SOURCE: "One More Tribute to Frank Norris," in Sunset, Vol. 10, January, 1903, p. 246.

In the following essay, Burgess offers an appreciative assessment of Norris's growth as a short story writer.

"The House With the Blinds," originally printed in the San Francisco Wave, is one of the best examples of what may be called the intermediate stage of the late Frank Norris' work. His earlier fiction, contributed to the Overland Monthly, while clever and often strong, was slightly imitative and showed the effect of his admiration for Kipling's style and manner. A little later the charm of Stevenson laid upon Norris the spell that produced the adventure-story entitled Moran of the Lady Letty. But in the year 1897, while he was assistant editor of the Wave, Norris' talent was forced to an energy that was hitherto lacking, and he responded in a brilliant series of sketches written during the intervals of...