According to Wikipedia: "Henry Shute (Henry Augustus Shute; 1856-1943) was born and lived in Exeter, New Hampshire. He was a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy (1875) and Harvard University (1879). He was a lawyer and a judge of the municipal court. In the 1890s, the Exeter News-Letter began publishing a weekly column of Shute's recollections of his boyhood in Exeter. These were self-published by Shute under the titles of "Several Hard Characters" (1898) and "Neighborhood Sketches" (1901). In 1902, his third book, The Real Diary of a Real Boy was published which provided Shute with national recognition. He went on to write a total of twenty books.."