Bassetts Scrap Book, Vol 4, No 10
Articles in this issue
- p. 2
A brief prose poem by Muriel Strode describing a personal creed of seven spiritual commitments: worshipping at the call of the soul, singing to the rhythm of the heart, loving because one must, giving because one cannot keep.
- p. 1
A December year-end miscellany of seasonal aphorisms including Arabic proverbs on fire and winter, Japanese New Year age customs, Chinese attitudes to pins, and observations on luck, marriage, and the simple life.
- p. 2
A poem about a working father who endures daily defeats and humiliations but finds strength in knowing that at the end of each day a small child waits at the window believing completely in his father's goodness and success.
- p. 4
Two opposing long-range weather prophecies for the coming winter — one New England prophet reading late birds, sleek horses, and loafing woodchucks as signs of a mild winter, while a western paper reads thick corn-husks and plentiful nuts as signs of a severe one.
- p. 5
A poem by W.E.H. Lecky about a man who plants both an oak tree and a thought in the minds of men before sailing away to die abroad, reflecting that the thought will outlive the oak while his own name will be entirely forgotten.
- p. 7
A sailor's account of Parisian cab drivers who compete in the art of whip-cracking, with masters capable of playing recognisable tunes — the Marseillaise, Hiawatha — with the crack of a whip alone.
- p. 6
A reflection on book collecting prompted by a first edition of Poe's story selling for $1,400, arguing that the content is available for a quarter at any bookshop and the large price buys only the pleasure of possessing what very few others can have.