It is the author’s contention that animal life is from beginning to end a gladsome comedy; that there is absolutely no such thing as a struggle for existence in nature; that the woods when they are white with snow are quite as cheery as the woods of spring or summer; and that the wood-folk are invincibly cheerful. On this basis the tales are written and great is the fun thereof. Contents: Morning on Moosehead; The birds’ table; Fox comedy; Players in sable; Wolves and wolf tales; Ears for hearing; Health and a day; Night life of the wilderness; Stories from the trail; Two ends of a bear story; When beaver meets otter; A night bewitched; The trail of the loup-garou; From a beaver lodge; Comedians all. There are eight illustrations in color.
+ Booklist 17:100 D ’20
“Very readable.”
+ Spec 125:822 D 18 ’20 30w
“Mr Long is least satisfying when he is forcing the note of sentimental optimism (‘animal life is from beginning to end a gladsome comedy’), and best worth reading when he tells a plain tale of animals’ habits or adventures in the landscapes which he describes so well.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p833 D 9 ’20 150w
LONGSTRETH, THOMAS MORRIS. Mac of Placid. *$1.90 (1½c) Century
20–14293
Mr Longstreth, who has written a book on the Adirondacks, as well as one on the Catskills, here makes his appearance as a novelist. His hero, Anson MacIntyre, is born in the “wolf winter” of 1869 and he tells his own story up thru the eighties. His beginnings are not promising, but two things unite to make a man of him, his deep love for his native woods and his love for Hallie Brewster. These two forces and one other, his friendship with R. L. S. For no less person than Stevenson appears as a character in the story. The two skate together on Saranac lake and become intimate companions. Mac’s romantic devotion to Hallie and his rivalry with Ed Touch appeal to the fiction writer’s imagination and he takes a hand in the wooing. Other real people, the Bakers and Dr Trudeau, are mentioned in the story.