Ninety years ago this week, Laura C. Hemingway wrote a story, published in News & Courier, about nature writer Jean M. Thompson, who was a member of Kingstree's "winter colony." It seems appropriate to share Mrs. Hemingway's story today:
"Among the tourist colony of Kingstree is one whose name is especially associated with the Easter season. That is Jean M. Thompson, whose "Resurrection" was published in 1920 in The New York Times, and set to music by that dean of composers, Mark Andrews, and has been sung at Eastertime the country over.
"It is of especial interest to the people of South Carolina to know that the poem was written as a memorial to a South Carolina boy, Lieutenant Brooks Malloy, of Cheraw, a Citadel graduate, who lost his life in the World War. Mrs. Thompson was a friend of the Malloy family, spending much time in that home. When news of the death of this only son of a widowed mother reached her, she went off into the woods alone, as she so loves to do, where she tried in her own way to reason out the why of life's complexities. It was the season approaching Easter. From out of the depths of the woods she saw emerge a moth of gigantic size and of pristine whiteness. There she composed her memorial to the South Carolina boy who slept in Flanders Field.
"'Silken butterfly wings unfolding/ Leave their wrappings gray./ From the mold pure lilies springing/ Greet the new-born day./ They are risen: 'Tis a promise/ God has given all men./ Lo, ye shall not sleep forever./ Ye shall rise again./ Far away 'neath rude carved crosses/ Rest brave soldier boys./ While on earth we mourn our losses,/ Turning from its joys./ Take ye comfort in your sadness./ Hush ye sorrow's cry./ They are risen! They are risen!/ 'Tis a promise/ Given from on high.'
When plans for unveiling the memorial erected in New York City to the 'brave soldier boys' who did not return were in progress, those in charge cast about for something appropriate to be sung at the ceremony. Mark Andrews, who had so successfully set to music 'In Flanders Field,' was requisitioned to find a poem and have it ready to be sung. He had almost given up in despair when he chanced to see Mrs. Thompson's poem in The Times. Permission was granted to use the verses. The music he dedicated to Elizabeth Spencer who sang the song at the memorial exercises accompanying the unveiling of the monument. The song, published by Schirmer, has since been sung by Metropolitan opera stars for victrola records.
But it is not for poetry that Mrs. Thompson lays claim for her reputation as an author, dearly as she loves that phase of writing. She is known best for her big animal stories that have appeared in many of the outstanding magazines. She is a close student of wildlife over a broad range, and she has won for herself through the merit of her stories with their authentic nature lore, the unique position of being the only woman in America whose work in this field is comparable to like work done by such male writers as Ernest Thompson Seton, Charles G.D. Roberts, Walter Pritchard Eaton, and other nature writers nearer home. For her stories, she has had the illustrators used by Charles Livingston Bull and Paul Bransom.
A charming book written by Mrs. Thompson is Over Indian and Animal Trail, published by the Frederick A. Stokes Company of New York, and illustrated in color by Paul Bransom. One edition of the book is bound in raw silk, making it a handsome book physically.
But it is through Water Wonders that Mrs. Thompson is best known to the reading public. This book, published years ago, has lived in a class of its own. Of a scientific nature told in a narrative manner that holds the interest of adult and youth, it has attracted attention far and wide. It has been published in eight different bindings, has gone through a number of printings, is recommended by the American Library Association, is used as a text book in many schools and universities and is now included in the series of "Every Child Should Know," published by Doubleday. Water Wonders is illustrated with the microphotographs made by Professor Bentley who originated that method of photographing ice and snow crystals and has won renown. This book brought the writer the title "The Jack Frost Lady," which is mentioned in Who's Who in America.
Mrs. Thompson is a versatile writer and a prolific one. She is the author of more than one thousand short stories that have appeared in 85 magazines in this country and abroad. She is a member of the David C. Cook Publishing Company's writers' staff. She contributes regularly to five of their publications, her work being featured on the front pages. She was once a member of the Butterick staff, and has been connected from time to time with various other publishing companies in the United States. But she likes to write independently and spend her time here and there about the country, choosing the great north woods for the summer season and the south for spring and winter.
Mrs. Thompson was born in Connecticut, but she spends her time between her travels in New York where she can come in touch with the literary world. She is a member of the Authors' League of America and other writers' affiliated clubs. This is her third visit to Kingstree."
It appears that Mrs. Thompson spent at least four winters in Kingstree. In 1918, she stayed in the home of Dr. and Mrs. R.J. McCabe. In the 1930s, she was a guest of Laura and Dr. Theodore S. Hemingway. Her books are still available, although a hardback copy of Wild Kindred lists for over $900 on Amazon. The Kindle versions are much, much less expensive.
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