The Evening Missourian., 1920-06-01
COLUMBIAN WRITER
OF BOOKS FOR BOYS
I Hugh F. Grinstead Is New
President of Missouri
Writers Guild.
STILL BOY IN SPIRIT
Says He Builds His Storie,
Piece by Piece, Like a !.
House.

AAOuSS.
Hugh Fox Grinstead, the new presi-
dent of the Missouri Writer'S Child
lives in Columbia. His specially is
boys stories. He writes them because
he is still a boy in spirit. Grayed
and past fifty, he understands perfect
ly the psychology of the lads he writes
about.
Most of his stories are written from
background of personal experience.
When he was ten years old his nar-
ents moved from their home near Sc
dalia to the southern part of Oklaho-
ma. That was in the early eighties
and Oklahoma was a wild, unsettled
country. About the best class of peo-
pie were Indians, and they had room
for Improvement.
The family lived in a settlement
where there were few playmates and
poor school advantages. Most of the
time was spent on horseback or doing
farm work. Grinstead read excessive
ly and this made up for his lack of
schooling.
Shootings were common in that To-
cality, and sometimes several at a
time. He remembers when four horse
thieves were hung but never had the
became an apprentice in a printing
he consideded that good time to stay
indoors.
AT "a he went to New Mexico and
became an apprentice in a printing
office. 1t was the beginning of a new
life for him. A year later he began
working for a newspaper.
He has a vivid recollection of a New
Sexico town called Seven Rivers. 1t
seems that there were two grave yards
In this town; one for men who had
fled with their boots on; another
Tor people who had just died. The first
place was pretty well filled; the last
sad hardly anyone
After two years he came back to
hs home town in Oklahoma and his
brother and he started a paper. They
gathered the, news, set the type and
pulled the papers out over an old
Washington hand press after the fash
on of small country editors of that
day.
He soon moved to Texas and edited
. paper. Then he quit the newspaper
business and began farming and con-
tinued this until he and his family
moved back to Missouri. Since then
he has been editor, farmer and post
master.
He wrote his first story in 1912 and
sold it to boys magazine within
three ho,srs. Since then he has writ
ten steadily.
Perspiration and not Inspiration is
his motto.
There is nothing in waiting for
mood to write" says Mr.. Grinstead.
THAT is only an excuse for laziness.
Necessity plays considerable part
in my writing. When l have to do
3 thing / do it and get it over with.
Y | did not have to write for liv-
ng would not write nearly so much"
There is nothing mysterious about
short story" says Mr.. Grinstead.
Il build my stories piece by piece,
like house, and always out of the
background of personal experience. |
l think a man who tries to write |
something he knows nothing about |
will make failure.
Besides my life in Oklahoma
travelled in Montana in the early days. |
My father was a wagon master at |
Kansas City at one time. That was |
when the Santa Fe trail ran to the |
coast through New Mexico and he used
to tell me the stories he heard from
the settlers who went down and the
traders who came back"
Mr.. Grinstead sometimes writes sto-
ries with historical background. In
1919 he wrote for three different publi-
cations among them were the Curtis
and Munsey publications. Besides
writing short stories he writes arti
cles, odds and ends, that he has
Cleaned from past experience. Twice
he has received requests for stories
by telegram.
Enter the spirit of the game and
never grow DID," he told the members
OF the Guild in his speech to them.
On that philosophy he has lived and
now cashes in his knowledge because
ne has not grown old.