There was set before me a mighty hill
And long days I climbed
Through regions of snow.
When I had before me the summit view
It seemed that my labours
Had been to see gardens
Lying at impossible distances.
--Stephen Crane

I searched out this poem on the Internet to get the right spelling of the poets' name and came across a site called American Poets, I believe. For this poem, and many others, I am sure, there is a comments section where you can say what you think the poem is about. I found this poem about a month ago and thought it was pretty funny. A person climbs this huge mountain which people usually do, as far as I can tell, in large part for the sense of accomplishment. Then, after all that hard work, the climber can only lament that what he sees is too far away. What do you think you are going to accomplish when walking away from something, namely climbing a mountain? Distance, I would assume. To me, it was a poignant way of saying that work stinks. The poet seems to be saying that he should have stayed in the gardens, which we all know are beautiful, rather than setting out to do this huge thing which was only going to take him farther away from what he obviously wanted, the garden. Now, I know nothing good comes but from hard work, believe me, this I know, but try to convince me it doesn't still stink sometimes.


****However, speaking of work, I have a book in my possession called Memoirs of a Huguenot Family. It has been translated and compiled from the original autobiography of the Rev. James Fontaine by Ann Maury. I don't normally take books on consignment, but bent my own rule for a friend. This is an 1853 edition which ranges in price, based on my research, from $150-450 because it is so rare and contains. The seller is motivated to sell and would take $100 for it. For
more information, please give me a call or leave a comment.


**** I also have taken in an awful lot of books in trade, so the New Arrivals section has grown tremendously. The English Major Stuff section has been categorized into poetry, plays, anthologies, etc. All the modern fiction is now alphabettized and I got a rug! Come check out the changes and enjoy your day!