ue his singular power over the materials and atmosphere of
history. At all events, there is something remarkable in his vivid
pictures not in the least traceable to literary form nor dependent
upon a brilliant command of diction. The characters in his book are
warm, passionate human beings, and the air they breathe is real air.
The critic may wince and make faces over lapses from taste, and
protest against a literary style which cannot be defended from any
point of view; yet there is Mary in flesh and blood, and there is
Caskoden, a veritable prig of a good fellow--there, indeed, are all
the _dramatis personae_, not merely true to life, but living beings.

And speaking of _dramatis personae_, Mr. Major tells how, soon after
his book was published, his morning mail brought him an interesting
letter from a prominent New York manager, pointing out the dramatic
possibilities of When Knighthood was in Flower and asking for the
right to produce it. While this letter was still under consideration,
a telegram was received at the Shelbyville office which read: "I want
the dramatic rights to When Knighthood was in Flower." It was signed
"Julia Marlowe." Mr. Major felt that this was enough for one morning,
so he escaped to Indianapolis, and after a talk with his publishers,
left for St. Louis and answered Miss Marlowe's telegram in person. At
the first interview she was enthusiastic and he was confident. She
gave him a box for the next night's performance, which Miss Marlowe
arranged should be "As You Like It." After the play the author was
enthusiastic and the actress confident.

At Cincinnati, the following week, the contract was signed and the
search for the dramatist was begun. That the story would lend itself
happily to stage production must have occurred even to the thoughtless
reader. But it is one thing to see the scenes of a play fairly
sticking out, as the saying is, from the pages of a book, and quite
another to gather together and make of them a dramatic entity. Miss
Marlowe was determined that the book should be given to a playwright
whose dramatic experience and artistic sense could be relied on to
lead him out of the rough places, up to the high plane of convincing
and finished workmanship. Mr. Paul Kester, after some persuasion,
undertook the work. The result is wholly satisfactory to author,
actress and manager--a remarkable achievement indeed!

Mr. Major's biography shows a fine, strong American life. He was bo