Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
The Works of E. P. Roe
An Autobiography
Two or three years ago the editor of "Lippincott's Magazine" asked me,with many others, to take part in the very interesting "experiencemeeting" begun in the pages of that enterprising periodical. I gave myconsent without much thought of the effort involved, but as timepassed, felt slight inclination to comply with the request. Thereseemed little to say of interest to the general public, and I wasdistinctly conscious of a certain sense of awkwardness in writing aboutmyself at all. The question, Why should I? always confronted me.
When this request was again repeated early in the current year, Iresolved at least to keep my promise. This is done with less reluctancenow, for the reason that floating through the press I meet withparagraphs concerning myself that are incorrect, and often absurdlyuntrue. These literary and personal notes, together with manyquestioning letters, indicate a certain amount of public interest, andI have concluded that it may be well to give the facts to those whocare to know them.
It has been made more clear to me that there are many who honestly docare. One of the most prized rewards of my literary work is theever-present consciousness that my writings have drawn around me acircle of unknown yet stanch friends, who have stood by meunfalteringly for a number of years. I should indeed be lacking if myheart did not go out to them in responsive friendliness and goodwill.If I looked upon them merely as an aggregation of customers, they wouldfind me out speedily. A popular mood is a very different thing from anabiding popular interest. If one could address this circle of friendsonly, the embarrassment attendant on a certain amount of egotism wouldbe banished by the assurance of sympathetic regard. Since, from thenature of circumstances, this is impossible, it seems to me in bettertaste to consider the "author called Roe" in an objective, rather thanin a friendly and subjective sense. In other words, I shall try to lookat him from the public point of view, and free myself from somepredisposition in his favor shared by his friends. I suppose I shallnot succeed in giving a colorless statement of fact, but I may avoidmuch special pleading in his behalf.<