MacGrath, a prolific writer, wrote for newspapers until 1890 when he published his first novel Arms and the Woman. The Luck of the Irish begins: Upon a certain June afternoon, toward the end of the month, had you looked into the cellar of Burns, Dolan and Co.'s plumbing shop you would have found a certain young Irishman by the name of William Grogan eying mechanically, yet professionally, the glowing end of his soldering-iron. There was a fixity in his gaze, a lackluster in his eye, familiar to all psychologists of dreams. The iron fell upon the drainpipe scientifically, because William had reduced the building of dreams to a fine art. Having set his hands to their appointed task, they proceeded to go on automatically, leaving his spirit free to roam as it listed. He was like that Hindu Yogi who could set his body grinding corn, take his soul out and go visiting with it.