Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-11-16
FACTS IN NFICTTON-FAME OF W. Fl. HUDSON
CONFESSIONS
OF 4 NATURALIST
Tpo Fascinating Books by
an Author Whose American
Fame Is Just BEGINNING

w. II. Hudson. born in Argentina Of
an English father and a New England
mother. Is one of the greatest writer's in
English at the present time, IL we may
trust his admirers. John Galsworthy.
who dedicated THE Country House" to
him. says of him that ''as a simple mar
rator he Is well-nigh unsurpassed; as
a stylst he has few II any living equals"
Yet almost nothing Ia known of his life
save what he has revealed in his books.
The English Who's Who says not a
word about the place of his birth, or the
year, his parentage or his residence. 1t
simply gives a list of his books, begin
ming with Argentine Ornithology." pub
lished in 1888, and ending with "Adven-
lures Among Birds" which appeared In
1913.
His autobiography, published under
the title Of Far Away and Long Ago"
gives little information about the time he
was born. Nothing is said of the part
of England his father came from or the
New England State In which his mother
was born, and one has to conjecture
when he first saw daylight. He was
about seven years old when the Argen-
tine dictator, Rosas, was deposed. As
this was in 1882 Hudson must be about
seventy-three years old. He has had
to wait a long time for fame to come to
him. But IL Is moving his way with such
speed that 1t Is likely to envelop him
In the near future.
His autobiography stops with his flf-
teenth year. save for a little discussion
| of his mental and spiritual experiences
after he was older. 1t Is the story Of
the boyhood Of lover of birds and
| flowers on an Argentine estancia in the
middle of the last century.with incidental
revelation Of the manner of life of the
people of the country. Its style justifies
the praise of Galsworthy. for its English
Is simple clear and beautiful. without
pretension OF any kind. He tells his
story with the, directness of Bunyan in
THE Pilgrims Progress"
The book Is filled with love of nature.
Here Is the way he tells how 1t affected
him when he became aware of the
beauty of the world as a child:
1t was not. I think. till my eighth year
that began to be distinctly conscious OF
something more than this mere childish
| all the time from iniancy-I don't know:
but when ! began to know 1t consciously
It was as II some hand had surreptitiously
dropped something in,o the honeyed cup
which gave II at certain times new ma
vor. It gave me little thrills. often purely
pieasurable. at other times startling. and
| there were occasions wnen It became so
poignant as to frighten me. The sight
Of a maEnifcent sunset was sometimes @ times
almost more than could endure and made
me wish to hide myself away.
Nature and the love OF 1t is the sub
| stance Of all that he has written. It
| fills "a Little Boy Lost" a child's book
which he has recently written In order
that there might be In existence the kind
| of book which he would have liked to
| read when he was a child. His own
| childhood has inspired the part of 1t
| that Is real, and a vivid imagination and
| a fine realization of the desire of child
| to have its mind stretched by wonders
| inspire the rest. 1t Is the story of a
| little English boy in Argentina who
wandered away from home and was lost
on the plains. The Queen of the Mirage
with her train of attendants found him
One of the attendants said: He loves
wandering; let him have his will and be
| a wanderer all his days on the face OF
the earth" Another says: "A wan
derer he Is to be; let the sea do him nc
harm" And the Queen adds: 80 be
1t, and to your gifts I shall add a third
Let all men love him." And SO the boy
| continues his wandering over the plains
into the mount aims, meeting with strange
adventures, and the book ends with the
| child asleep on a raft at sea. 1t is q
story that is likely to be as popular as
| Kingsley's Water Babies"
Hudson. New York: e. P. Dutton Co
A LiITTT1.E BOY LOST BY W: II, Hudson
New York. A. A. Knopf s1.50.
|