igh, all professed a firm
belief in _The Captain of the Gray Horse Troop_, and promised me such a
boost as I had never had. This promise they set about to fulfill.

As the day of publication came on they took generous squares of space in
the daily papers, and whole pages in the magazines. They astonished and
somewhat daunted me by putting an almost life-size portrait on the bill
boards of all the elevated roads, and then to the consternation of my
wife, _The Weekly_ published a full page reproduction of her photograph,
a portrait which they had obtained from me to use, as I supposed, in the
ordinary way in the literary column of the Sunday papers. I had no idea
of its being a full page illustration. I was troubled and uneasy about
this for a day or two, but realizing that the firm was doing its best to
make my book known to the public, I could not with justice complain. In
truth the use of the portrait seemed not to make any difference one way
or the other. It certainly did Zulime no harm.

At my request the firm made up a very handsome special copy of the novel
which I sent to President Roosevelt, with a word of explanation
concerning the purpose which underlaid the writing of the tale.

Early in March the book appeared with everything in its favor. True
there was opportunity for controversy in its delineation of aggressive
cattlemen, but those who had so bitterly criticized my pictures of the
prairie life in _Main Traveled Roads_, were off their guard with respect
of the mountains. My reviewers quite generally accepted the novel as a
truthful presentation of life on an Indian reservation in the nineties.
Furthermore my sympathetic interpretation of the Army's attitude toward
the red men caused the story to be quite generally commended by the
officers. This surprised and delighted me, but I was especially
gratified by Roosevelt's hearty praise of it. "It is your best work so
far," he wrote me, "and I am in full sympathy with your position."

Requests for stories, interviews, articles and biographical notes,
flowed in upon me. It really looked like a late second arrival of Hamlin
Garland. Not since the excitement of putting _Main Traveled Roads_ on
the market had I been so hopeful and in the midst of my other honors
came a note from the President, inviting me to visit him, and with it a
card to a musicale at the White House.

Life in the East as the reader can see, was very alluring to Zulime as
well as to me, and t