Music of the Wild, the newest and we believe the most charming of all her nature stories, by Gene Stratton-Porter of Geneva, was offered by her publishers, Jennings and Graham of Cincinnati, October 1st. It is the sweetest, most inspiring, interesting and lovable story of nature we have ever read, and we believe that all who read it will agree with us. For a week we have enjoyed this new book---mark you----enjoyed it, and we expect to re-read it and then read it to the children. No one can glance through the book without becoming interested, and if you study it, you will become not only a lover of nature, but a sincere admirer of the writer, for her work is marvelous. She has done wonders and is rapidly becoming if not now, the foremost nature writer of the country and the age......
On the title page appears the following: "Music of the Wild, with reproductions of the performers, their instruments and festival halls." these reproductions include 120 pictures of birds, insects, animals, flowers, trees and familiar haunts of the wild. The book is in three parts, namely, "The Chorus of the Forest," "Songs of the Field," and "Music of the Marsh," and we believe a short review of each will be appreciated by our readers.
She begins the "Chorus of the Forest," by comparing the woods to a Cathedral, where the unsurpassed tree-harps accompany the singers in natures' grandest anthems, and says it is the place for "all brave and happy hearts to go and learn the mighty chorus." She tells of the trees, mighty and small; of the flowers, beside which their hot-house relatives cannot compare in beauty or in delicacy of color....
The writer is a true nature lover, and thinks the occupants of the forest, the bees, the birds, the animals, the flowers and the trees too precious to be ruthlessly destroyed. .....
"Songs of the Fields," the second part of the book, is possibly more entertaining than the first. While the forest is called the Temple of God, the fields are the amphitheater of man. The old farm, forest guarded, resounding with bird song and tramped with scudding feet, have two owners---man who pays the taxes and the woman with the camera, and an eye for the beauty of the landscape. White others have sung of various flowers, Mrs. Porter's favorite is the dandelion, and she says that if we had to import them at five dollars per, all of us who could wold grow them in pretty pots. Other flowers of the field are described, the skylark which the authoress calls the earth-born singer is given a share of pretty description. Even the hop-toad is described in language so well chosen that it converts the reader from the old idea that it causes warts.......
Through all the book, the writer shows her real love for the Limberlost land, with which does not even compare the streams of India's golden sands, Italy's mountains or England's meadows. She follows the little stream through the Bone's woods, the Rayn farm and singing into Schaffer's meadow and on through Grove's fields, where it rushes into the Wabash River..... [This area in part two "Songs of the Field" is now part of the Music of the Wild Nature Preserve].
"Music of the Marsh," the third part begins with:
"Come with me and you shall know
The garden where God's flowers grow;
come with me and you shall hear,
His waters whisper songs of cheer"....
Adams County has a right to feel proud of Gene Stratton-Porter and her splendid work, and we believe that every man woman and child within the borders of this old shire, at least those who know her and have read her beautiful nature books, are not only indebted to her, but they love her and the work which brings them closer to nature's wonders.