>There are getting to be too many artificialities between ourselves and our >experiences. "The world is too much with us, late and soon," no? >This may be a bit off topic -- it's part of a column I wrote >back when I was doing the magazine for the North Country Trail Association >-- but it immediately came to mind: [snip nice excerpt] Very enjoyable, Wes. It reminds me very much of a short story by one of my favorite writers, E.B. White. The story is called "Once More to the Lake." It tells of a similar return to a wonderful childhood place with the writer's son, only to find disappointment. . . A great little essay. Since it came up <g>, allow me to please offer a little plug for E.B. White. If you have children, you *must* get to know this great writer. Of course, ever since the recent trivialization and commercialization of "Stuart Little," at least that book has acquired some acclaim (although the true point of the story is, I fear, lost on the consumers of Stuart Little "stuff"). [Point of relevance: Stuart saved the day in one of the great boat scenes of all time.] White also wrote "Charlotte's Web," of course, which is a wonderful story, inspired by the fact that Mr. White didn't like people to kill pigs. And then there's "Trumpet of the Swan." . . . And for those, like me, who need a little help now and then with their grammar, Mr. White and Mr. Strunk gave us a famous little book known affectionately as "Strunk and White" (how clever). White was born right down the road from where I live in NY, and (like me) fell in love with Maine and made it his real home (great minds think alike, no?). And of course, E.B. also gave us Joel White, his son, who was one of the more inspired boat designers of the 20th Century. What a guy. Mark a little quote from Charlotte's Web to finish. . . "Do you understand how there could be any writing in a spider's web?" Oh, no," said Dr Dorian. "I don't understand it. But for that matter I don't understand how a spider learned to spin a web in the first place. When the words appeared, everyone said they were a miracle. But nobody pointed out that the web itself is a miracle." *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Sep 11 2000 - 14:36:39 PDT
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