Henry Milner Rideout

Henry Milner Readout (1877-1927) was a native of Calais, Maine. The author of sixteen novels, twenty-three short stories and short stories, as well as biographical memoirs, he was also the editor of one textbook for college, as well as the co-editor of three others. Many of his stories appeared on The Saturday Evening Post. Ridout's father, a miller and road contractor, died when Ridout was twelve. Rideout's older brother, who ran a bank in California, became the backbone of the family. At school, Rideout's ability caught the attention of his English teacher, Laura Burns, who was a cousin of distinguished English professor Harvard Charles Townsend Copeland. She and Copeland prompted a group of Calais citizens to provide Rideout with funds for admission to Harvard in 1895, where he was the first in his family to go to college. At Harvard, his literary talent came to the fore. He eventually became editor in chief of The Harvard Monthly. Among his friends at Harvard were William Morrow, William Jones, Raynal Bolling, and Arthur Rule. After graduating in 1899 as a class Odisha, Rideout was an instructor at the Harvard English Department. Four years later, his college debts were paid off, and Rideout was free to abandon a promising but intractable academic career. The Atlantic Monthly accepted two of his short stories, giving him the hope of making a living with his pen. To collect reference materials, he went from San Francisco for six months on a trip to the Far East under a contract with an American woolen company that talked about jute factories in the Philippines, Indonesia, and India. Keeping careful notes, writing long detailed letters to his brother, he watched so well and then so skillfully used the atmosphere that readers familiar with places like Bangkok or Canton were convinced that Ridowt's acquaintance was equal to their own. During this difficult round-the-world voyage, Ridout made friends all his life with various expatriate workers, especially sea captains. When his final jute reports were filed, he returned through Europe and settled in central California with his brother bank manager to begin all efforts to write novels for life. In California, he met his future wife, Francis Reed, also a talented writer. They lived in her family home in Sausalito, where they raised three children. There were several Rideout cousins ​​in California, including playwright Ransom Rideout (1899-1975), whose play “Goin 'Home” was played on Broadway in 1928, directed by Antoinette Perry and Brock Pemberton, and who wrote the dialogue for the Hallelujah movie! directed by King Widor. As Rideout's work gained fame, readers in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom sought his stories. His prominence has become such that the San Francisco Chronicle has a banner heading announcing his sudden death from pneumonia during a family trip to Europe.