ms about Mr. White's literary work may
be added. It was through an editorial that he first became famous. This
appeared in the _Emporia Gazette_ in 1896, with the title, "What's the
matter with Kansas?" It contained so much good sense, and was written
in such vigorous English that it was copied in newspapers all over the
country. Perhaps no other editorial ever brought such sudden recognition
to its author. In the same year he published his first book, _The Real
Issue_, a volume of short stories. Some of them pictured the life of a
small town, some centered about politics, and some were stories of small
boys. These three subjects were the themes of most of Mr. White's later
books.

_Stratagems and Spoils_, a volume of short stories, dealt chiefly with
politics, as seen from the inside. _In Our Town_, from which "The
Passing of Priscilla Winthrop" is taken, belongs to the studies of
small-town life. His first novel, _A Certain Rich Man_, was published in
1909. Its theme is the development of an American multi-millionaire,
from his beginning as a small business man with a reputation for close
dealing, his success, his reaching out to greater schemes, growing more
and more unscrupulous in his methods, until at last he achieves the
great wealth he had sought, but in winning it he loses his soul.

This book was written during a vacation in the Colorado mountains. His
family were established in a log cabin, and he set up a tent near by for
a workshop. This is his account of his method of writing:

My working day was supposed to begin at nine o'clock in the
morning, but the truth is I seldom reached the tent before ten.
Then it took me some time to get down to work. From then on until
late in the afternoon I would sit at my typewriter, chew my tongue,
and pound away. Each night I read to my wife what I had written
that day, and Mrs. White would criticise it. While my work was
redhot I couldn't get any perspective on it--each day's installment
seemed to me the finest literature I had ever read. She didn't
always agree with me. When she disapproved of anything I threw it
away--after a row--and re-wrote it.

In his next book, _The Old Order Changeth_, Mr. White turned aside from
fiction to write a series of papers dealing with various reform
movements in our national life. He shows how through these much has been
done to regain for the people the control of municipal and st