Claws

By Archibald Rutledge, Jim Casada, Ben McC. Moïse and Stephen Chesley

A boy meets a bobcat in a South Carolina swamp in this classic adventure story, now with handsome new artwork and a new foreword and introduction.

Unseen by readers for a century, Archibald Rutledge’s story “Claws” is a fast-paced adventure tale of a young boy, Paul, lost in the foreboding terrain of Spencer’s Swamp, the domain of the mighty bobcat Claws, who is deftly evading hounds and hunters alike. When Paul and Claws encounter one another at a perilous creek crossing, Rutledge’s mastery of outdoors storytelling shines through in every evocative word.

The short story, originally written for publication in an early twentieth-century boy’s magazine and included in a limited edition collection circa 1913, is now available as a project of South Carolina Humanities for the benefit of literary programs. This new edition of “Claws” is illustrated in handsome charcoal etchings by Southern artist Stephen Chesley. Award-winning outdoors writer and noted Rutledge scholar Jim Casada provides the volume’s introduction and retired South Carolina conservation officer Ben McC. Moïse offers an afterword.

“These books remind us of Mr. Rutledge’s command of the English language, his great skills of observation of the natural world, and his fondness for distilling universal truths from stories of local essence . . . It is good to have Mr. Rutledge with us once more.” —Pat Conroy

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: May 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781611174236

Archibald Rutledge

Archibald Rutledge (1883–1973) was South Carolina’s most prolific writer and the state’s first poet laureate. His nature writings garnered him the prestigious John Burroughs Medal.

Book preview

Claws

ARCHIBALD RUTLEDGE

Introduction by Jim Casada

Afterword by Ben McC. Moïse

Illustrations by Stephen Chesley

THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA PRESS

A Project of the Humanities CouncilSC

© 2014 University of South Carolina

Illustrations © 2014 Stephen Chesley

Published by the University of South Carolina Press

Columbia, South Carolina 29208

www.sc.edu/uscpress

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

can be found at http://catalog.loc.gov.

Contents

Introduction

Jim Casada

Claws

Afterword

Ben McC. Moïse

Introduction

Jim Casada

Archibald Hamilton Rutledge (1883–1973) quite possibly ranks as South Carolina’s most prolific literary figure ever. Even more impressive than the scores of books, hundreds of articles, and thousands of poems he published is the diversity of his literary output. He was South Carolina’s first poet laureate, a post he held for upwards of three decades. Supposedly on not one but two occasions he was the runner-up for the Nobel Prize in literature. As a hunting writer Old Flintlock, as Rutledge was fondly known to family and friends, was incredibly prolific, with nationally recognized expertise on the quest for white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, grouse, and other species. His nature writings garnered him the prestigious John Burroughs Medal. Short inspirational books with comforting titles such as Beauty