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Records of Later Life
Records of Later Life
"It is too unique and rich in the various, not to say contrarious, phases of genius to be dispatched in a word.... Both the letters and the later notes are immensely entertaining. They sparkle with bright things and bristle with points, and whether she has to describe men or things, a landscape or affairs, or to write with graphic force, in comic strain, or with brilliant point, her pen never fails. It is easy to believe that all the bright spirits of contemporary time are to be met in these pages, from all professions and all stations in life."--The Independent.
Book Excerpt
A similar blessed exemption from the curse of pauperism existed in the New England village of Lenox, where I owned a small property, and passed part of many years. Being asked by my friends there to give a public reading, it became a question to what purpose the proceeds of the entertainment could best be applied. I suggested "the poor of the village," but, "We have no poor," was the reply, and the sum produced by the reading was added to a fund which established an excellent public library; for though Lenox had no paupers, it had numerous intelligent readers among its population.
I have spoken of the semi-disapprobation with which my Quaker farmer declined the wine and beer offered him at my 4th of July festival. Some years after, when I found the men employed in mowing a meadow of mine at Lenox with no refreshment but "water from the well," I sent in much distress a considerable distance for a barrel of beer, which seemed to me an indispensable adjunct to such labor under the fervid heat of
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When I read this, I did not realize it was a follow-up volume to her earlier autobiography. Now sometimes reading the correspondence of others can be really boring, but in this case, despite it being a very long book, I was kept interested enough in her life to finish it. I can recommend it to you unless you need a fast moving book. This one obviously meanders. My only disappointment with it is that she did leave some questions unanswered.
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FEATURED AUTHOR - 'The Plotting Shed' (see her blog http://www.intheplottingshed.com/) was Alex Martin's first writing space at the bottom of her Welsh garden. Now she splits her time between Wales and France and plot wherever she is. She still wanders aimlessly in the countryside with her dog and her dreams and she can still be found typing away with imaginary friends whispering in her ear, but these days she has the joy of seeing her stories published and the treasured feedback from readers who've enjoyed them.