Page:A Crystal Age - Hudson - 1922.djvu/15

Rh merely to the tardiness with which recognition has been accorded both men. It is inherent in the delicacy of imagination, the profound love of nature, the unswerving loyalty to truth, the eagle vision glimpsing salvation on mountain peaks rising above the reek of human suffering, that characterizes their work. Mr. Hudson, it is true, does not choose poetry for his medium. But, even in the matter of literary style, there is a limpidity in his periods, a grace, an utter simplicity that reminds one of the pure harmonies of the Shelleyan muse. Mr. Galsworthy, than whom no one is better fitted to speak on such a subject, says: "As a stylist, Hudson has few, if any, living equals. To use words so true and simple, that they oppose no obstacle to the flow of thought and feeling from mind to mind, and yet by juxtaposition of word-sounds set up in the recipient continuing emotion or gratification—this is the essence of style; and Hudson's writing has pre-eminently this double quality." The gift is rare in any form of writing; its presence in a narrative of the fairy-like quality possessed by A Crystal Age is a source of never-ending delight to the reader. Here, thought is perfectly wedded to sound. The tale is one of simple, primal things, of men and