"
In August of 1913 the author's novel "Laddie" was published in
New York, London, Sydney and Toronto simultaneously. This book
contains the same mixture of romance and nature interest as the
others, and is modelled on the same plan of introducing nature
objects peculiar to the location, and characters, many of whom
are from life, typical of the locality at a given period. The
first thing many critics said of it was that "no such people ever
existed, and no such life was ever lived." In reply to this the
author said: "Of a truth, the home I described in this book I
knew to the last grain of wood in the doors, and I painted, it
with absolute accuracy; and many of the people I described I knew
more intimately than I ever have known any others. TAKEN AS A
WHOLE IT REPRESENTS A PERFECTLY FAITHFUL PICTURE OF HOME LIFE, IN
A FAMILY WHO WERE REARED AND EDUCATED EXACTLY AS THIS BOOK
INDICATES. There was such a man as Laddie, and he was as much
bigger and better than my description of him as a real thing is
always better than its presentment. The only difference, barring
the nature work, between my books and those of many other
writers, is that I prefer to describe and to perpetuate the BEST
I have known in life; whereas many authors seem to feel that
they have no hope of achieving a high literary standing unless
they delve in and reproduce the WORST.
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