Thursday, May 2, 2013

The Little Minister - by Scottish author James Barrie


Free US/UK Kindle Classic

The Little Minister is an 1891 novel by Scottish author James Barrie.  (US Edition)  (UK Edition)  He is primarily known now for writing Peter Pan, but The Little Minister is a much loved book.

Long ago, in the days when our caged blackbirds never saw a king's soldier without whistling impudently, "Come ower the water to Charlie," a minister of Thrums was to be married, but something happened, and he remained a bachelor. Then, when he was old, he passed in our square the lady who was to have been his wife, and her hair was white, but she, too, was still unmarried. The meeting had only one witness, a weaver, and he said solemnly afterwards, "They didna speak, but they just gave one another a look, and I saw the love-light in their een."

Maybe I should have held this book until Valentine's Day.  These are not the star-crossed lovers in the book, but the course of true love does not run smoothly here.  You will also note this book is not for the dialogphobic.

At six Gavin hit another boy hard for belonging to the Established Church, and at seven he could not lose himself in the Shorter Catechism. His mother expounded the Scriptures to him till he was eight, when he began to expound them to her. By this time he was studying the practical work of the pulpit as enthusiastically as ever medical student cut off a leg. From a front pew in the gallery Gavin watched the minister's every movement, noting that the first thing to do on ascending the pulpit is to cover your face with your hands, as if the exalted position affected you like a strong light, and the second to move the big Bible slightly, to show that the kirk officer, not having had a university education, could not be expected to know the very spot on which it ought to lie.

And there I will leave it, but let's just say a Gypsy will cross his path and complicate his future.

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