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Archie p. McKishnie,
fiction writer and nature romancer, was born in Scotland, Ontario.
Perhaps the fact that he spent his boyhood years close to the great
heart of nature enables him to crystallize into book form all that is
finest and best in the wild-woods world he loves.
His maternal Scottish ancestry reverts to Duncan Ban McIntyre, a Gaelic
bard whost nature poems now rank among the classics. Jean Blewett, so
widely beloved and so well known as “a women’s poet,” is a sister.
"While Mr. McKishnie occasionally writes verse of a high order he has
chosen prose as the form of artistry in which his rare gifts find
expression. His stories of the out-of-doors reveal an intimacy with the
“furred and feathered denizens of the forest ’ ’ and a perhaps
unrivalled understanding of their life habits. Comedy and tragedy alike
are so unerringly depicted that even the most casual reader, as he
follows the trail of animal romanticism, is imbued with a greater
reverence for the forest creatures and for the Creator who in His
allwise fashion planned their place in the scheme of the universe.
Openway and Mates of the Tangle are rich in messages gleaned from a
close comradeship with nature’s children and translated by the author
with graphic vividness. Openway was syndicated and put into book form
for preservation. It has since been translated into French.
Following is an excerpt from Mates of the Tangles “Like the sparks of a
dying camp-fire, the northern stars had filmed and retreated before the
advance heralds of dawn. It was as though the world of solitude, having
spun its course throughout a night of gladness, had suddenly died,
leaving behind the tang of fir, faint odor of fern and pungent scent of
dew-drenched moss.
So rested the far-sweeping forest, dark and silent, a fabric cast from
God’s great loom whose shuttle had ceased to move.
Then, some where deep in the darkness, a single note awoke, and with the
strength of sweetness stirred the wilderness to a sigh. Silence again,
then the note of the wood bird grew into a gushing song, and a faint
murmur grew up among the trees. Later the murmur deepened to a glad
rustling, and as if in answer to the wild bird’s summons, there was
light, and sound, and life throughout the solitude.”
Archie P. MeKishnie
Indian legends from the
pen of Archie P. McKishnie are uniquely fascinating, and, though a
slender creation, may be classed among his best work. Each is an
exquisite bit of art delicately chiselled from a rough block of ancient
wood-lore and bearing the immortal touch of a master craftsman.
A number of short stories which vary in their degree of excellence are
among McKishnie’s productions. In these, as in his novels, he runs the
whole gamut of emotions, but whether it be an enchanting portrayal of
forest drama or a humorous tale of the dusky South, it is unfailingly
characterized by a wholesomeness of purpose.
Check-List of First Editions
Gaff Linkum. Toronto, 1907.
Love of the Wild. Canada and U.S., 1910.
Willow the Wisp. Canada and U. S. 1912.
A Son of Courage. Canada and U. S., 1915.
Openway. Canada and U.S., 1920.
Mates of the Tangle. Canada, 1923.
Brains Limited. England and the Colonies. 1924.
Editor’s Note.—In train for early publication is Little People of Marsh |
