30 TRANSACTIONS. 1 900- 2 



x\nd yet it had no artificial boom ; no heralding of its me'.its 

 to an expectant world ; and it was moreover quite free from 

 any tinge of sensationalism, to appeal to the jaded taste of a 

 public surfeited with new fiction. TRe author's name y^iven 

 on the title-page was Ralph Connor, but this soon became re- 

 cognized as a non-de-plume, and it leaked out that the author 

 was Rev. C. W. Gordon, of Winnipeg, a missionary of the 

 Presbyterian Church. 



The origin of " Black Rock " was as modest as its ap- 

 pearance. It seems that Mr. Gordon, anxious to raise funds 

 for his mission in the far west, discussed the matter with the 

 editor of the Westminster^ a Toronto magazine. The editor 

 suggested that he should put his appeal before the public in 

 the popular form of fiction, and Mr. Gordon, after some hesi- 

 tation, agreed to this, and sent to the West^ninster a sketch of 

 a mining camp in the Rockies, such a camp as formed the 

 scene of his own missionary labours. This afterwards became 

 the first chapter of " Black Rock," and was followed by 

 others, until the story was completed. It is not particularly 

 well constructed, so far as plot is concerned, but this' weakness 

 is more than redeemed by the freshness and originality of its 

 treatment. It is a strong, sincere, and very dramatic piece of 

 work — altogether one of the best bits of fiction produced 

 by a Canadian. 



A beautiful little idyl of the- Foot-hills of the Rockies, 

 called " Beyond the Marshes," was Mr. Gordon's next contri- 

 bution to Canadian literature. This sketch was prefaced 

 by a sympathetic introduction, by the Countess of Aberdeen. 



In the " Sky Pilot " ^ Mr Gordon changed his scene from 

 the Pacific Slope of the Rockies to the foothills and plains on 

 the eastern side of the mountains — somewhere in the neigh- 

 hood of Calgary or Port McL-eod. This, book has, .ii.,any: 

 tiling, had 'a wid'et Mebe^S' thkn '^ "Black Rock," and the two 

 books have reached an enormous circulation-' in ■ the United 



1 TheSkvPil"t A tale of the FoothiHs. Bv Riph Cnnor. Tor- 

 on'o. The Westminster Co , 1899. New ed 1899. 



