The Song of the Cardinal

It tells of how just a small creature can make a difference in the life of someone who was ageing and rheumatic and could hardly put his hand to the plough.

Though written more than 100 years ago, this book has lost none of its charm with age. Gene Stratton-Porter’s book about a somewhat arrogant cardinal is wondrous in its prose, descriptive in its language, and appealing in its Indiana setting. The cardinal has a reason to be proud: he is the biggest, reddest bird ever seen by anyone. Even so, he has trouble wooing and winning his mate. The discovery of these cardinals by the farmer, Abram, and his wife, Maria, is so well told and described, that the astonishment these two people feel for these remarkable birds makes the story come alive. And when Abram takes to task a hunter who shot at his beloved bird, his anger just rolls off the page. A wonderful story that is so much more than a song of the cardinal; it is a story of an farm couple who are still surprised in their old age by the glory of God’s creation in the guise of a cardinal.