The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-14

.LADDIE-A TRUE BLUE STORY"
BY Gene Stratton Porter Illustrated
by Herman Pfeifer. Doubleday, Page
K Co, publishers. New York.
From one end. of the continent TO
the other, by young and old, rich and
poor, Gene Stratton- Porter's books are
read.
Today she is one of the most popular
authors in the, world-he.- hooks, THE
Girl of the Eimberlost.f eFrecl<les," +"
and ''The Harvester" being as widely
read and more beloved than almost any
other books that can be mentioned In
contemporary literature.
Her pure, beautiful, clean, whole
some Ideas. her exquisite style and
graphic descriptions--all combine to
make the author an idealist-and one
thing that can be said always of her
books is that into the hands of the
youngest child, they may be put with
safety, since never a word is written,
nor a sentence penned, that could Of
fend the most innocent or the most
prudish
Her latest book. "Laddie--A True
Blue story is distinctly her own
wonderful in its delination-filled with
charm that is indescribable, lovable,
sweet and attractive-and capital
story, well worth the reading.
The story is laid in Indiana, but 1t
Is not located in or near the Limber-
lost which was made famous in Mrs.
Porter's previous books. It is in a dif-
ferent country, with a different atino
sphere and different people Lald at
a time when the state was beginning
TO be well settled. but when all the
families were yet pioneers, 1t SHOWS
the bone and sinew of the best Amer
lean stock in all it's true blue human
ity 1t is a very close study Oh the
character of those early Americans
who were sturdy enough to Keep the
laws they made and fought for' ana
vet Ii is filled with humorous touches.
An interesting feature in connection
with the publication of the story Is
that it appeared on the authors birth
day. the seventeenth of August, Whlch
made It's premiere rather unusual.
The title of the book, "a True Blue
story" is verify the best Description
of Mrs Stratton- Porters new nook.
Here is a very genuine piece OF Worh'
The very simplicity of the style IS sucii
that the reader feels convinced that
onlooker's part in the home life OF
family of real people-lndiana plo-
neers.
Laddie is the big brother of the Stan
ton family, and it is his love story
that Mrs. Stratton- Porter tells-nis
wooing of Pamela Pryor, the peauliui
daughter of an English family VINO
have settled near the Stantohs III thc
great open country of Indiana.
The book is full of poetry and of that
,ove of nature that goes hand in haha
with the authors idealism. The vlvldness
Of the home life quite lays hold OF one
SO that he cries out: Here indeed is
frue story!'' Few will forget the cnarhA
or the home wedding when Sheiley stan
ton was married. the delicious moment
when Leon. facing the congregation IN
tha l,ttIe Methodist church, recited his
"a texts. addressing each one to a mem
her of the church for which he had Sc
lected it with diabolical cleverness; OF
when Little Sister climbed the apple Tree
bv the parlor window and then fell down
in her haste to announce to the lamhS
that her sister was being kissed-an en-
terprise for which she paid dearly a ut
tie later.
Mrs. Stratton-Porter has written her
heart into this story. 1t is too real TOO
genuine not to be true, sometime, some
where Here again, as in "Freckles,
Girl of the Limberlost,' and ''The daf-
yester." one has that sense of being very
close to the heart of nature, III riower
and bird; and very close to the heart OF
man. in the purest and best emotions or
live.
An extract from letter of Mrs. STRAIT
ton Porter's concerning Ladies' is very
Interesting in which she says:
1.-The real man, the manly man, the IN
teresting man, is the one who is captain
of his own soul. The man who is too big,
TOO forceful, too clean, and too proud to
smrch his soul and body with common
communicating sing. Always and forever
the man who conquers a temptation is
bigger brighter and more interesting sub
dect than the man who weakly follows
his inclnations. / am not arguing that
st is not life for men and women to do
this, It is. 7 am not blind. | see 1t all
around me. What l am arguing is that
these people and their dirty lawlessness
should not be held up to the world as
the real thing, the interesting people. the
types with which we should be concerned
in American homes"
"THE HUMAN TRINITY rs THE
HOME PASSING?"
BY Rev Robert f. Tyler. The Shakes
peare Press, ia East Twentieth street,
publishers, New York.
S From the pan of the Rev. Robert e.
Tyler, pastor of the East Lake Methodist
Episcopal church of Birmingham, comes