Harrison and Bacheller
Henry Sydnor Harrison’s first novel, “Captivating Mary Carstairs,” was published anonymously, but in 1911 “Queed” appeared under the author’s own name, and at once took a place in the front rank of the year’s successful novels. There was a reminiscence of Dickens in the tale. Queed, “the little doctor,” as he is known to his associates in the story, is redeemed from over-acute egotism through the agency of two young women. At two years’ intervals following “Queed,” came “V. V.’s Eyes” and “Angela’s Business.”
Back in the nineties of the last century there was a corner of New York City known as Monkey Hill. It was in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, and crowning it, standing far back from the street, was a kind of chalet that served as a club for certain writing men. Among these men was Irving Bacheller, and to pleasant evenings in the club may be traced “Eben Holden” (1900), the most popular of Mr. Bacheller’s many popular books. As early as 1893, he had written “The Master of Silence;” “The Still House of Darrow” appeared in 1894. But it was “Eben Holden” that made the author’s name for a time a household word. That book was[Pg 22] followed by “D’ri and I,” “Darrel of the Blessed Isles,” and “Vergilius,” a tale of ancient Rome. In his later books, such as “Keeping Up With Lizzie” and “Charge It,” Mr. Bacheller plays whimsically with the problems of modern extravagance. His latest novel is “The Light in the Clearing.”