The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-04-26
CELEBRATED At
FOURTEEN YEARS
Little English Girl Has all
London at Her Feet
SHE HAS WRITTEN A BOOK
Illustrated 1t, Making 1t Most
interesting of Season.
SHE HAS WRITTEN A BOOK

! All literary London is talking about a
sweet-faced little girl. who, though she Is
( only fourteen years old, has just produced
a book, wherein she displays marvellous
talents with pen, pencil and brush.
! She resides in London and her name is
Gwendolen Forwood. She is the daughter
of a very wealthy Englishman, Ernest
Forwood, head of the great shipping house
in London and Liverpool, whose lines III
] Morocco and the canaries have an en-
pire-wide reputation.
The title of Gwendolen's book is ''F1lida
and Corydon. and Other Stories by Child
I for Children" For several reasons it has
! been pronounced the most interesting
book of the season.
/ In it's first place by its production the
youngest English authCress has establish
( ed herself; secondly, the work opens what
/ is almost new school of art; and third
/ ly, this is the first occasion when an IN
tutored girl has so easily in life written.
illustrated and published volume OF the
nature of "F'ilida and Corydon. The
book, from cover to cover, is the unaided
work of the young authoress.
! Every since she was a tiny child in bib
and tucker Gwendolen has been dreaming
/ dreams and seeing things in the wonder
full land of fancy that no one else could
( see.
/ The fairy princess and princesses thai
she read about did not fade away into
/ thin air with the closing of the book that
recorded their strange doings. Instead OF
growing faint and disappearing with the
! lapse of time they were almost certain
to stay fast in her mind and to live over
/ over again the things that were recorded
/ of them Cinderella appeared in many
( roles that the man who wrote the book
never thought of when he closed her
varied career by uniting her to the gall
/ liant young prince.
1 Jack the Giant Killer performed for
Gwendolen's sole benefit whole series of
wonderful feats-far greater than the
1 twelve labors assigned by mythologists to
the redoubtable God Hercules The Incl
dent Of the giant was but mere baga-
! telle te the things the precious Jack ac-
complfshed when he made his appearance
in the day dreams of this wide-eyed little
child.
/ And the curious thing about it all was
/ that these visions floating in the airy fab
/ ric of her dreams all had a basis in the
, logic that must govern the actions of even
/ the veriest fairy characters in order to
make them appeal to the mind of rational
man. 1t was this that distinguished the
/ little Gwendolen from millions of other
dreaming children. and made it possible
for her to record her fancles in the form
/ of real stories.
With the teec1ing imma gination of the
! child she united much of the rational
faculty of the grown-u0.
AS a story book for the little ones Fill
da and Corydon" has every merit that
one could think of. 1t leaves nothing to
/ be desired. Even the most sedate and
mature of readers must open his eyes in
wonder at the marvellous doings of the
eccentric ''runculorum and the venerable
wizard. He will be certain to admire
the gallantry of the handsome young
( couple when he comes to the description
of their happy union and their final as
cent of the throne.
4 1t is one characteristic of this child s
romances that though she constantly sug-
gests incidents and characters in other
such famous tales as those of Grimm and
, Lewis Carroll, yet there is nowhere a line
of plagiarism from any of them. 1t is
merely the faint reflection of the ideas
/ of the famous story tellers and rather
adds to the interest of the child's own re-
markable work
/ The second tale in the book is about
Pipps, the candy maker. who invented
some marvellous CONNECTIONS. which were
unlike any sweets that the world has
/ ever seen before or since
! 1t was the popularity Of this ingenious
persons candy that the more one ate of
/ it the more he or she wanted; and yet.
marvellous 10 relate. il never gave one
the stomach ache" or the Nightmares
/ or any of the i'll effects that are certain
+ TO follow an over indulgence in ordinary,
] everyday candy. II is easy to ina CINE
what precious invention this must have
! been. and Yet it had its drawbacks-as
I nearly everything in this imperfect world
must have. You will find how sad a fate
awaited the enterprisng candy man if
you ever have a chance to read Gwendo-
len Forwood's book.
There is a most unusual story. which
! recounts the experience of an unfortunate
youth under the title. The Little Boy
/ Who Lost his Memory" As any one can
! see there would be great many strange
remember Il single thing two minutes
! after it happened But it would require
a person of extraordinary fertile intel
! Iect to imagine such unusual incidents as
! those that happened to this particular
boy in this particular story.
But il is not all Of Gwendolen Forwood' s
genius that is devoted to writing these
tales. Her ability in the field Of illustra-
F ton is nearly. If not quite, as remark
able
Though the stories are excellent. what
shall be said Of the dainty pictures that
Z accompany them. and OF all Of which
! were from the pencil or pen Of the same
child author To get thorough idea
Of their merit & is only necessary TO look
az them and to read in the book the In
cidents which they depict And II you
want 70 be really astonished you must
1 ston and consider that Gwendolen For
wood made most OF the sketches and
finished them for the engraver when she
/ was stu in her twelfth year.
+ Moreover. they are absolutely her own
work. for the child never had an hour :
tuition under drawing master and form
ed her OWE STYLE only through constant
practice ard The power which she has q
/ observing things closely and seeing them
as they are.
I After drawing the pictures IN her odd
/ little volume. Gwendolen colored thcn sil
! herself. and ihey were reproduced *
sc;iy as they came from her hands
Artist who have locked Al these uICstra-
tons hsve wondered AT she ability ihsy
/ show. Just as authors hare uarveied q
/ the child-s literary skill. Il * one % TIE