Produced by Eric Eldred, David Widger, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team THE STURDY OAK A COMPOSITE NOVEL OF AMERICAN POLITICS BY FOURTEEN AMERICAN AUTHORS By Samuel Merwin, et al. [Illustration] THE STURDY OAK Other Authors: SAMUEL MERWIN HARRY LEON WILSON FANNIE HURST DOROTHY CANFIELD KATHLEEN NORRIS HENRY KITCHELL WEBSTER ANNE O'HAGAN MARY HEATON VORSE ALICE DUER MILLER ETHEL WATTS MUMFORD MARJORIE BENTON COOKE WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE MARY AUSTIN LEROY SCOTT THEME BY MARY AUSTIN The chapters collected and (very cautiously) edited by ELIZABETH JORDAN NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1917 [Blank-copyright info] PREFACE At a certain committee meeting held in the spring of 1916, it was agreed that fourteen leading American authors, known to be extremely generous as 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! ELIZABETH JORDAN. NEW YORK. _November_, 1917. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. BY SAMUEL MERWIN II. BY HARRY LEON WILSON III. BY FANNIE HURST IV. BY DOROTHY CANFIELD V. BY KATHLEEN NORRIS VI. BY HENRY KITCHELL WEBSTER VII. BY ANNE O'HAGAN VIII. BY MARY HEATON VORSE IX. BY ALICE DUER MILLER X. BY ETHEL WATTS MUMFORD XI. BY MARJORIE BENTON COOK XII. BY WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE XIII. BY MARY AUSTIN XIV. BY LEROY SCOTT ILLUSTRATIONS "Nobody ever means that a woman really can't get along without a man's protection, because look at the women who do." It was hard on the darling old boy to come home to Miss Emelene and the cat and Eleanor and Alys every night! "You mean because she's a suffragist? You sent her away for _that!_ Why, really, that's _tyranny!_"