Robert Louis Stevenson
- Pages
- about 28
- Category
- History
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 31 min at 250 wpm
From the opening
The publishers desire to announce that it is their purpose to
comprise in this series a collection of little books uniform in
general style and appearance to the present volume and having for
their subjects men and women, whose work and influence, in whatever
field of literature or art was their chosen one, may be said to
faintly reflect the spirit or tendencies of cultivated thought at
the present time.
The treatment of the subject matter will not be conventional, the
chief aim being to present to the readers a living, marching
personality breathing with the individuality characteristic of the
person.
"A spirit all sunshine, graceful from
every gladness, useful because
bright." Carlyle.
The mother of Robert Louis Stevenson, when asked to inscribe a motto
on a guest list, wrote:--
"The world is so full of a number of things,
I am sure we should all be happy as kings."
"That," she said, "includes the whole gospel of R. L. S." These
lines are certainly a concise statement of the spirit in which her
son undertook to expound the benefits to be derived from "performing
our petty round of irritating concerns and duties with laughter and
kind faces." Before he could walk steadily, it had been discovered
he was heavily handicapped by the burden of ill-health. Still the
good fairy who came to his christening endowed him with "sweet
content," a gift which carried him triumphantly through all
hampering difficulties. He never faltered in the task he set
himself--the task of happiness. He began to preach his gospel as a
child. He would not have his tawdry toy sword disparaged even by his
father. "I tell you," he said, "the sword is of gold, the sheath of
silver, and the boy who has it is quite contented." In the same
manner he transformed a coddling shawl into a wrap fit for a soldier
on a night march. To the end of his days he was eager to be happy.
We are told
A short sample. Read the whole book
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