The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-08-09
GENE STRATTON-PORTER
Little Story of the Life and Work and Ideals of This
Bird Woman-Her Life Near to Great Heart of
the Wild Described. M

tions OF my nearest and dearest by
remaining sane, normal. and almost
without exception the healthiest wo-
man they knew"
The Origin OF eFreckles."
The CARDINAL. her first book. was
published In June OF 1908. On the
goth of October. 1904, "Freckles" APP
peared. Mrs. Porter had been devel-
oping afieid with all her heart and
strength for several years. and in the
course of her work had spent every
other day for three months In the
imberlost swamp. making a series of
studies of the nest Of q black vulture.
OF this episode she says:
when word was brought me by
the lumberman of the nest OF the
black vulture in the IAmberiost, L
FASTENED to tell my husband tae won
derfui story of the big black bird.
the downey white baby, the pale blue
egg. and to beg back a rashly- made
promise not to work In the Limbef-
lost Being a natural history en-
thustast himself, he agreed that 1
must go; but he qualified the assent
with the proviso That no one less care
full of me than he. might accompany
me there His business had forced
him to allow me to work alone, with
hired guides or the help of oilmen
and farmers slsewhere: but Linz
| berlost trip Mt that time was not to
be joked about II had not been shorn,
| branded and tanned There were most
excellent reasons why | should not
go there. Much of 1t was impene-
trable. Only few trees had been
taken out; oiimen were just invading
it. In its physical aspect 1t was a
treacherous swamp and quagmire
filled with every plant. animal and
human da niger known in the worst of
such locations In the Central States.
"A rod inside the swamp on a road
leading to an oil well we mired to
carriage hubs. | shielded my camera
, In my arms and before VIC reached
the we'll ! thought the conveyance
would be torn to pieces and the horse
stalled. At the well we started on
foot, Mfr. Porter in kneeboots, | I'm
waist high waders. The time WAS late
June: we forced our way between
steaming. fetfd pools, through swarms
Of gnats flies. mosquitoes. poisonous
insects. keeping sharp watch for
rattlesnakes. We sank deep at every
step. and logs we thought solid broke
under us. Our progress was steady
succession of pryfng and pulling each
other to the surface. Our clothing
was wringing wet and the exposed
parts OF our bodies lumpy with bites
and stings. My husband found the
tree. cleared the opening to the great
postrate log, traversed its unspeak-
able adors for nearly forty feet to Its
farthest recess, and brought the baby
and egg to the light In his FILMED
hat. Every third day for almost three
H. Il. Sad AL -
Chicken was a BILE TO take wing"
This was the nucleus OF the hook.
but the story itself originated from the
fact that one day. while leaving the
swamp. a big feather with a shaft
over twenty inches long came spin
ming and swirling earthward and fell
in the authors path, Instantly Sae
looked upward to locate the bird,
which from the size and formation Of
the quill could have been nothing but
an eagle; her eyes. well trained and
fairly keen though they were. could
not see the bird, which must have been
soaring above range. Familiar with
the life of the vulture family. the au-
thor changed the bird from which the
feather fell to that described In
"Freckies," Mrs. Porter had the old
swamp at that time practically un-5
touched and all it's traditions to work
upon and stores OF natural history
material.
Mrs. Portcr's Literary Greed.
My years OF nature work have not
been without considerable insight into
human nature, as well" continues
Mrs. Porter. 81 know its faiiings. its
Unborn tendencies, Its weaknesses, it's
failures. It's depth Of crime, and the
people who feel called upon to spend
their time analyxing. digging into and
uncovering these sources of depravity
have that privilege, more's the pity.
If l had my way about 1T. this Ia q
privilege no one could have in books
intended for indiscriminats circtiia-
tion. stand squarely for book CEN
sorslnip. and I firmly believe that with
a few more years OF such books, ~
half a dozen | could mention. public
opinion will demand this very thing |
MY life has been fortunate in one
glad way: have lived mostly In the
country and worked In the woods
For every bad man and woman have
ever known. ! have met. lived with.
and am intimately acquainted with. an
overwhelming number of thoroughly
clean and decent people who still be-
lieve In God and cherish high ideals,
and 1t Is upon the lives of these that
base what I write"
sTadtie."
Tn August OF 1913 the authors novel,
''Laddie, was published in New York.
London, sydney and Toronto stimuli |
taneously. OF this book the author
said: "Of truth, the home I describe
In this book knew to the last grain
of wood In the doors, and i painted
1t with absolute accuracy: and many
Of the people l describe knew more
intimately than ever have known
any others. Taken as whole. II rep
resents q perfectly faithful picture of
home-iife. in family who were reared
and educated exactly as this book In
dicates. There was such q man az
LAddie, and he was AZ much bigger
and better than my description of
him. as u real thing In always better
than It's presentment. The only iif. |
ference, barring the nature work, be-
tween my books and those OF many
other writer's. Il that prefer to des-
crfbe and to perpetuate the best III
have known In life: whereas many
authors seem TO feel that they haveI
no hope or achieving high literaryI
standing unless they deive In and res
produce me worst"
Writes Nature Rocks While Beet
Sellers wait