Part of the fun of doing the annual book cleaning is the finding of forgotten crappy old books. “But what do we mean by the America Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in
Originally posted November 2012. Here with some minor edits. As you know, the Pilgrims arrived in December 1620, They struggled. In all seriousness, it is fascinating to read Bradford’s account of their first few years. As it turns out, there were deceitful men on both sides of the Atlantic back in those crappy old days, too. You’ve
I woke up this morning and could not remember William Bradford’s first name. THE HORROR. For the next few days The Jungle Book will be paused as we read some Bradford. Meanwhile– and just to keep you up to date– I’m getting out the punch bowl. I’ll be doing the floors. There will be shiny
We’ve made our way to the end. I’m not excerpting anything from the final chapter because it’s too disjointed from the rest of the book. I don’t care for it. Today, being Friday, I’ll just circle ‘round to the first few sentences again. “One of the best things in the world to be is a
“It is impossible to say at what age a New England country-boy becomes conscious that his trousers-legs are too short, and is anxious about the part of his hair and the fit of his woman-made roundabout. These harrowing thoughts come to him later than to the city lad. At least, a generation ago he served
comes courtesy of Gerard Van der Leun. And so we did what any two young boys would do. We improved our fort and hauled in supplies. With some pruning sheers that my mother convinced herself she must have mislaid, we carefully trimmed out the inside stands of bamboo until a comfortable space was made (invisible
“In my day maple-sugar-making used to be something between picnicking and being shipwrecked on a fertile island, where one should save from the wreck tubs and augers, and great kettles and pork, and hen’s eggs and rye-and-indian bread, and begin at once to lead the sweetest life in the world. I am told that it
“John had got thus far in his studies, which were apparently arithmetic and geography, but were in reality the Arabian Nights, and other books of high and mighty adventure. He was a simple country-boy, and did not know much about the world as it is, but he had one of his own imagination, in which
“Perhaps it is not generally known that we get the idea of some of our best military maneuvers from the turkey. The deploying of the skirmish-line in advance of an army is one of them. The drum-major of our holiday militia companies is copied exactly from the turkey gobbler; he has the same splendid appearance,
“One of the best things in farming is gathering the chestnuts, hickory-nuts, butternuts, and even beechnuts, in the late fall, after the frosts have cracked the husks and the high winds have shaken them, and the colored leaves have strewn the ground. On a bright October day, when the air is full of golden sunshine,
Bit of a departure this morning. Mr. Big Food’s Aunt Bea is enjoying the posts on boys and sends along a couple of items. This she picked up at the Hoover Presidential Library. She framed it, and it hung on a wall of their farm in East Texas for over 30 years.
“Although the country-boy feels a little joy when school breaks up (as he does when anything breaks up, or any change takes place), since he is released from the discipline and restraint of it, yet the school is his opening into the world,—his romance. Its opportunities for enjoyment are numberless. He does not exactly know
Next to “The Girl I loved”– a book length poem– “How John Quit the Farm” is my very favorite James Whitcomb Riley poem. Enjoy! Riley Farm-Rhymes with Country Pictures (1905). Amazon tells me I have to disclose that I’m an Amazon Associate and I get a small (and thus far by small, I mean next
“If there is one thing more than another that hardens the lot of the farmer-boy, it is the grindstone. Turning grindstones to grind scythes is one of those heroic but unobtrusive occupations for which one gets no credit. It is a hopeless kind of task, and, however faithfully the crank is turned, it is one
“Sunday in the New England hill towns used to begin Saturday night at sundown; and the sun is lost to sight behind the hills there before it has set by the almanac. I remember that we used to go by the almanac Saturday night and by the visible disappearance Sunday night. On Saturday night we
“Say what you will about the general usefulness of boys, it is my impression that a farm without a boy would very soon come to grief. What the boy does is the life of the farm. He is the factotum, always in demand, always expected to do the thousand indispensable things that nobody else will
“No other boy knows how to appreciate a holiday as the farm-boy does; and his best ones are of a peculiar kind. Going fishing is of course one sort. The excitement of rigging up the tackle, digging the bait, and the anticipation of great luck! These are pure pleasures, enjoyed because they are rare. Boys
Being a Boy, Charles Dudley Warner (1877). From Chapter 2. “For instance, some morning in early summer John is told to catch the sorrel mare, harness her into the spring wagon, and put in the buffalo and the best whip, for father is obliged to drive over to the “Corners, to see a man” about
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