PUBLIC OPINION

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 508, 17 April 1933, Page 7

PUBLIC OPINION

A.

BEESON.

"GLORIA'S BOOK." To the Editor. Sir, — The delightful review of "Glo- J ria's Book" published in the "Post" of I yesterday, the 13th inst., has been read by a wide circle • of admirers, more especially by those who knew Gloria, with the liveliest appreciation. Gloria's exquistite character, her exquisite imagination and deeper intelleetual gifts had their origin and were moulded in the furnaee heat of pain; and the comparative health and unwonted mental energy she now enjoys are due very largely to the skill and devotion lavished upon her six and seven years ago while a patient at King George V. Hospital. A sever,e and pathetic case, a child of fragile, almost unearthly beauty, she never ,murmured, but could speak jat all times with gratitude and trust' of those who watched over her night and day j that in the grim struggle she might i win through. Of one in particular, j fortunately with us, whose rare skill, { tireless attention, and magical sym- j pathy probably saved Gloria's life her heart ever went out in overfiowing affection; and even at that dark and critical time, a child in her eighth and ninth year, initiated at that early age into the awful and inscrutable mystery j i of suffering, acute and prolonged, her nature gave earnest of the depth and refinement that has now shown itself ; with extraoridnary power in a book — "Gloria's Book," the forerunner no doubt of other and greater books — that achieved instant fame. Gloria can be described as a protege of Ro- j torua. It was frequently my privilege to | take Gloria to th'e Government Gar- ; dens; but little did anyone think in what now seems the remote past that that slender motionless form, recumbent on a bed-chair, gazing as best she could at the varjdng panorama of bloom and foliage, was registering i upon an impressionable soul, a -soul ! of infinite delicacy, a wealth of fan- j cies .that later were to mature into one ! of the' most surprising books of verse I written by a child ever published, a ' book that has the vivid colour,- the quaint originality and charm of an Arabian Nights. j Gloria's many friends in. Rotorua appreciate most heartily the "Post's" generous tribute. It will bring nearer th'e small car — iGloria will never be able to walk — that we believe will soon take this talented disciple of Nature to Nature's many shrines; and the scenes yet to be engag.ed on that . wonderful juvenile mind will be trans- ; muted into verse, if possible deeper, richer and more entrancing than those , Gloria has already given us.— I am,

etc.

Rotorua, April 14, 1933.