The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-05

what goes into making a book of such popularity as this. The first of the
 manuscript came in early in December and 1t will have been more than seven months from that time before the com flete copy of the book was received from the bindery.N By August r. 5562 reams of paper. enough to strentch in a great sheet nearly four feet wide from the northernmost point in Maine
 through New York to the fair at San Francisco was used, not to mention
 two or three carloads of other raw ma terials such as cloth. twine, glue and Ink. It took 14 presses six weeks to print this great edition, and before the
 railroad company loaded it's 12 freight cars to take it from the Country Life press at Garden City to nearly every
 bookseller in the country, more than
 100 men and women in some way have
 aiding in producing 1t there
 Whether even this number will sat
 isfy the demand foS. Michael O'Hallo :
 ran" is problematical
 Though more than 2.000,000 readers
 have found pleasure and profit in the books of Gene Stratton- Porter. re- peated requests for information in re-
 gard to her life and work have re- mained unanswered. For, though her fascinating nature work with birds, flowers and moths has stirred the cur iosity of readers the world over in re- gard to the author, Mrs Porter has up to the present pretty successfully dis eouraged any attempt to stress the per sonal note. It Is practically impossi
 ble. however, to do the kind of work she has done-to make genuine con tributions to natural science by her wonderful field of work among birds, insects and flowers and then, through her romances, to bring several hun dred thousands of people to love and understand nature in a way they never old before-without arousfng a legiti- mate interest in her own history, her ideals her methods of work. and all that underlies the structure of her un- usual achievement.
 My years of nature work have not been without considerable insight into human nature, as well" continues Mrs. Porter. ''I know its failings, It's inborn tendencies, it's weaknesses, its failures. it's depth of crime, and the people who feel called upon to spend their time analyzing. digging into. and uncovering these sources of deprav;ty have that privilege, more's the pity! If I had my way about it. this Is a privilege no one could have in books intended for indis- criminate circulation. I stand suuarely for book censorship, and I firmly be- lieve that with a few more years of such books, as half a dozen I could mention. public opinion will demand this very thing. My life has been fortunate in one glad way: I have lived mostly in the and worked in the woods. For every bad man and woman I have ever known, l have met, lived with, and am acquainted with an over number of thoroughly clean and decent people who still believe in God and cherish high ideals. and 1t is upon I.- Itx,-- T l< write"
 There is much charm and beauty about the central character of Mrs Porter's new book and Michael O'Holloran while especially to young readers will also appeal to older ones who do not care for over sophisticated literature.
 Mickey is an Irish newsboy in his teens and he has the proverbial endow- ment of Irish humor and Irish cleverness and he will undoubtedly take his place along with the heroes of "The Har- vester," "Freckles" and others of Mrs. Porter's books.
 Mickey lives all alone in clean and tidy little room and orders his life &C., cording to the advice and counsel of a wise and much loved mother, dead some years before the beginning of the story Then he finds wretched, deserted little girl of the slums. crippled. unable to walk and he takes her to his home and proceed to bring her up in cleanly, civil Iized fashion. Tntermingled with his and her fortunes are the affairs of two ror- tunate young lovers, the marital trou- bles of an unhappily welded pair, and the home life of a farmer couple.
 The scene of the story is near that same Limberlost swamp in northern h. 1iana that has given Mrs. Porter so much background and so much material for her former volumes It contributes not lit- -le to this one in the way of bird songs, flowers, and expeditions that influence the Ives of many of the characters The pleas sing decorations of the book on cover, title page and end papers take heir motive from the swamp and it's adv vslinnprs