well as gifted, should be asked to write a composite novel.

As I was not present at this particular meeting, it was unanimously and
joyously decided by those who were present that I should attend to the
trivial details of getting this novel together.

It appeared that all I had to do was:

First, to persuade each of the busy authors on the list to write a chapter
of the novel.

Second, to keep steadily on their trails from the moment they promised
their chapters until they turned them in.

Third, to have the novel finished and published serially during the autumn
Campaign of 1917.

The carrying out of these requirements has not been the childish diversion
it may have seemed. Splendid team work, however, has made success possible.


Every author represented, every worker on the team, has gratuitously
contributed his or her services; and every dollar realized by the serial
and book publication of "The Sturdy Oak" will be devoted to the Suffrage
Cause. But the novel itself is first of all a very human story of American
life today. It neither unduly nor unfairly emphasizes the question of equal
suffrage, and it should appeal to all lovers of good fiction.

Therefore, pausing only to wipe the beads of perspiration from our brows,
we urge every one to buy this book!