August 19, 2006

• In Praise of Mr. F

  (Does reading “Mr. F” remind you of Sense and Sensibility <grin>?) 

  I got another package this week from my friend, benefactor and kindred spirit, Mr. F. 

  This man has retired from *several* illustrious careers: he worked as an engineer on equipment that went on the moon; as a district attorney he successfully prosecuted every homicide case he was given; he sat as a federal judge; he taught high school after he “retired”.  

  I first met his daughter in a women’s Bible study – when I saw Mr. F at our new church the resemblance was so striking that I had no doubt whose father he was.  Over the years that we worshiped together he made a wonderful hobby of  building up other people’s personal libraries.  He bought  leather bound editions of Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening by the case to cheerfully give away. 

  Our family has been the grateful recipients of many gifts and even more loans of books that Mr. F thought we might enjoy.  We’d get photocopies of articles and essays from Mr. F’s reading.  He has a 100% track record for good stuff. 

  He has introduced us to (a partial list):

  ~ coracles and and the Welsh Prince Madog thought to have come to America centuries before Columbus;
  ~ Jules Verne’s The Mysterious Island
  ~ Paul De Kruif’s Microbe Hunters  (science history that was fascinating)
  ~ Conan Doyle’s The White Company
  ~ alternate theories on the identity of William Shakespeare
  ~ Shackleton’s Endurance
  ~ Confederate coinage and currency
  ~ Roger Ascham’s Toxophilus (Ascham was Queen Elizabeth I’s tutor)
  ~ Dava Sobel’s book Longitude (the first glimmers of hope that I could enjoy science)
  ~ stories of the Oregon Trail, vividly told
  ~ Long’s English Literature and American Literature
  ~ Adam Nicholson’s book God’s Secretaries about the making of the KJV

  So many times information he had uncovered and enthusiastically shared coincided with our home school studies.  He always took an interest in what we were learning and the boys’ plans.  We both enjoy Puritan authors and have compared notes on Burroughs, Boston and Watson. 

  Since he has moved away our conversations have been greatly reduced, but I still get treasures in the mail and occasional emails with recommendations. 

  This package was a hardbound first edition of a book published in 1912 by Harper and Brothers called The Greatest English Classic, A Study of the KJV of the Bible and It’s Influences on Life and Literature by Cleland McAfee.
   
  In an accompanying letter Mr. F wrote:

  I enjoy being exposed to trained and disciplined erudition which seems to be more difficult to find in “modern day writers”, even the good ones.  The rigors of education were formidable years ago and those who read the “old guys” (as Curt describes them) benefit greatly from their learning.

  I admire and appreciate his curiosity and inquisitiveness, his thirst to keep learning, and his instinctive generosity.  What joy it is to have such a friend.  Thanks, Mr. F!

  • 6:35 pm
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