The Weeping Willow Classic Reprint PDF Download

Excerpt from Weeping-Cross: And Other Rimes I can see him now, dog at heel, leisurely pacing the rough green ridges of the great field that leads to Shottery, while chanting under his breath some tag or end of song, just as some unhappy child will sing, to cheer itself and make believe this is a glad rather than a sorry world so it was that all the verse in this little book was made. He first crooned to me By Avon Stream in the gathering dusk of a summer evening, asking almost incredulously Do you really think it good? For generous in his appreciation of other men's work, meticulous in criticism of his own, he never asked more than the rhymer's dole, and had not poverty kept house for him, weeping-cross would have ended as a light for his pipe, or found burial in the waste-paper basket. To give with both hands was his one idea ofhappiness, and as, like menacing figures, the dark days of hopelessness and failure closed round about him, Christmas, instead of a joyful feast, became an evil nightmare, for he had nothing to give to his friends. So December, 1916, saw issued from the Shakespeare Head Press, stratford-on-avon, The Willow, a thin volume, bound in vellum coloured paper, the edition being limited to twenty five copies. In December, 1917, came another thin vol ume, this time a larger edition of thirty copies, and the eight lines, weeping-cross, that gave the book its title, tell the story of its author's life far better than any biography, however lovingly or carefully compiled, will ever do. Some day The Willow and weeping-cross may find their way into the great sale rooms and their possession be eagerly disputed by bibliophiles from over-seas but it was only at the earnest request of three friends that at last he consented to consider the re-printing of these booklets, together with sundry scraps of verse, written at odd moments and in varied moods. Asked to add some others, his answer was See how people like them if they do, I can easily write more. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.