I am happy to state that with that meeting began a friendship which has lasted for many years. When Mr. Harding was nominated for the presidency, I wrote at once, enclosing a copy of “The Advance of the English Novel” which I had published in 1916. On the title-page I wrote, “To the Hero of a Much More Spectacular Advance”, meaning that the progress made by the English novel was as nothing compared to Mr. Harding’s rapid and well-deserved rise. In reply I received the following:
6 July, 1920. MY DEAR
PROFESSOR PHELPS:
