The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-09-19
MOTHER CAREY'S
CHlCKENS
Glimpse Into the Spirit OF
Kate Douglas Wiggin

81
Carey's Chicken she has created the
ideal mother.
1t is the story of'the critical period
in the life of a naval officers fanny,
in which the love and tact and ex-
amples Of Mother Carey leads her
our children to adapt themselves to
the conditions Of their new country
Readers of all ages and all tastes
will love Mother Carey and sympa-
thize in the trials and rejoice in the
victories Of her interesting brood,
Every one will pronounce it Mrs.
Virgins best story
The appearance Of this new story
from this gifted writer increases the
interest in her personality. 1t is nat
ural for the reader TO wish to know
something about the flesh and blood
person whose story is enjoyed. In a
recent numbe Of The Bookman, Cal
vim Winter gives this glimpse Of the
life and spirit of the auCnor OF Moth
er Carey's Chickens':
Kate Douglas Wiggin Mrs
George c. Riggs is one Of those rare
and delightful spirits in modern lit
efature who, by a certain quiet charm
OF their own, have freed themselves
from mos of the tranmels of
form and tradition to which more
ordinary Writers are subject; who,
even doing quite ordinary things, DO
taem in an extraordinary way; who,
thelr personality. their attitude to-
wards life, their own best xcuse for
50 doing.
There are just a few facts that
are worth putting briefly before us
at the start in order to understand
more clearly this particular authors
sources of inspiration range of inter-
ests and limitations of experience.
That she was born in Philadelphia;
that she lived throughout ther girl
hood in the mids of the peaceful
beauty OF rural New England; tina at
the age of eighteen. after her step
IA hers failing healuai had made Il
removal to California imperative. she
Joined her family at Santa Barbara
Immediately after her graduation
from the Abbot Academy at Andover;
that it was directly through her ef-
forts that the first free kindergartens
fer poor children We're organized in
California, and that for the past
twenty-five years she has been prom
lnently associated in many an admin
istIative capacity With important edu-
cational movements-these facts con-
Germ US for our present purpose on1y
to the extent to which they explain
why her writings are what they are,
and why they could not we'll have
otherwise.
A single sentence will serve to
make this clear. Kate Douglas Wig
gin is at heart a romanticist whose
is woven not from the stuff
that dreams are made Of, but from
Tie homespun threads of everyday
life. She has an exuberant and un-
~quechabae spirit of optimism, Of the
sort that bubbles up spontaneously
at the mos unlikely moments. casting
9 dash Of gold across her pages. Just
at the when the shadows
seem to lie heaviest. She reaches the
nearf and she appeals to the memo
~ because she has in abundance
this power of making verv ordinary
lives seem beautiful: beca use she
writes only Of the life that she has
feen; and becauSe. from the frs.
story that she wrote up to the mos.
recent, SIC has always preserved the
clea' dlrectness Of narration. the un-
a~ttectedness of form. that are the
qualities lnboTn in any one who hopes
interest a youthful audience. to hold
bright. G little faces under the
spell OF a spoken tale.
New England is her chosen field
and she goes back to it again and
again. with no visible diminution Of
interest or of power. On the other
hand. i is quite easy to see how the
tiinulu Of foreign scenes of the kind
that produced the 'Peneiope' series
hight grow dun to her as their famiI-
iaritv increased.
TIE easiest way to understand
why Kate Douglas Virgins books ara
lust what they are and not something
else: why she is in a measure an
anomaly in American letters. beinr q,
the one hand so peculiarly native and
even local thst Il feels it would he
possible - pick out the particular hah-
itation Of her childhood sinanly h.
strolling through New England br-
WAYS until one happened upon il: and
YET. on the other. 50