THE WORKS OF WINSTON CHURCHILL AN ON-LINE INDEX Edited by David Widger Project Gutenberg Editions Winston Churchill (1871-1947) (The American Author who is not related to the British Sir Winston) A Sketch of his Life and Work This sketch was released by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY as part of a document to promote Churchill's 1913 novel, "The Inside of the Cup." Mr. Winston Churchill, the author of "The Inside of the Cup," "The Modern Chronicle," "Mr. Crewe's Career," "Coniston," "Richard Carvel," "The Crisis," and "The Crossing," was born in St. Louis, Mo., November 10, 1871. He is the oldest son of Edwin Spaulding Churchill of Portland, Me., and Emma Bell Blaine, of St. Louis. The first sixteen years of his life he spent in his native city, which was in fact his home until he built Harlakenden House, his present residence at Cornish, N. H. In St. Louis, it will be remembered, the opening scenes of "The Crisis" are laid; and St. Louis again formed the objective point of Mr. Churchill's next novel, "The Crossing." From Smith Academy in St. Louis he went to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. Winston Churchill had not been a year at the Naval Academy before he became interested in American history and American problems, and before he finished his course he had made up his mind to devote his life and energies to these--not only with the pen, but as an active participant. Much of the atmosphere and some of the material for "Richard Carvel" he gathered while still a midshipman at the Naval Academy; and in the brief intervals between scientific studies and drills he began to read some of the history which he afterwards used. He resigned from the Navy on his graduation, worked for a time on the Army and Navy Journal, and then joined the staff of The Cosmopolitan. While he lived at Irvington-on-the-Hudson, working steadily on the magazine, he continued his experience with fiction. He never tried to publish any of his first work, and it is not now in existence. That year (1895) he married Miss Mabel Harlakenden Hall, of St. Louis; and not long after established his home at Cornish. He found himself at this time in a fairly enviable position. He was not obliged to spend his life doing hack-work, and could take abundant leisure to perfect any piece of writing which he undertook. However, he united with his rare good fortune much rare good sense. He best illustrated the familiar paradox that genius is a capacity for taking infinite pains. He approached his work with an inexhaustible patience, a dogged determination to be true to his own high exactions, both in style and substance.