-five feet, with thatched roof and outside
covering of native arrow-weed and built entirely by the author himself.

When Mr. Wright finished "The Winning of Barbara Worth"--so named in
honor of Ruth Barbara Reynolds--he was a sick man. He often worked the
night through, overtaxing his nerve and strength. For several months he
virtually dwelt within the four walls of his study and for a time it was
feared he would not live to finish the book. He wrote the last chapters
while confined to his bed, after which he was taken by easy stages,
through the kindness of friends, to that part of Northern Arizona that
is so delightful to all lovers of the out-of-doors. In this bracing
mile-high atmosphere he soon grew well and strong, almost to ruggedness,
and on the day his book was published he was riding in a wild-horse
chase over a country wild and rough where the writer of this sketch
would only care to go, carefully picking his way, on foot. So it was
weeks after publication before the author saw the first bound copy
of his book. During these summer and fall months, while regaining his
strength, he was busy with sketch and note book collecting material, for
this part of Arizona is the scene of his novel "When a Man's a Man."

"Their Yesterdays" was written in Tucson, Arizona, and was published in
the fall of 1912, just one year after the publication of "The Winning
of Barbara Worth." In order to write this story, with the least possible
strain on his nerves and vitality, Mr. W