usy. To critics of this class Mr. Wright makes no reply
and is not in the least disturbed.

"The Uncrowned King," a small volume--an allegory--published in 1910,
to me, is one of the most delightful of Mr. Wright's books. Possibly,
it has an added charm because of certain peculiar conditions. It was
written in Redlands, California, during the winter of 1909-10, although
the notion for the little volume occurred to the author while living in
Kansas City. It was one of those times when the longing and will to do
a work greater than the physical would permit seemed almost overpowering
when, unconsciously coming to his aid, a young woman talking to a
company of Christian Endeavorers chanced to remark, "After all, the
real kings of earth are seldom crowned." All through the evening service
thoughts that this inspired kept running through the author's mind and
late that same night he wrote the outline which was only completed some
years later and given to his publishers to enrich the world.

His first four novels in order of publication have been dramatized
and enjoyed by thousands from before the footlights and it has been a
delight to renew acquaintances with old friends in this way. It remained
for "The Eyes of the World" to be the first of his books to be presented
in a feature production of motion pictures.

The likes and dislikes of Harold Bell Wright are quite pronounced. He is
unpretending, cares not for the lime-light and avoids interviews for the
public press. Loud, boisterous conversation is but little less offensive
to him than vulgarity in speech or action. His friends are strong,
clean-minded men who are doing things in the world and are as necessary
to his being as the air to his existence, and his generosity to them is
no less marked than his caring and providing for his family, which is
almost a passion. He is extremely fond of most forms of out-door life.
The desert with its vast expanse, fierce solitude and varied colors is
no less attractive to him than the peaceful quiet of wooded dells, the
beauty of flowering meadows or the rugged mountains with their roaring
trout streams that furnish him hours of sport with rod and line. He
enjoys hunting, horse-back riding or long tramps afoot. But when there
is work to be done it is the one thing that bulks 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 Hol