47o 



RECREA TION. 



BOOK NOTICES. 



THOMPSON'S OWN BOOK. 



One of the most fascinating books of the 

 year is out; and another American author 

 has struck 12. 



It is not often that Ernest Seton Thomp- 

 son — artist, naturalist, and raconteur— fairly 

 turns himself loose, and runs riot in 3 ways 

 in one piece of work; but for once he has 

 done so. His " Wild Animals I Have 

 Known " is truly delightful. 



Some wise man has declared that to-day 

 " books are made from books " ; and of the 

 overwhelming majority, this cannot truth- 

 fully be denied. The world is full of dull- 

 witted men who live by imitation, and milder 

 forms of theft; and we are aweary of them 

 all. To-day a suffering world longs for 

 fewer books made from books, and more 

 from raw materials dug in fresh fields. 



The originality and freshness of these 

 stories is irresistible. From the birth of 

 " Lobo " to the death of " Redruff," there is 

 not a line nor an idea that was not coined 

 in Mr. Thompson's own mint, and stamped 

 with the living image of one of the most 

 original and versatile of men. In every- 

 thing he does Mr. Thompson has a 

 way peculiarly his own. In fact and in 

 fancy, in word and picture, his originality 

 of thought bubbles up like the water of a 

 never-failing spring — copious, clear, and 

 flowing, as if the supply were high up and in- 

 exhaustible. Even if naked and unadorned, 

 the- facts he tells us would be very interest- 

 ing; but when we have the facts and the fac- 

 tors fairly dancing before us, clothed in all 

 the quaint quips and droll persiflage of an 

 accomplished humorist and born story- 

 teller, they are — as I have said — irresistible. 



" The real personality of the individual," 

 says the author, " and his views of life, are 

 my theme, rather than the ways of the race 

 in general, as viewed by a casual and hostile 

 human eye." Out of a life filled with inter- 

 esting events and observations, and a multi- 

 tude of acquaintances in the animal world, 

 the author has chosen 8 of the most remark- 

 able animals he has known, and herein their 

 stories are told. The star parts are played 

 by a gray wolf, a crow, a rabbit, a dog, a fox, 

 a mustang, " a yaller dog," and a ruffed 

 grouse. In his note to the reader, the author 

 says, " These stories are true. Although I 

 have left the strict line of historical truth in 

 many places, the animals in this book were 

 all real characters. They lived the lives I 

 have depicted, and showed the stamp of 

 heroism and personality more strongly by 

 far than it has been in the power of my pen 

 to tell." Mr. Thompson believes that 

 " natural history has lost much by the vague 

 general treatment that is so common." He 

 believes it profitable occasionally to follow 

 out in detail the life history of one particu- 

 larly interesting individual. Certainly it is 



true that no corresponding array of cold 

 facts in natural history can for one moment 

 yield the living, grasping interest that every 

 reader of these stories will find in them. 

 Take, for instance, " The Story of a Cotton- 

 tail Rabbit." It contains more of rabbit-life 

 history than I have ever yet seen in print; 

 and it is all so full of interest and of fact, and 

 so artistic in treatment that one is careful not 

 to miss even so little as one line. 



The story of " Lobo," the " King of Cur- 

 rumpaw," we have enjoyed before — in Scrib- 

 ners' Magazine. It is probably the most 

 wonderful true story of wild-animal cunning 

 that has appeared in English thus far. The 

 story of the Springfield fox is as exquisite as 

 the mustang story is dramatic and tragic; 

 and Wild Joe is fully as interesting as the 

 black pacer he chased in vain. 



Needless to say, the stories are copiously 

 and beautifully illustrated by the author. In 

 addition to 29 full page plates, the wide mar- 

 gins of the text are liberally besprinkled with 

 explanatory " remarque " drawings, to the 

 number of 175 or thereabouts, which give to 

 the volume an air of richness in illustration 

 even unto prodigality. These vary con- 

 siderably in value, but the majority of them 

 will be gratefully appreciated. Take, for ex- 

 ample, those on page no, in the story of 

 Raggylug. Along the top margin lie 

 sprawled 6 rabbits " In odd, cat-like posi- 

 tions," and capital figures they are, too. On 

 the left margin, Molly Cottontail gazes at 

 the receding figure of Olifant's dog who 

 carries in his mouth the limp remains of the 

 " sulky old woodchuck," whose empty den 

 under the pine stump was formally accupied 

 by Molly " an hour later." On the margins, 

 animals,both tame and wild, literally abound. 

 Everything of special interest is pictured for 

 you; and droll indeed are some of the fig- 

 ures. At Dotheboys Hall it was " first he 

 spells a word, then he goes and does it." At 

 Thompsons, first he mentions an animal, 

 then he goes and draws it. 



This book has staying qualities; and it 

 has come to stay. In it, jaded reviewers will 

 discover something new under the sun; and 

 the public, ever ready for something orig- 

 inal and good, will receive it with genuine 

 joy. Unthinking critics may compare it 

 with Kipling's fairy tales of human wild an- 

 imals; but it will be a mistaken parallel. 

 Kipling never saw the day he could produce 

 work like this, or in any sense comparable 

 with it. These stories will be read and treas- 

 ured long after the " Jungle Stories " have 

 been forgotten. 



There is but one thing in the whole book 

 to regret, and that is that Mr. Thompson, 

 in his story of Redruff, yields to a popular 

 error and calls the ruffed grouse a partridge. 

 Americans are sadly in need of education as 

 to the proper names of our birds and mam- 

 mals, and it unfortunate that Mr. Thompson 

 should not have availed himself of this op- 

 portunity to set them right as to the correct 



