Pierre and His People: Tales of the Far North. Complete

Pierre and His People: Tales of the Far North. Complete

So far as my literary work is concerned Pierre and His People may be likened to a new city built upon the ashes of an old one. Let me explain. While I was in Australia I began a series of short stories and sketches of life in Canada which I called Pike Pole Sketches on the Madawaska. A very few of them were published in Australia, and I brought with me to England in 1889 about twenty of them to make into a volume. I told Archibald Forbes, the great war correspondent, of my wish for publication, and asked him if he would mind reading the sketches and stories before I approached a publisher. He immediately consented, and one day I brought him the little brown bag containing the tales. A few days afterwards there came an invitation to lunch, and I went to Clarence Gate, Regents Park, to learn what Archibald Forbes thought of my tales. We were quite merry at luncheon, and after luncheon, which for him was a glass of milk and a biscuit, Forbes said to me, Those stories, Parkeryou have the best collection of titles I have ever known. He paused. I understood. To his mind the tales did not live up to their titles. He hastily added, But I am going to give you a letter of introduction to Macmillan. I may be wrong. My reply was: You need not give me a letter to Macmillan unless I write and ask you for it. I took my little brown bag and went back to my comfortable rooms in an old-fashioned square. I sat down before the fire on this bleak winters night with a couple of years work on my knee. One by one I glanced through the stories and in some cases read them carefully, and one by one I put them in the fire, and watched them burn. I was heavy at heart, but I felt that Forbes was right, and my own instinct told me that my ideas were better than my performanceand Forbes was right. Nothing was left of the tales; not a shred of paper, not a scrap of writing. They had all gone up the chimney in smoke. There was no self-pity. I had a grim kind of feeling regarding the thing, but I had no regrets, and I have never had any regrets since. I have forgotten most of the titles, and indeed all the stories except one. But Forbes and I were right; of that I am sure. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 6179
Author: Parker, Gilbert
Release Date: Nov 16, 2004
Format: eBook
Language: English