Charlevoix county herald., 1915-01-30

ment Of perfect freedom Thus she
secured the best results, and gave
pictures of birds in moments Of fear,
anger, the full tide Of song, bathing
or brooding. Her advice to other
bird students is go slow, know birds
and understand them, and remain in
the woods until you have become so
much part Of the daily life of the
birds that they will be perfectly nat
ural in your presence
eve are enabled to give an inter-
esting sidelight on her first story,
"Freckles," through the courtesy Of
Mr.. John L. Grant, Of Utica, N. Y,
to whom the publishers had submit
ted the manuscript. After reading
the story, Mr.. Grant on returning
the manuscript, strongly advised
publication, backing up his words by
an order for two hundred and fifty
copies. Amongst those to whom 20
copy was sold was the wife of ~
late Professor Root Of Hamilton COT
lege. The professor true natural
list, who had been i'll, rejoiced in the
book, and felt uplifted by the inter
est of the story and its nature pic
lures. He wrote as follows to Mr..
Grant: 1T is an exceedingly fine
piece OF work. The flavor of the
swamp and the timber is not only in
it, but comes out of it. In reading
1 almost felt my feet damp, and ]
looked lovingly at the spruce, the
pines, and elms and ashes and pop
lars and hemlocks Of my home.
When one loves nature, how the
beauty and delight of it creep into
ones souli And the Bird Woman is
fine. 1t is fine to me because the
humanity of it so permeates and in
forms the nature in it, while the ma
ture takes hold Of the human in il,
teaches it, uplifts it. There is the
chivalric spirit in it. Like Sir Wal
ter Scott in securing the Borders in
quest Of ballads and legendary stor-
les, Mrs. Stratton-Porter had been
making herself while she was for
two years editor Of the camera de-
partment Of the periodical "Recrea-
tion," two years on the natural his
tory staff Of Outing" and four
years natural history specialist on
another periodical. When she came
to write such books as 1.-THE Song of
the Cardinal" "What l Have Done
with Birds" "Birds Of the Bible"
and Emusic Of the Wild" she had
strong natural genius and all this
experience to draw upon.
During the past tea years Gene
Stratton- Porter has written ten
books, the sale of which has run into
millions. They still keep on selling.
"The Girl of the Limberlost" has had
a sale of six hundred and fifty thou
sand in the United States alone. OF
her latest, "Laddie," a True Blue
Story, three hundred and twenty-five
thousand copies were sold in like
period. Humor, realism, and close
study Of nature are apparent in all
she has written. The home life of
an American family was never delin-
Gated with greater realism than in
"Laddie." In her country books she
shows how health, wealth, culture,
joy and refinement may appertain to
those who live on the land as she
has done. Her own life and achieve
ments. prove this abundantly. With
out claiming to be a scientific natur-
alist, she has opened the eyes Of
thousands to what can be done with
birds and moths. Through these
Mrs. Stratton-Porter has given Joy
and pleasure to others, and through
them have come fame and fortune
to herself, while she has remained
unspoiled, and continues as keen a
natura ctt1danf oc aHyav -