The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1909-02-10 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

BAK. John Ivory Cripps (applause). Mr .Paterson then proceeded to relate some of the incidents of Stere.nson'e, oareer—how he refused as a child to wear a shawl, until the household were informed that he was a soldier on a night march, and how he once went to his mother with a slate on which was depicted the rude semblance of a man, and 'said, "Ma, I have.drawed a man. Shall I draw hie soul now:" It was an appropriate remark for the child, who, as a man, was to analyse human character with 'such cunning discernment- Some of the spirit of his brave old grandfather inhabited the frail body of Robert Louis Stevenson, which never turned the scales at more than eight stones, who, when stricken with mortal disease, was discovered in an attic, furtively packing a portmanteau, intent on a voyage round Scotland to inspect the lighthouses. Mr. Paterson cited numerous pat sages from " V irginib us Pue risque, "Across the Plains,' etc., illustrative of Stevenson's great humanism. It was amusing to think, eaid the lecturer, that the man who was above all things a purist in style, should first have leapt to fame on the back of a work of deep psychological interest, which the 'public regarded as a "shilling shocker,' and and previous to that should haye achieved reputation me the author of a fascinating book for boys. "Treasure Island" had a salutary gorpet, though it contained a murder on nearly' every page. and a great many bad characters, in the skin of which the author had generally managed to conceal himself. It preached the folly of growing old, old not in years but in heart and mind. Instead of growing depressed with the cares of the world, Stevenson seemed to shout, "Come on, let us fight with pirates, and search for hidden treasure." It was A SALUTARY GOSPEL,  though it might seem foolish in a commer-I cial age. Gospels usually did. But it had had its effect. That charming and healthful play, "Peter Pan," was a legitimate descendant of "Treasure Island." And both those productions did but carry out the wisdom of Jahn Ruskin, who had preached that we wanted not less backsliding but more in these days. As the sage had said, we needed to elide back, out of our long faces, and into our long clothes. An invalid all his life. Stevenson's courage was undaunted. He was once discovered, _ .  ..... —.____, late at night, his mouth filled with blood, from a wound in the lungs, scribbling on his tablets for the benefit of his wife, "Don't be alarmed; if this is death, it's an easy one!" Before the hemorrhage was healed, he contracted sciatica, and be was not better of that before Egyptian ophthalmia descended on his eyes. When the final diagnosis Was given to him by his wife, who, knowing his incurable theerfulnese, remarked somewhat bitterly, "Well, 1 suppose this is the best thing that could have happened." he gaily responded, in writing, that he was just about to make the same remark himself. In his early days Stevenson had applied to Mr. John Morley for permission to write a biography in the famous "English Men of Letters" series. Mr. Morley refused on the ground that the would-be 'biographer was not aufficiently distinguished. But Stevenson was likely to take an honourable revenge, for it was said he was about to enter the series at last, not as a contributor of another man's life, but as the subject of a "Life" himself. Stevenson's relations with the natives in Samoa was one of the most cheerful bits of reading in his whole life. Tusitala, as they called him there, "The teller of tales," showed the world that the 'coloured man was a brother to the white. He gave the; lie Conte and for all to the bucanneering adventurers who for the last few years had trailed the flog of old England in the dust, and hidden