The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-08-09

the books OF Gene StrattOH-F oiteA'
peated requests for Information IN
gard to her life and WORK nave -
manned unanswered. For, tnousn NJ
fascinating nature work Win pus'
flowers and moths has stirred the GU
rtosity of readers the world over In
regard to the author, Mrs. Porter
has np to the present pretty success
fully discouraged any attempt to stress
the personal note. II is pracucaIy
Impossible, however, to do the klno
Of work she mas done--to make senu-
inc contributions to natural science Wy
her wonderful field work among pirds'
insects. and flowers, and then. through
her romances, to bring several mum
dred thousands of people to love ana
understand nature in way they never
did before--without arousing iegiti-
mate interest in her own history, ner
ideals her methods OF work. ana al
that underlies the structure OF ner
achievement.
Her publishers have felt the pres
SIRE OF this growing interest ana II
was at their request that she furnished
the data for a biographical sketch tha'
was to be written of her
The following article was taken
from slat sketch. which Will shoruy
be issued by Doubleday Page * Coh-
pany. as a booklet and distributed by
them through the book dealers of the
country free of charge. This comes
on the eve of the publication OF Mrs.
Porfers new novel, Michael OHal-
loran," which will be out August IL
the authors birthday.
Starting with a sketch of her pa
rents and the farm on which she was
born, the authors account gives an
intimate picture OF her beautiful fam
lily life and the early love OF nature
absorbed from her parents and from
ALI her early associations. Her firss
serious writing came after her mar
rage when her daughter was ola
enough 10 go to school. win her
arduous household duties Mira. Porter
made time to study and to write ana
editors began to accept what she sent
them with little. III any. changes. sne
began sending Photographic and ma
tuTal history hints to Recreation, and
with the first installment was asked
to take charge of the department ana
furnish material each month. tina
second year she accepted place on
the natural history staff OF Outing
working closely with Mr.. Casper Whit
ney. After q year of this helpful ex-
perience Mrs. Porter began to turn
her attention to what she cans
mature studies sugar-coated with fic-
ton Mixing some childhood facts
with a large degree of grownup nc
ton, she wrote little story entitled
"Laddie. the Princess, and the Pie
On Outing she graduated from the
ramera depa rtment to an illustrated
article each month. and as this kept
up the year round and few ilinstra-
xknw he a., In mi tar IL m a
that she must secure enough photo-
graphs o. wild life n GUNNER TO last
during the part of the year when Few
were to be had.
Every fair day | spent afield.' she
says, and my little black horse and
load of cameras. ropes and ladders
became familiar sight to the coun-
try folks of Hhe IAmberiost. in Rain
bow Bottom. the Canoper. and the
banks of the Wabash. in woods and
thickets and beside the roads but
few people understood what was
trying to do, none OF them what II
would mean were | to succeed. Be-
ing SO afraid of failure and the inevi-
to bic ridicuie in a community where
I was already severely criticized on
account of my ideas of Housekeeping,
dress and social custom, ! purposely
kept everything did as quiet as pos
sibie. 1t had to be known that | was
interested In everything afield, and
making pictures: also that was writ
ing field sketches for nature publ
cations but little was thought OF II.
save as wne more popularity in me-
So when my little story was finished
went to our store and looked over
the magazine chose one 10 which
we did not subscribe, having an at
tractive cover. good type and paper.
and on the back of an old envelope.
behind the counter. ] scrubbed; FER
riton Maxwell. lie Nassau Street. New
York and sent my story on It's way.
After some delay Mr.. Maxwell
wrote that ne liked my story very
much, and that he wished me to con-
slider doing him another in similar
vein for Christmas leader, and ne
enclosed my very first check for fic-
tion.
Did 1t Ali Come Easily?
so | wrote: How IAddie and the
Princess Spelled Down at the Christ
mas Bee. Mr.. Maxwell was pleased
to accept that also with what | con-
sidered high praise, and to ask me
to furnish the illustrations. He spe-
Gifted that he wanted fronttspieee,
head and tail pieces, and six or seven
illustrations Counting out the time
for his letter to reach me. and the
material to return. ] was left with
Just one day In which to secure the
pictures They had to be Of people
costumed in the time of the early
seventies. and I was short of print
paper and chemicals. First. / teie-
phoned to Fort Wayne. for the ma
terial I wanted. to be sent without fail
on the afternoon train. Then l drove
to the homes of the people / wished
to use for subjects and made appoint
Snents for sittings, and ransacked the
cabin for costumes. The letter came
on the s A. M. train. At 10 o'clock
j was photograpning Colonel Lupton
beside my dining-room fireplace for
the father In the story. At eleven I
was drawing and posing Miss Lizzie
Huart for the Princess. At twelve j
was picturing In one of my bedrooms
child who served finely for Little
Sister, and an hour later the same
child In cemetery three miles in tho
country where I used mounted butter
flies from my caseR and plotted plants
carried from my conservatory for
graveyard scene. The time was early
November, but God granted sunshine
that day. and short focus blurred rne
background. At o'clock was At
the school house, and In the hest
lighted room with five or six models.
was working on the spelling bee