i9or-2 tkansactions. 29 



His firsi book was entitled ''Strange Happenings," and 

 wa-. published in 1882, before he had left his boyhood's home 

 in Ontario. He offeied the manu'^cript to all the leading 

 newspapers of the pft)vince, but they would not look at it. 

 He then tiled the Detect Free Press^ which not only accepl- 

 it, nnd what is more to tlie point, paid generously for it, but 

 offered him a position on the staff of the paper. "Strange 

 Happenings ' consists of a humorous account of a voyage in 

 asmill boat around the southern shore of Lake Erie. It is 

 noi unlike Jerome K.. Jerome's "Three Men in a Boat" in 

 style a-;d plan. Possibly there existed some unconscious 

 affinity beiween them, for we find in after years the two 

 nove'ists joining in the establishment of that amusing little 

 monthly, the London Idler; which, by the way, has sadly 

 degenerated, in other hands, from the brightness and humour 

 of its first numbers. 



In 1892 Mr. Barr published "In a Steamer Chair," and 

 after that, " From Whose Bourne," (1893), "The Face and 

 the Mask," (1894), "In the Midst of Alarms," — a humorous 

 account of the Fenian Raid in the Sixties — (1894), ^ "A 

 Woman Intervenes," (1896), "The Mutabe Many," (1896), 

 " One Day's Courtship,' (1897), and "Tekla" (1898.) 



A couple of years ago a modest volume made its appear- 

 ance in Toronto, under the title " Black Rock." ^ Being un- 

 assuming, it did not at first attract much attention. Its pub- 

 lishers were, fortunately, not of that enterprising type which 

 announces a hundred-thousand edition before the book is on 

 the market. " Black Rock" was therefore left to make its 

 own way in the world, as any good book should, and its sub- 

 sequent success is a striking tribute to the soundness of pub- 

 lic taste. Slowly but surely the book gained ground, as one 

 reader recommended it to another, until " Black Rock" be- 

 came recognized as one of the strongest books of the year. 



1. Mr Barr was a Canadian volunteer at the time of the Fenian 

 Raid. 



2 B ack Rock. By Ralph Connor, Toronto. The Westminister 

 Company, 1898 New edition, Toronto, 1899. with an introduction. 



