His first important publication, _Kate_, appeared in the _Southern Literary Messenger_ in 1859. He then joined the staff of the _Philadelphia Morning Post_, where he did regular newspaper work and contributed to the _Riverside Magazine_ and _Hearth and Home_. In 1872 his _Stephen Skarridge's Christmas_ appeared in _Scribner's Monthly_. Dr. J.G. Holland, editor of _Scribner's_, was so impressed with the story that he made Mr. Stockton an assistant editor and persuaded him to move to New York. In 1873 he joined the staff of the _St. Nicholas Magazine_. His publication of the _Rudder Grange_ series in _Scribner's_ _Monthly_ in 1878 made him famous. In 1882 he resigned all editorial work and spent his entire time in literary composition. Mr. Stockton possessed a frail body and very little physical endurance. In spite of this physical handicap he was very vivacious and gay. He was a genial and companionable man, loved by all who knew him. He was very modest, even to the point of shyness, exceptionally sincere, and quaintly humorous. He established homes in New Jersey and West Virginia, where he spent the greater part of his time from 1882 until his death in 1902. BIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES _Famous Authors_ (107-122), B.F. Harkness. _American Authors_ (59-73), F.W. Halsey. "Character Sketch," _Book-Buyer_, 24:355-357. "Home at Claymont," _Current Literature_, 30:221. "Sketch," _Outlook_, 70: 1000-1001, "Stockton and his Work," _Atlantic Monthly_, 87:136-138. CRITICISMS The writings of Frank R. Stockton are excellent representatives of the man himself. How closely allied writer and writings are is very well stated by Hamilton W. Mabie in the _Book-Buyer_ for June, 1902, "His talk had much of the quality of his writing; it was full of quaint conceits, whimsicalities, impossible suggestions offered with perfect gravity. He was always perfectly natural; he never attempted to live up to his part; in talk, at least, he never forced the note. His attitude toward himself was slightly tinged with humor, and he knew how to foil easily and pleasantly too great a pressure of praise." His tales are extravagantly impossible but extremely realistic in effect, filled with humorous situations and singular plots, and peopled with eccentric characters that afford amusement on every page. His most successful writing is done when he explains contrivances upon which his story depends. He is an original and inventive expert juggler who moves with careless ease to the most effective ends. His characters are little more than pieces of mechanism that act when he pulls the string. They have little emotion and even in their love-making they show their emotion mostly for the sake of the reader's amusement. His negro characters are exceptions to his general treatment and are true to life. He inveigles the reader into believing the most extravagant incidents by having a reliable witness narrate them.