2 Quotes & Sayings By Wallace Sife
Wallace Sife was born in Xiamen, China, on February 23, 1885. His early childhood education was limited to a few years of elementary school. An uncle, a schoolmaster, moved with him to California when he was about twelve years old and took him on as a student. There he worked as a house servant, a farmhand, and a "hired-hand" on the construction of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad
In 1905 he became a newspaper reporter for the Southern Pacific Railroad's Sacramento Union. He later became the Union's editor and superintendent of its publications, including its business magazine. He also wrote short stories and published his first novel in 1912.
In 1917 he went to Europe to fight in World War I and returned to San Francisco after the war ended. In 1920 he left his job with the Union and began working for the San Francisco Chronicle . His first novel was published in 1921, but it did not sell well.
In 1922 his second novel was accepted by Doubleday for publication; it was titled The River of Life , or The Quest of Zarathustra . Two more novels followed quickly during that period: The White Dawn (1924) and The Black Dawn (1925). During this period Sife also contributed regularly to magazines such as Harper's , Colliers , The Saturday Evening Post , Cosmopolitan , Everybody's , Leisure Hour , Reader's Digest , Good Housekeeping , Pearson's Magazine , Good Housekeeping Family Magazine , Sears Catalog , Ladies' Home Journal , Cosmopolitan Supplement , Better Homes & Gardens , McClure 's Magazine , Liberty Magazine , Story-Teller Magazine , Everybody's Magazine ; also appeared regularly on radio shows sponsored by NBC throughout America.
After 1926 he concentrated almost exclusively on writing fiction.