“The old farm-home is Mother’s yet and mine,And filled it is with plenty and to spare,-But we are lonely here in life’s decline,Though fortune smiles around us everywhere:We look across the goldOf the harvests, as of old-The corn, the fragrant clover, and the hayBut most we turn our gaze,As with eyes of other days,To the
Perhaps the only actual parallel to Montaigne in literature is Lamb. A. As I type this SEC football will begin in 10 minutes. That’s enough to make this an outstanding day. 2. I am looking for something and find myself in The Encyclopedia Britannica (1962) reading that sentence. How could it possibly get any better?
It really does take special effort to be this frucking stupid, Internet. It’s a quote from Bacon, for crying out loud. It’s not that big a deal b/c I have Bartlette’s right over there on the shelf. On the other hand, there’s no room on my desk. OMG! Adding “Bacon quote” to the search sure
“Success in any study depends largely upon the interest taking in that particular subject by the student. This being the case, we earnestly hope that you will realize at the very outset that shorthand can be made in intensely fascinating study. Cultivate a love for it. Think of it as the highest form of writing
Today in the year 1832 Sir Walter Scott died. That infallible source will refresh our memories, if needed. Scott himself is so good I’m giving him all of the space today. Daily Reading September 21 Sir Walter Scott [GDR directs to a few autobiographical letters, etc. See below.] The Maid of Neidpath [poem] Pibroch of
The fellow who does The Ace of Spades Headquarters Sunday Morning Book Thread is on holiday this week. Alas, that means I have no funny or whimsical book-related cartoons to swipe & repost this morning. And so… I offer you this. Originally posted here December, 2018. Enjoy! We live in an amazing time. On my
I don’t know what happened but somewhere along the line this week the days got mixed up. No. I got the days mixed up. I shall correct. Yesterday, the 17th, we turned the page. It does not matter how many, but how good, books you have. Seneca I feel as if there should be a
This is a perfectly delightful little book– so delightful that I’m not even going to call it a crappy old book! It is culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. Amazon Free on Kindle, paperback $5 That infallible source’s bio of Warner is woefully abbreviated. Let’s see
Today we turned the page on a new week at our Pocket University Guide to Daily Reading in 1922. The desire to have many books, and never use them, is like a child that will have a candle burning by him all the while he is sleeping. Henry Peacham Interesting… . That infallible source: Henry
I will be the first to stipulate that Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised (1970) is not exactly … riveting reading. Unless you’re reading the original Introduction which is a wonderful history of Parliamentary Procedure. The ability of the Colonies’ representatives to come together and engage in debate about their dissolution from the rule of
On this day in history nothing happened. Nothing. The editors of The Pocket University Guide to Daily Reading (1925) made some curious choices. This one is a doozy. Queen Elizabeth– the original– was born on September 7 in the year 1533. Anniversaries and Holidays: A Calendar of Days and How to Observe Them (1928) directs
Today on this day in the year 1591 Sir Richard Grenville died. Daily Readings September 4 Tennyson’s The Revenge Wordsworth The Skylark Elegiac Stanzas Suggested By a Picture of Peele Castle The Revenge I AT Flores, in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay, And a pinnace, like a flutter’d bird, came flying from far away;
It is highly unlikely that I have not posted this before. No matter. It can be enjoyed again and again. Ben Franklin’s letter to his daughter Sarah Bache (January 26, 1784) concerning the Eagle and the Turkey. The Turkeys was robbed of their rightful place in American history, I tell ya. For my own part
Today we turned the page. Old wood best to burn; old wine to drink; old friends to trust; and old authors to read. Alonzo of Aragon Died today in the year 1883, Ivan Turgenieff. Russian novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, translator and popularizer of Russian literature in the West. Snipetts from that infallible source: From 1838 until 1841
Originally posted with little commentary December 2015. The obvious question, today, is: Where is this book? If I had to bet, I’d bet it’s on the 4th shelf down on the left hand bookshelf– the tall ones that stand next to each other– in the Bunkhouse. Nope. Second shelf, right hand bookshelf– the short ones
Died this day in the year 1921, Austin Dobson. Huh. He was an engineer. “In December 1856 he entered the Board of Trade, gradually rising to the rank of principal in the harbour department, from which he retired in the autumn of 1901.” From that infallible source: His official career was uneventful, but as a poet
As I began my quest– in earnest– to preserve Western Civilization one crappy old book at a time, I soon came to appreciate that I wasn’t just collecting crappy old books. I was… how to say? “Honoring” is too self-congratulatory. “Remembering” assumes I once knew. “Keeping alive?” Hardly. If I believed those souls whose books
Born this day in 1855 Simeon Ford. Here we go. Fifteen minutes later: The internet is a dump. Can’t find him anywhere in my crappy old books. Two pages of Amazon results & nothing more? A dump, I say. Daily Reading September 1 At a Turkish Bath The Discomforts of Travel Boyhood in a New
Born this day in the year 1811 Théophile Gautier. That infallible source spills a lot of ink over someone of whom I have never heard– though now that I’ve search the card catalog of my little home library I see “The Mummy’s Foot” is one of The World’s One Hundred Best Short Stories Volume Two:
On this day in 1828 Leo Tolstoi was born. If War and Peace is a bit much, here’s your chance to read some Tolstoi. The Prisoner in the Caucasus Here’s the entire entry at that infallible source: “The Prisoner of the Caucasus” (Russian: Кавказский пленник, Kavkazskii plennik) is an 1872 novella written by Leo Tolstoy. The story
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