THE GENIUS OF HUDSON.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 137, 11 June 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE GENIUS OF HUDSON.

"NATURE IK DOWNLAND."

It is very appropriate that one of the first volumes in the new Open-air Library that J. M. Dent and Sons are ' issuing should be a book by W. TT. Hudson. There never was a writer more devoted to the out-of-doors than this English genius who had to wait until middle-age before he won recognition. The works chosen for this volume are "Nature in Ddwnland," a series of discourses on wild and human life in tlie South of England, and "An Old Thorn," a moving story of English peasant life in the. bad old clays when men were hanged for theft. It has been said of Hudson that he cared more for animals than for men, but this dictum must have been founded on his South American books. Works like "Afoot in England," "A Shepherd's Life," and this volume now under consideration show that ho had very warm human sympathies. "Nature in Downland" is rich in vividly presented contacts with people, and sketches of peasant types. The style is pure joy—so lucent and limpid. The Sussex man especially will love this golden book. Yet it was written during years of poverty In London, when Hudr son could snatch but a few weeks each year to spend in the countryside for which his soul ached. One finds this and other information in the admirable biographical preface that Mr. E. Fitch Uaglish, the editor of this new library, supplies to the volume. Mr. Daglish says that Hudson's writings should be universal in their appeal, for though he was essentially a naturalist he was very much more. Ho had a philosophy of Nature and man, he was an apostle of beauty, and h» was a great writer. This little book will help to spread hie ideas, and the delight that lies in his lovely

prose. A charming and convenient format has been chosen for the Open-air Library. The, binding is green and gold, the type is pleasing, and the book goes into tho pocket. It should be a very popular series.