Evening star., 1939-10-23
Receives Degree in Dentistry,

n 1dlIleT 5 iona amDlulO0 was re-
allied when the University of Penn
sylvania awarded Zane Grey a di.
ploma making him doctor OF denta
surgery.
Twenty years later the same uni
versity with an honorary degree
rectifled the error and wrote Doc
tor OF Literature" in place of Doc
tor of Surgery" on his purple rib
bOned parchment.
Most of the period that intervened
was one of heart rt-breaking. almost
hopeless despair. Few American au-
thors struggled to the heights at
tanned by Mr.. Grey over such a dis
Couraging course.
Six years of failure to make either
a satisfactory living or a name as
professional man in New York
brought him the realization he had
chosen the wrong career. Then fol-
lowed six or seven years more OF
vain toll and failure as an author
Rejection slips piled up in those
early years. Encouragement came
from virtually only two persons. a
brother, and Lima Elise Roth, who
later became his wife.
Mr.. Grey wrote one early novel
three times, but got no encour-
agement from any publisher.
Finally Succeeds.
Then, in 1910, Harpers published
for him The Heritage of the Des-
ert," which paved the way for ac-
ceptance of Riders of the Purple
Sage" in 1912, a work that sold
almost a million copies, had a tre-
mendous vogue as a moving pic
ture and forever ended Mr.. Grey's
financial problems.
The love of nature and the thrill
Of primitive life Which character
lied nearly all of Mr.. Grey's works
were his heritage from a hardy line
OF ancestors which traced back to
Col. Ebenezer Zane. who, exiled from
Denmark, crossed the Atlantic with
William Penn.
Col. Zane, whose wife had Indian
blood in her veins, was the father
OF four sons and a daughter, all ol
whom received recognition in the
Revolution and frontier days.
Mr.. Grey'S father, Lewis M. Grey
was an Ohio backwoodsman, hunter
farmer, preacher and finally doctor
Successful Baseball Player.
In Ohio during his youth, Mr.
Grey was noted as baseball player
His services were sought by several
Eastern colleges and his baseball
prowess was factor in his choosing
to enter Pennsylvania.
Mr.. Grey's first attempt at writing
was for publication that was offer
ing prizes. The rejection of his
story, he has stated, both angered
and discouraged him, but it awoke
in him a consciousness that writing
had an appeal for him.
Early in his writing career, Col.
c. J. (Buffalo) Jones. big game
hunter, took him on a hunting
expedition to Arizona. From ex-
periences on that trip he wrote
The Last of the Plainsmen."
Other trips with Buffalo Jones
followed and in them he laid the
foundation for many of his later
successes.
The prosperity that came with
Riders Of the Purple Sage" enabled
Mr.. Grey to crafty his craving for
travel and he came to know the
great American desert, the noun
famous wilds of Western America,
the Grand Canyon country and the
islands of the South Seas as well
as any other writer.
He Was Noted as Fisherman.
His story of the purple sage coun-
try aroused much resentment among
adherents of the Mormon faith, but
1t was concededly one of the most
dramatic of western adventure
stories.
OF recent years Grey had lived
most of the time at Altadena, Calf ;,
and at Avalon, Calf, but he also
maintained his old home in Pennsyl-
vania.