The Green Forest tribune., 1916-12-29
Harold Bell Wright and Siloam Springs

Harold Bell Wright and Siloam Springs
 John Edwards Brown has the follow
 ing commune in the Pea Ridge
 Pod of Siloam Springs.
 It might be of interest to the people at home to know that Harold Bell Wrigh
 the worlds most popular and successful
 writer, is camping, with his family, 1T
 the mountains 16 miles from Tucson
 How successful and how popular hi! work has been, may be understood ir
 the simple statement thath his eight wei known stories, including "The Eyes ol
 the World, "The Calling of Dan Mat
 thews, ' "The Winning of Barbara
 Worth, and "When Mems Man. , have reached combined sale of>nearly eight million copies, and his royalty from the sale of these books has brought him several million dollars.
 Last week Mr. Wright informed me that this Monday moring early, his car would be at the hotel for me, and that 1, ,"The man from Arkansas" was te spend the day with him and his family. l was driven to their camp. away up ir the foothills, overlooking the city and the valley, and here among the thirteen tents of the camp, with MT. and Mrs. Wright, the three boys, their Instructor, Ole the chauffeur, and who-ever-he-was the Japanese cook, 1 spent a most de- lightful day. In the afternoon we went for clim) up the mountain side, and away there on the summit, $500 feet above the camp, he confided to me a little of his future plans, and I have permission to pass to the folks at home a little of these plans.
 Hisfirst stories, as many people know. were written in the (to him) wonderful Ozarks Of Missouri and Arkansas.
 His last story, "When Man s Man." was written here at this camp where he is now resting, and his next story, which he is to begin next summer, is to be written back in the Ozarks.
 He informs me that while he does not need to return there to build this coming book, he proposes to do so and as yet he has not decided where he will pitch his tent, but it will be back somewhere in Missouri or Ark ansas. . 4Eaaen lien T had V thosgghhtt, ard sugsgest-- ed to him the Thought that had slip Id into my mind, 0'Why not come to Sioap Springs, the city of fountains, and there, or neas by, Write this coming story?" and. to my suprise, he 'sorter" made me some--but wait.
 His "Winning of Barbara Worth" has made the Imperal valley of Cali fornia famous the world over. His "The Eyes of the WorlF' has carried Redlands, California, before the eyes of millions. His "When Mans a Man" is taking Prescott, Arizona, out to the reading world, and if it were to lay in the realm of the possible, that he could be influenced to write his next story, built about the Fountain City, Sloan Springs, also could be made to loom large in the affairs of men. If the idea appeals to the homefolks like it appeals to me, 1 have some sugges- tions to make when I get home, con- corning some telegrams from the diff ferent organizations represented there, inviting and urging him to consider Siloam Springs.
 Apart from every thing else, Harold Bell Wright is wonderful man. with a wonderful message and he is telling it in wonderful way When l suggested to him, that I believed his Eyes of the World" was the greatest book, so far, he assured me that he felt the same way about his work, but that no book had brought down on his head the storm of criticism that "The Eyes of the World" had brought.
 1 am writing these lines to you, Mir. Edi tor, thinking you might consider them of sufficient importance to find a place in your columns, otherwise the waste paper basket stands near by, as 1 we'll know, and if your columns are crowded, let this short effusion go the way of thousands of other amateur at. tempts to breah into print.