The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-08-08
AMONG The BOOKS
A Delightful Contribution to
the Nature Classics.
"The Song Of the Cardinal" by
Gene StrattOn- Porter.
is A BEAUTIFUL BOOK.
Tells the Fascinating Story of
Red Bird.
A Pure Lyric Poem First to
Last.
is A BEAUTIFUL BOOK.

A delightful contribution to the grow
ing number of American nature classics
ts The Song of the Cardinal" A love
story by Gene Stratton-Porter illus
trated by camera studies from life by
the author and published by the Bobbs-
Merrill company.
The book is exquisitely gotten up in
cardinal buckram binding. gold lettered.
beautifully printed on heavy paper and
embellished by many full page, mar
gtnal, head and tail-piece illustrations
of the characters and scenes Of the lit
ale sketch.
For the Song of the Cardinal is not
much more than a sketch-the story of
. magnificent big red-bird, of its baby
hood, first migration, courtship and
mating-but told with rare charm that
makes 1t a truly valuable piece of liter
AZURE.
The Cardinal is an Indiana bird,
Matched in a swamp called the Timber
lost, with the King of the swamp for
a father and a very superior female bird
for its mother. The author seems to
know the Indiana country well and the
most notable features of the book are
the marvellous descriptions of the woods
and fields and swamps, the luxuriant
vegetation, the matchless skies and the
shining Wabash concerning which the
old farmer who figures interestingly
ana luClQeIldliy tie SLOIy IudpSOQlZeS
as follows:
ITO my mind this river bank is jest
as near paradise as you'll strike on
airth. Old Wabash is a twister for
curvin' and windin' round and it's lime
stone bed half the way and the waters
as purity and clear as in Marier's spring
house. An as fer trimming-I'u Jest
leave it to you if she amt all trimmed
up like a woman's spring bunnit- Look
at the grass a-creepin' right down till
~ i
see jest such fine, fringy willerSy An
you wait a little an the howerin' mall
lows that grows along this shining old
river Is fine. as garden hollyhoeks.
Marier says that they'd be purifier than
hers II they was only double; but, Lord,
they airl See 'em onct on the bank and
again in the water! An back a little
there's thickets of pawpaws an thorns,
an Wild-gi ape vines. an crab an red
haw an dogwood and sumach an spice
bush an treesi Lord-the sycamores-
an tulip, an ash, an elm trees are so
Dustin fine along the old Wabash they
put 'em into poetry books and sing
songs about 'em. Jest back of
you little there's a sycamore split into
five trunks, any one of 'em famous big
tree, tops up among the clouds an roots
digging into the old river; an over
little further's a maple that's eight big
trees in one. Most anything you kin
name you kin find ii along this old Wa
bash II you only know where to hunt for
It. I was always in love with
these sloping fields an my sheer of the
Wabash hain't been fer sale nor tradin'
any time this past forty years. I've
hung onto it like grim death fer it's
Just that much of Paradise I'm plum
sure on"
But whether the splendors Of the Car
dinal and his Indiana home and the de-
lights OF his love-making are told in the
words of the nature orshipping cid
farmer or of the author the Story OF a
Cardinal is a pure lyric and whoever
has not read it has something 20 look
forward to.