d by W. E. Henley, and also to the _Speaker_,
upon its foundation in 1890. In 1887 he published his first book, _Better
Dead_. It was a mere _jeu d'esprit_, a specimen of his humorous journalism,
elaborated from the _St James's Gazette_. This was followed in 1888 by
_Auld Licht Idylls_, a collection of the Scots village sketches written for
the same paper. They portrayed the life and humours of his native village,
idealized as "Thrums," and were the fruits of early observation and of his
mother's tales. "She told me everything," Mr Barrie has written, "and so my
memories of our little red town were coloured by her memories." Kirriemuir
itself was not wholly satisfied with the portrait, but "Thrums" took its
place securely on the literary map of the world. In the same year he
published _An Edinburgh Eleven_, sketches from the _British Weekly_ of
eminent Edinburgh students; also his first long story, _When a Man's
Single_, a humorous transcription of his experiences as journalist,
particularly in the Nottingham office. The book was introduced by what was
in fact another Thrums "Idyll," on a higher level than the rest of the
book. In 1889 came _A Window in Thrums_. This beautiful book, and the
_Idylls_, gave the full measure of Mr Barrie's gifts of humanity, humour
and pathos, with abundant evidence of the whimsical turn of his wit, and of
his original and vernacular style. In 1891 he made a collection of his
lighter papers from the _St James's Gazette_ and published them as _My Lady
Nicotine_. In 1891 appeared his first long novel, _The Little Minister_,
which had been first published serially in _Good Words_. It introduced, not
with unmixed success, extraneous elements, including the winsome heroine
Babbie, into the familiar life of Thrums, but proved the author's
possession of a considerable gift of romance. In 1894 he published
_Margaret Ogilvy_, based on the life of his mother and his own relations
with her, most tenderly conceived and beautifully written, though too
intimate for the taste of many. The book is full of revelations of great
interest to admirers of Mr Barrie's genius. The following year came
_Sentimental Tommy_, a story tracing curiously the psychological
development of the "artistic temperament" in a Scots lad of the people.
R. L. Stevenson supposed himself to be portrayed in the hero, but it may be
safely assumed that the author derived his material largely from
introspection. The story was completed by a