Edward S Ellis

: Dickens Stories About Children Every Child Can Read

Edward S. Ellis, the popular writer of boys' books, is a native of

Ohio, where he was born somewhat more than a half-century ago. His

father was a famous hunter and rifle shot, and it was doubtless his

exploits and those of his associates, with their tales of adventure

which gave the son his taste for the breezy backwoods and for depicting

the stirring life of the early settlers on the frontier.



Mr. Ellis began writing at an early age and his work was acceptable from

the first. His parents removed to New Jersey while he was a boy and he

was graduated from the State Normal School and became a member of the

faculty while still in his teens. He was afterward principal of the

Trenton High School, a trustee and then superintendent of schools. By

that time his services as a writer had become so pronounced that he gave

his entire attention to literature. He was an exceptionally successful

teacher and wrote a number of text-books for schools, all of which met

with high favor. For these and his historical productions, Princeton

College conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts.



The high moral character, the clean, manly tendencies and the admirable

literary style of Mr. Ellis' stories have made him as popular on the

other side of the Atlantic as in this country. A leading paper remarked

some time since, that no mother need hesitate to place in the hands of

her boy any book written by Mr. Ellis. They are found in the leading

Sunday-school libraries, where, as may well be believed, they are in

wide demand and do much good by their sound, wholesome lessons which

render them as acceptable to parents as to their children. Nearly all of

the Ellis books published by The John C. Winston Company are reissued in

London, and many have been translated into other languages. Mr. Ellis is

a writer of varied accomplishments, and, in addition to his stories, is

the author of historical works, of a number of pieces of popular music,

and has made several valuable inventions. Mr. Ellis is in the prime of

his mental and physical powers, and great as have been the merits of his

past achievements, there is reason to look for more brilliant

productions from his pen in the near future.