Over the Fireside with Silent Friends

Richard King

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• Publié par: pudov
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 53
• Langue: English

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Project Gutenberg's Over the Fireside with Silent Friends, by Richard King

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Title: Over the Fireside with Silent Friends

Author: Richard King

Release Date: April 20, 2008 [EBook #25111]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OVER THE FIRESIDE ***

Produced by Al Haines

OVER THE FIRESIDE

WITH SILENT FRIENDS

BY RICHARD KING

WITH A "FOREWORD" BY

SIR ARTHUR PEARSON, BART., G.B.E.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

WITH SILENT FRIENDS THESECOND BOOK OFSILENT FRIENDS PASSION AND POT-POURRI

LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD

NEW YORK: JOHN LANECOMPANY

MCMXXI

Many of the following Essays appear by kind permission of the Editor of The Tatler." "

Fifty per cent. of the author's profit on the sale of this book will be handed over to the National Library of the Blind, Tufton Street, Westminster, S.W.

I DEDICATE,

THIS LITTLEBOOK TO THOSEV.A.D.'S WHO, THOUGH THEWAR IS OVER, STILL "CARRYON" AND TO THOSEOTHER MEN AND WOMEN WHO, LIVINGIN FREEDOM, HAVENOT FORGOTTEN THEMEN WHO FOUGHT OR DIED FOR IT

FOREWORD BYSIR ARTHUR PEARSON, BART., G.B.E. Those who buy "Over the Fireside" will purchase for themselves the real joy of mentally absorbing the delightful thoughts which Mr. Richard King so charmingly clothes in words. And they will purchase, too, a large share of an even greater pleasure—the pleasure of giving pleasure to others—for the author tells me that he has arranged to give half of the profits arising from the sale of this book to the National Library for the Blind, thus enabling that beneficent Institution to widen and extend its sphere of usefulness. You will never, perhaps, have heard of the National Library for the Blind, and even if it so happens that you are vaguely aware of its existence, you will in no true degree realise all that it means to those who are compelled to lead lives, which however full and interesting, must inevitably be far more limited in scope than your own. Let me try to make you understand what reading means to the intelligent blind man or woman. Our lives are necessarily narrow. Blind people, however keen their understanding, and however clearly and sympathetically those around them may by description make up for their lack of perception, must, perforce, lead lives which lack the vivid actuality of the lives of others. To those of them who have always been blind the world, outside the reach of their hands, is a mystery which can only be solved by description. And where shall they turn for more potent description than to the pages in which those gifted with the mastery of language have set down their impressions of the world around them? And for people whose sight has left them after the world and much that is in it has become familiar to them, reading must mean more than it does to any but the most studious of those who can see. Some are so fortunate as to be able to enlist or command the services of an intelligent reader, but this is not given to any but a small minority, and even to these the ability to read at will, without the necessity of calling in the aid of another, is a matter of real moment, helping as it does to do away with that feeling of dependence which is the greatest disadvantage of blindness. All this Mr. Richard King knows nearly as well as I do, for he has been a splendidly helpful friend to the men who were blinded in the War, and none know better than he how greatly they have gained by learning to read anew, making the fingers as they travel over the dotted characters replace the eyes of which they have been despoilt. Disaster sometimes leads to good fortune, and the disaster which befell the blinded soldier has given to the service of the blind world generally the affection and sympathy which Mr. Richard King so abundantly possesses. Your reading of this book—and if you have only borrowed it I hope that these words may induce you to buy a copy—will help to enable more blind folk to read than would otherwise have been the case, and thus you will have added to the happiness of the world, just as the perusal of "Over the Fireside" will have added to your own happiness.

 rhcy uorDwa ITNOODUCINTR OF  WAYYB ono  tusheotane  seirome gniknil on wratilikeho,   dot rna egen t eh wiro ong. ldw Horuo vles ,seg sioutside seems totsli lht eowlr d gnel era swodahs he Tn!owgre av h dnp ,ea nituybm ute  mining,thenirb lthgnedros ,th, gae serelynt eitema a l tiltful suchy beauti pun ia r rotaeer fir thee. It esid  eht si  fo ruohhtigiltw, onSo. osv re yosno ,naother of Life's ttild el syalliwav hsie ntle clyus iind  behrept id m olgnht etn o fof-al hofo mbli eW .sraey nettogr ne—you a are alo tebwteednI  .eYn,eeut busn ns—ua—laM errev er y akine sh werxies fi ip a  s esumunill iesamflg inncad stI .yllihc y are vereveningstpmeeb r rht eeSlyhtfo, s rnigbrrif ub emooreht  me s ees ftisai art,o he Tim andot smeest kaeps he wr,out arhen  eht ewTligithH  es. DON'T you lov nretni sruo caf thg r einytian l  ni fi ?swonk ohadsht esrkdae thm sygaciehm nit t. WNigh of tery,ytuliw rebmaeb tot s  ubel os l  lht eocogi  nla ts Septe lour of i ngmicoe e thf  o snI !nwaD  eht edi , wihourtay ll su  siwht lhtnuitd,Goet rniur inght nt siiliw thg ows Angels are no ttsnaidgn ,na d the ote  dtoinives h smetey cae he wondehat is tuohg.tT eh'r sht il sit sthboe  w,spahrep rO .sya eak, ot sp do n We ca.e apsof rne t ht ehguow stah e uhoerndanstthd  otuet.r oSw  eis ve never dared t ve ,pihss eht neea rofr ndieFrl   gotllniesw t oh ce silens, te peak s ahodsw gnit ehhile! It   for a w  ruonehwt sih ehdsenee mld ori f of res dc aeh da ursuto pent  a mom sselhtaeD sti einerngli, seurco se unimportant thnisgw ihhch paepd nenglogo an  i ehtdaeDseY dret  talt to "cak ofsea bbganisgdnk  Lnd a,"d ane ifdna evoLoht lla  ecome yold not b,nm relenu ggaia gre inow t ha ar we ew tuow  lo g uB .d as Ml, hr alaftee caa dnEI,SMERO agd olw ro gtoy   ,egA !ON !oN .nia  sonl se srpceoius because there ssap .se . . . . nd . Aac ehoh  iursedif rirob "ef of uoth ow ts, neb lliw ynam os  "rsou hhe terov tni ht ooicsylsu uenonncreweov wu  sna dlfeucnde they in and how —sessap thgiliwtf  ourhog on lheoSt  ev.s re il i nn ourn ofttere pa  nkeefo rtfowe, e gnrebmW .sam eing over the dyi tuqeilt,yd erma nd aen Mrsteat M ylpmis e fo kaeps ntero "e." Wtainon td  oevt tsir e tlat bhe treha  erehW     rednoy ightg knyounthe qsauek nb ort ehesli  O .   ondral r iuq w te ylnyatsmind remhile my    hT eeb meebsr    nips eht c I   .te sat noanr ou yil , Iessatow acnnr     ande r co Youifnr,dleron uoy hir -llld,anor ny uo ravllye   s E ver again, nor s  ;imvase welleolld yng ourni   T  skcit kcolc ehT   tenumiy  btenu iwer   ,    tieher dart. A wto my he cisu ni  tsom fohi tghn ov M aes ry t stois that omyr heMsaa i  s loe osthin llyvey oD .dlo  wonk uoield—    "I take t seb  yoJnhM safe  tertho fie ,   reb eh kna dnahtag

And so I hope that a few of the embers in this little book will help to warm some unknown human heart. And that is all I ask!

ebme".srauty of m the beiferf oruayto  f

efaclyul Mo  rndeolC seht

CONTENTS

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