The Gospel of Out of Doors (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781621714217)

WHY THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN

There are two kinds of books. One kind couldn't be helped. The other kind could be helped, but their writers were compelled to write, by a sense of duty to a cause or an idea, or they were written with an eye to the royalties. Not that one kind is nec- essarily any better than the other. The author of the couldn't-be-helped book may maunder on about his favorite subject as a lover babbles about his mistress, never quite happy unless he can find a sympathetic ear into which he can pour her charms. The author of the could-be-helped book may bring to his tasks the research of a student and the industry of a lifetime, and produce a work that the world will not willingly let die. But I venture to say that the author of the couldn't-be-helped book will enjoy himself more while he is at work on it, and will not quarrel with the world if his book doesn't prove to be a "best seller."

I will confess without a blush that this book is of the latter class. I have come un- der the spell of the out of doors on the old farm. It would be hard not to write about it even if nobody read what I wrote. Like an old minister whom I once knew, who, after he retired from active service, though he never expected to preach again, still wrote a sermon for his barrel every week, so I should be inclined, if worst came to worst, to write about my farm, even if my essays were to be forever confined to the unsympathetic em- brace of a drawer in my study desk. How- ever, a number of partial friends have ex- pressed their pleasure in some of these es- says, when published in various periodicals, and it requires but a slight amount of such en- couragement to incline one to -bind the chil- dren of his love between boards and give them to the world. I have, too, a purpose not altogether egoistic in their publication, and that is that other men and women, en- couraged by my own experience of the joy, the comfort, and the health that come from an old farm, may feel its lure, learn its joy, and experience its health-giving comforts.

F.E.C.

Author: Francis E. Clark
ISBN-10: 1621714217
ISBN-13: 9781621714217
Publisher: First Fruits Press
Language: English
Published: 08/27/2015
Pages: 156
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.52lbs
Size: 9.02h x 5.98w x 0.36d