Writers of romances, regional and historical, flourished in Indiana during the last third of the nineteenth century.

It is only natural that Tarkington should have spent his earlier years writing stories of the same sort. In 1871 Edward Eggleston had published The Hoosier Schoolmaster, still recognized as a regional classic. The Hoosier School consisted of such authors as General Lew Wallace, whose Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880) is still read; James Whitcomb Riley, the grassroots poet; Gene Stratton Porter, who wrote popular books set in the Limberlost region of Indiana; and Charles Major, whose When Knighthood Was in Flower enjoyed much popularity at the turn of the century. This partial list helps explain why Tarkington himself spent his apprentice years writing romances. He was involved with this genre for ten years.