"Brings out of the storehouse treasures old and new"
I stopped by a garage sale on the way home from work today. I don't usually stop, but I had a few dollars in my pocket and sometimes there are things that are just too good to pass up.
What I found was a great number of old books. Most were from the early teens, as in 1910-1919. There were many classics in a small sized series, although the set was incomplete: Homer, Ben Franklin, George Washington's Farewell Address, Edgar Allan Poe, several Shakespeares. There were many others as well, probably two or three dozen. I picked out Poe, Franklin, a book called "Before Adam" by Jack London, an anthology of writers from the South, and one more.
I took them to the lady, and she looked them over carefully. The books were "mistakenly" set out by her son, and she wanted to save some of them, as well as make sure that they weren't too valuable. They belonged to her mother's friend who had emigrated from England around 1900. Her mother would have been 102 this year. We talked a bit about Jack London and classics in general. Her son has two master's degrees as well. In the end, she kept the Poe, Franklin, and the one I forgot, and I took the London and the anthology for $1.25 apiece.
The London is a fourth printing, from August of 1912. The anthology contains works by Audubon, Albert Pike, O. Henry, and a whole bunch of other people I'd never heard of. It was compiled by Leonidas Payne, a professor of English at the University of Texas, published in 1913.
This week I also re-read Louis L'Amour's Last of the Breed for about the eighth time.
I've been working in the apparel department for two weeks with one week to go, then two weeks in footwear, and then the big interview. So far the "training" is going well.
And the boys are both well.
Jason
posted by Jason Fry @ 8:06 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
That should be an interesting London story. I had not realized what a socialist he was til I picked up Iron Heel. I was not able to finish it though.
Last of the Breed...one of my favorites of L'Amours. Even though he said he did not plan a sequel to it..he sure left the story hanging for one if he decided to do it. Unfortuntely he passed on before he had time to do one. I would have loved to have seen one.
I just started rereading the Sacketts stories again after many years away from them. I am trying to read them in chronological order.
Have you read Elmer Kelton? If not or if not read these stories then I highly recommend them. "The Good Ole Boys", "The Time It Never Rained", "The Man Who Rode Midnight", and "Stand Proud"
Kelton is a much better writer than L'Amour though I find L'Amour a very good story teller.
Sounds like the Manager Training is comeing along nicely. So how are the boys doing? I saw the hospital post.
Terry
The London story was certainly the product of its time. The premise of the book is that the narrator had a series of dreams that relate the story of one of his proto-human ancestors. It's about what this ape-man does, the society he lives in, and its interaction with lesser and greater evolved classes of hominids. Certainly not a White Fang.
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