A Book I Won't Be Giving Away

This young man, my husband's uncle, who died in World War II at age 19, had this book as a child. You can see his signature, at about age 8, in the front flap of the book (below). He seemed to be practicing his cursive because he wrote his name about five times all over the front leaves.

I'm having Kieron read it for nature study this term. It's in Ambleside Year 3.5 but I didn't want Kieron to miss it.

The pictures are a bit muddy -- I can't get a good light inside the house this time of day. But you get the idea.









































I was just reading about The Wild Duck -- the text brings back a different age:

THE title will suggest to most boys a line across the autumn sky at sunset, with a bit of mystery about it; or else a dark triangle moving southward, high and swift, at Thanksgiving time. To a few, who know well the woods and fields about their homes, it may suggest a lonely little pond, with a dark bird rising swiftly, far out of reach leaving the ripples playing among the sedges. lo those accustomed to look sharply it will suggest five or six more birds, downy little fellows, hiding safe among roots and grasses, so still that one seldom suspects their presence. But the duck, like most game birds, loves solitude; the details of his life he keeps very closely to himself; and boys must be content with occasional glimpses.