"J. J. B.," otherwise Mr. John Joy Bell, was born in Glasgow in 1871, and is a son of Mr. James T. Bell, tobacco manufacturer. He was educated at Glasgow University, and it was while still a student, in 1895, that, like so many who have gone before him, he began his career of authorship with the writing of verse. A year later he became editor of Glasgow University Magazine. By way of natural progression, after leaving college, in 1898 he joined the staff of The Scots Pictorial as assistant editor, and in that year and the next he published two volumes of rhymes for children, "The New Noah's Ark" and "Jack of All Trades." He also became a contributor of stories, sketches, and verse to a number of the London magazines, and wrote regularly for the columns of the Glasgow Evening Times, the Weekly Herald, and the People's Friend. So successful was he with these efforts that he gave up his position on the Scots Pictorial in order to secure more time for writing. A small collection of his verse, inspired by the war in South Africa, then raging, was published under the title of "Songs of the Hour" in 1900. Next in 1902 he astonished his friends and delighted the public by a production of altogether different kind. "Wee Macgreegor" was a series of sketches of ordinary working folk, the Robinson family, such as might be met any Saturday night shopping in Trongate, but the insight and kindly humour with which they were depicted were altogether original, and the little book ran in a few months to between thirty and forty editions. There is probably no English-speaking corner of the world to-day that is not familiar with the name of "Wee Macgreegor." The sketches had originally appeared in the columns of the Glasgow Evening Times, and they were followed by further series which have since appeared in book form under the titles of "Ethel," "Mistress McLeerie," "Wee Macgreegor Again," "Mr. Pennycook's Boy," and "Christina." In a more serious vein is a novel of village life, "Jess & Co.," which, after running through the pages of the Woman at Home, was issued separately in 1904. His later works are "Thou Fool," "Joseph Redhorn," and "Whither Thou Goest," each successively reviewed by the press as his strongest and most enduring production.
    Three months before the phenomenal success of "Wee Macgreegor," Mr. Bell married, and in the pleasant seclusion of Blairmore, and more lately of Craigendoran, he has settled down to regular literary work.

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