Research Catalog

The Egret's Plumes

Title
The Egret's Plumes [electronic resource] / Archibald Rutledge ; introduction by Jim Casada ; foreword by Jacob F. Rivers III ; illustrated by Stephen Chesley.
Author
Rutledge, Archibald, 1883-1973.
Publication
Columbia, SC : University of South Carolina Press, [2016]

Available Online

  • Available from home with a valid library card
  • Available onsite at NYPL

Details

Additional Authors
  • Chesley, Stephen C., 1952-
  • Project Muse.
Description
1 online resource (1 online resource.)
Summary
"Archibald Rutledge's suspenseful story "The Egret's Plumes" is a cautionary tale exalting the virtues of good sportsmanship, conservation of the natural world, and the universality of parental instincts. Fleeing the relentless plume hunters of their native Florida, a pair of exquisite snowy egrets make a new home -- and then a new family -- in the South Carolina lowcountry swamps of Blake's Reserve. When the male egret is killed by a poacher, the female is left to defend her nest and raise their hatchlings. Will Ormond, a restless and reckless hunter and heir to the reserve's plantation, spots the surviving egrets after a day of disappointments with his original prey. As he wades into the swamp to gain a better position for his kill shot with his only remaining cartridge, Will comes to recognize elements of his relationship with his own mother in the selfless devotion of the female egret to her young. In this moment of uncharacteristic hesitation, he also realizes that he is no longer alone in the brackish waters of the reserve and that the hunter may have become the hunted. "The Egret's Plumes" is an inspiring, allegorical narrative that illuminates the pitfalls awaiting immoral acts and the saving virtues of selflessness and compassion. This short story was written for publication in an early twentieth-century boy's magazine and was first collected in the privately printed Eddy Press edition of Old Plantation Days (c. 1913). Limited to just a few hundred copies, the Eddy Press edition is highly prized by Rutledge collectors and includes five stories -- "Claws," "The Doom of Ravenswood," "The Egret's Plumes," "The Heart of Regal," and "The Ocean's Menace" -- not found in the more widely available 1921 Stokes edition of Old Plantation Days. A project of the Humanities Council SC benefiting South Carolina literary programs, this new edition of The Egret's Plumes is illustrated in handsome charcoal etchings by southern artist Stephen Chesley. Award-winning outdoors writerand noted Rutledge scholar Jim Casada provides the volume's introduction, and outdoors writer and author Jacob F. Rivers III offers an afterword."--
Uniform Title
  • Egret's Plumes (Online)
  • Book collections on Project MUSE.
Alternative Title
Egret's Plumes (Online)
Subject
  • Swamps > Fiction
  • Herons > Fiction
  • South Carolina > Fiction
Note
  • "A Project of the Humanities Council SC."
Access (note)
  • Access restricted to authorized users.
Source of Description (note)
  • Description based on print version record.
OCLC
ssj0001705899
Author
Rutledge, Archibald, 1883-1973.
Title
The Egret's Plumes [electronic resource] / Archibald Rutledge ; introduction by Jim Casada ; foreword by Jacob F. Rivers III ; illustrated by Stephen Chesley.
Imprint
Columbia, SC : University of South Carolina Press, [2016] (Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2015)
Series
Book collections on Project MUSE.
Access
Access restricted to authorized users.
Connect to:
Available from home with a valid library card
Available onsite at NYPL
Added Author
Chesley, Stephen C., 1952-
Project Muse.
Other Form:
Print version: Rutledge, Archibald, 1883-1973, author. Egret's plumes Columbia, SC : University of South Carolina Press, [2016] 9781611176728 (DLC) 2016012019
LCCN
2016018486
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