Howard Pyle, a chronicle by Charles D. Abbott, with an introduction by N. C. Wyeth and many illustrations from Howard Pyle's works.

HOWARD PYLE: A CHRONICLE
Howard Pyle wrote to Harper's on June 26th of that year
concerning his feeling in regard to its publication:
"I do not know whether I feel more of apprehension or
more of curiosity in looking forward to the way in which
the world will take my book Rejected of Men. Perhaps
the world will not take it at all.
"l suppose if a light comedian were called upon to express his views it would hardly be expected of him to give
a dissertation upon the tragic aspects of life. The case is
very much the same with me;i I have been so long identified
as a writer of children's books that the world will hardly
be prepared to receive such curious thoughts as I have here
tried to set forth;i indeed, I am not sure that the world will
not resent or at least deprecate such an attempt from me as
being too wide a departure from my assigned channel of
work.
"The great problems of life and death have, however,
always largely occupied my thoughts, even from my youngest childhood. Even in my infancy, the fear of death and
annihilation hung over me like a cloud, and that cloud was
not dissipated, but became rather more dark and dense as I
advanced into youth and adolescence. I was a sceptic in
spite of myself, for I found no one who could enlighten my
doubts. My questions seemed only to entangle any professor of divinity into what -seemed to be a net of inextricable
contradictions, so that, instead of affording me some rational
ground of belief, I saw only the absurdities of their
arguments.
"Accordingly, whatever change of views I may since have
arrived at, I have had to reach by myself, by my own reason
['94]