Vandaag precies 99 jaar geleden schreef Laura Ingalls' Wilder onderstaand artikel over de naderende winter voor de Missouri Ruralist:
An Autumn Day by Mrs. A. J. Wilder
~ Missouri Ruralist, October 20, 1916
King Winter has sent warning of his coming! There was a delightful freshness in the air the other morning, and all over the low places lay the first frost of the season.
What a beautiful world this is! Have you noticed the wonderful coloring of the sky at sunrise? For me there is no time like the early morning, when the spirit of light broods over the earth at its awakening. What glorious colors in the woods these days! Did you ever think that great painters have spent their lives trying to reproduce on canvas what we may see every day? Thousands of dollars are paid for their pictures which are not so beautiful as those nature gives us freely. The colors in the sky at sunset, the delicate tints of the early spring foliage, the brilliant autumn leaves, the softly colored grasses and lovely flowers– what painter ever equalled their beauties with paint and brush? I have in my living room three large windows uncovered by curtains which I call my pictures. Everchanging with the seasons, with wild birds and gay squirrels passing on and off the scene, I never have seen a landscape painting to compare with them.
As we go about our daily tasks the work will seem lighter if we enjoy these beautiful things that are just outside our doors and windows. It pays to go to the top of the hill, now and then, to see the view and to stroll thru the wood lot or pasture forgetting that we are in a hurry or that there is such a thing as a clock in the world. You are “so busy”! Oh yes I know it! We are all busy, but what are we living for anyway and why is the world so beautiful if not for us? The habits we form last us through this life and I firmly believe into the next. Let’s not make such a habit of hurry and work that when we leave this world we will feel impelled to hurry thru the spaces of the universe using our wings for feather dusters to clean away the star dust.
The true way to live is to enjoy every moment as it passes and surely it is in the everyday things around us that the beauty of life lies.
I strolled today down a woodland path–
A crow cawed loudly and flew away.
The sky was blue and the clouds were gold
And drifted before me fold on fold;
The leaves were yellow and red and brown
And patter, patter the nuts fell down,
On this beautiful, golden autumn day.
A squirrel was storing his winter hoard,
The world was pleasant: I lingered long,
The brown quails rose with a sudden whirr
And a little bundle, of eyes and fur,
Took shape of a rabbit and leaped away.
A little chipmunk came out to play
And the autumn breeze sang a wonder song.
The Missouri Ruralist/De Plattelandskrant van Missouri
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- Lid geworden op: 13-04-2011 22:25
Precies 93 jaar geleden, te weten 1-11-1922 schreef Laura onderstaand stukje voor de Missouri Ruralist:
by Mrs A. J. Wilder
~ Missouri Ruralist, November 1, 1922
Some time ago I read an Irish fairy story which told how a mortal, on a fairy steed, went hunting with the fairies. He had his choice whether the fairy horse should become large enough to carry a man-sized man or be small enough to ride the horse as it was.
He chose to become of fairy size and, after the magic was worked, rode gayly away with the fairy king, until he came to a wall so high he feared his tiny horse could not carry him over, but the fairy king said to him, “Throw your heart over the wall, then follow it!” So he rode fearlessly at the wall, with his heart already bravely passed it, and went safely over.
I have forgotten most of the story, and do not remember the name of the author, tho I wish I did, but often I think of the fairy’s advice. Anyone, who has ridden horses much, understands how the heart of the rider going over, fairly lifts the horse up and across an obstacle. And I have been told, by good drivers, that it holds true in taking a motor car up a difficult hill.
But the uplift of a fearless heart will help us over other sorts of barriers. In any undertaking, to falter at a crisis means defeat. No one ever overcomes difficulties by going at them in a hesitant, doubtful way.
If we would win success in anything, when we come to a wall that bars our way we must throw our hearts over and then follow confidently. It is fairy advice, you know, and savors of magic, so following it we will ride with the fairies of good fortune and go safely over.
by Mrs A. J. Wilder
~ Missouri Ruralist, November 1, 1922
Some time ago I read an Irish fairy story which told how a mortal, on a fairy steed, went hunting with the fairies. He had his choice whether the fairy horse should become large enough to carry a man-sized man or be small enough to ride the horse as it was.
He chose to become of fairy size and, after the magic was worked, rode gayly away with the fairy king, until he came to a wall so high he feared his tiny horse could not carry him over, but the fairy king said to him, “Throw your heart over the wall, then follow it!” So he rode fearlessly at the wall, with his heart already bravely passed it, and went safely over.
I have forgotten most of the story, and do not remember the name of the author, tho I wish I did, but often I think of the fairy’s advice. Anyone, who has ridden horses much, understands how the heart of the rider going over, fairly lifts the horse up and across an obstacle. And I have been told, by good drivers, that it holds true in taking a motor car up a difficult hill.
But the uplift of a fearless heart will help us over other sorts of barriers. In any undertaking, to falter at a crisis means defeat. No one ever overcomes difficulties by going at them in a hesitant, doubtful way.
If we would win success in anything, when we come to a wall that bars our way we must throw our hearts over and then follow confidently. It is fairy advice, you know, and savors of magic, so following it we will ride with the fairies of good fortune and go safely over.
