THE LIFE AND WORK OF J. M. BARRIE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 141, 1 July 1937, Page 12

THE LIFE AND WORK OF J. M. BARRIE

Creator of Thrums and of PetOr Pan MRS BAIKD'S ADDRESS Ah interesting address on the lit'e and work of Sir james Barridj the crfeator of Thrums and of the iminortal Peter Pan, w&s giveu by Mfs H. W. C. Baird at the ingleside of the Hastings and Districts ScOts Society. The little town of Kirriemtilr Angas, Scotland, was known all over the world as Thrums, because that was the naine Barrie gave to it in his immortal books "Anld^Licht Idylls," " A Window in Thx'ums, ' ' "The Little Miuister" and many others, began Mrs. Baird. James Matthew Barrie was born 77 years ago in Kerriemuir and died a week ago in London^ and some of tho New Zealand papers had paid fine tributes to him. Among them wa® one which had wxitten: There is none like him— xione from Sterne to George Maedonald, from the author of "A Midsummer Niight's Dream" to the author of "A Golden Age." Another had , said: When Hardy died GalswOrthy stepped into his shoes, and when he died Hugh Walpole took his place as man of letters; but no one will take the place of J. M. Barrie. The critics said that "Peter Pan" and "The Admirable Crichton ' ' would last for all time, "but," commented Mrs. Baird, "we Scots will cling to 'The Little Minister' aml ' What .15 very Woman Knows.' " Barrie 'a father, Mrs. Baird went on, was $ weaver earning about a pound a week when James, the ninth of a family of ten, was borh, and Alexander, the eldest son, was a student at Aberdeen University. He shared a room there with Alexander White, who lator uecame the eminent divinc at Free fck George 's, Edinburgh. Mother's Encouragement. "The spark of genius in Barrie was encouraged by hx« mother, Margaret Ogilvie, whom he immortalised in his book of that name," Mrs. Baird added. "She had a fine memory and was a good etory-beller, and her son first became famous with fiis ' Auld Licht Idylls, ' stories of his mother Is girlhood retold by him. He said on one occasion that he had experienced 'mony an ongoin' o' snow' but that the worst he seemed to remember took place 20 years before he was born." Barrie was educated at Dumfriea Academy, going on to Edinburgh University, wiiere he took his M.A. degree. While at the academy he contributed to the' magazine "Reckallection® of a bchoolmastor," by J. M. Barrie, M.A., A.S.S., LL.B., in four parts. These were sold in London in 1929 and brought 2510. JDumfries Acamedy was a mixed school with 500 boys and girls. Un one occasion the girls took a plebiscito as to .which boy had the pleasantest smile. "I won," Barrie had said, "with the xesult that I have lost my smile. I suppose it is still jugging about the world somewhere, but it has never come back to me — a tragedy in a nutshell; but there 's a moral: Trusti'ul little boys before of little girls." There was a good story about Barrie 's Edinburgh days, when he met Robert Louis Stevenson and stared at him. Stevenson said to him quite ixicely: "After all, God made me." "Well," replied Barrie, "he is getting very careless." However, they made it up in a ta/vern in Leith Btreet and quarrelled again, Stevenson chasing Barrie througlx the snow because they hitd ; had- an argument Q"ver Ma»x'y, I Queen of Scots. His First Positiom Barrie '& first position was as leadeiwriter to the Nottingliaxn Journal at £3 a week. He didn 't know what leaders were, so he asked his mother. She didn 't know., but got all the newspapers from under the carpets, and Barry aaid that he sat down surrounded with newspapers and studied how to become a journalist. Greenwood, London, accepted his first article, published it at once and asked for more, so Barrie took tixe road to London armed with good advice from his mother "Always walk in the middle of the road; it's at the corners they jump out at you," she had told him, and "Never venture out after dark," and "Always lock up every thing. ' ' "I who could never loek up anythmg but my heart in company", ' ' Barrie used to say of her advice. x- ' Barrie used' £p„ say that the greatest glory that had evei^ come to him was being alone in Londdn>v~not knowing a soul and working until the stars went out. "I didn't even quite know the language," he said. "I rang for" -my boots and they brought me a glass of water, so I drank the water and worked on. The pangs whSn no proof came, the magic days when an article appeared in the paper, and with what promptitude I counted the lines to see how much I should get for itl" After his "Auld Licht Idylls" there appeared the "Window in Thrums" and then "The Little Minister," and by that timo Barrie was well known throughout the Empire and in America. When he sent the last chapter of "The Window in Thrums" to Robertsou Nicol the latter sent back a telegram saying: "Immortal." Twenty years later Robertson Nicol had said: "I will stand by that." Frohman produced "The Little Min ister" in America, and when Barrie asked liim how he was going to manago about the Scottish accent Frohman replied: "Don't worry about that; you wouldn't know it was Scottish, but the Americans will." Make-Believe. "When Barrie left Thrums and the Scottish speeeh, 'Quality Street' was the beautiful bridge he crossed over into the land of make-believe of 'Peter Pan,' 'Dear Brutus ' and 'Mary Rose,' " Mrs. Baird continued. "Peter Pan' is for all children of all nations, and in 1929, when 'Peter Pan' celebrated its 21st birtliday, Barrie gave the annual income in perpetuitv of the eopyrighL-', literary anil dramatic, oi' 'Peter Pan' to tlie Grcut Onnoiul Strcol Hospital for Children. This auiounts to three or four thousaixd a year, a Ht-

ting tribute to Peter 's 21 years of ufibroken succes3i') To celebrate the 300th performande of "What Every Woman Knows," Mrs Baird related, the company gave a dinner and invited the atithor. Lady Tree made the speech of the evenxng, ending With these lines J "To tell the praise of Bame's art, • My speech would be a lyric poem, And yet my thofightli, Too nice for prose, Are jusfc what every woman knows, And so he 's almost sure to know 'em. "And now," said Mrs Baird, "We have Barrie as a speaker. His rectorial address at St. Andrew 's was his first speech, anj he said he would never have made it had it not been a Scottish audience, hewn out of the same rock. He also said that it would be his last, but be became quite a famous speaker. ' Courage ' was the sub* ject of his address, and this wonderful piece of literature has been printed in hook form and dedicated to the red gowns of St. Andrew 's. "A few years later at Edinburgh University he was elected Lord Rector, and tbere his speech was 'The Entrancing Lif e, ' which also has been published in book form. The last page of 'Courage' reads: " 'Well, we have at last come to an end, and in bidding you good-bye my last words must be of the lonely virtue. Courage, my children, and greet the unseen with a eheer. "Fight on, my men,' said Sir Andrew Barton. Fight on you for the old red gown till the whistle blows. ' "