He studied at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1894 with a Ph.D.[2][3] his dissertation was on "Rise of Formal Satire in England under Classical Influence" and his advisor was Felix Emanual Shelling.
In 1905, his story "In the Promised Land" won a $1,000 prize for third place in a Collier's Weekly contest.
His son graduated from Stanford, where his father had taught, with a degree in engineering and was an executive in the telephone industry.
The story is a sort of variation on the Jongleur de Notre Dame and Little Drummer Boy themes.
Nine story-tellers finally vie for the position by telling one story each to Prince John, Princess Jane, and a jury of children.