From the Shelf: What's Inside

Several years ago my children and I took a hike into the woods near our home, toting along, Plaster of Paris and circles of cardboard. Our aim? To capture foot prints in the mud with our plaster. We were very successful. We were able to cast, a Great Blue Heron , Raccoon, and another unidentified rodent. This was not an original idea at all. My mother some forty years earlier had done this very thing with my brothers and me. Great memories.

Foot prints are very interesting, don’t you think? I was given pause to think on this, this morning as I looked at a "new" used book I had just procured. Now some will disagree on this score, but I for one really enjoy other people's thoughts, notes, and underlining in a book. It is their foot print if you will, of how they felt as they read the very pages I am about to read.

I know we have talked about inscriptions in books before, so I wanted to further the talk. A particular note I found in a 1900 copy of Winsome Womanhood by Margaret E. Sangster says;

"My Mary...Song of Solomon 2:2."

Now I don’t know if you are familiar with that verse, but let's just say ROMANTIC!! Here is the text... "As the lily among thorns so is my love among the daughters". Wow...if that doesn’t make your heart beat a little faster, you had better see a doctor.

In another book I have, the margins were filled with encouraging lines like, "Just wait", and "Hang in there". Could these notes be for me? Well I believe nothing is left to chance...so yes they are. The next time your perusing the used book piles, don’t be turned off by underlining and margin notes. They may be a personal message just for you!


For more of Mum's bookish wisdom...just ask because she doesn't get out much in the social networking scene, only the occasional blog post here. Stay tuned for more From the Shelf.