Uncle Peter came up early Saturday morn and started packing books. He took home quite a few boxes but there are many more to go and Aunt Gertrude wants to look at each and every one of them. Well, I was here when the first boxes were taken from the barn and put on the library shelves and now I am here to see the dismantling of the library. But I'm sure Uncle Allan is happy to know the books are going to Uncle Peter and your Dad.
Winters at Rowen Farm were often harsh, but so beautiful, with the pure white snow covering the hills. Some of my best sledding memories come from there - whizzing down the long, long hills with my sister. Our great-uncle Allan went, too - when he was in his eighties! We thought that he was just the coolest person. He was a Latin teacher, and his library at the farm was a place of intrigue. It was an addition to the farmhouse, and he had it lined floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall with bookshelves chock full of books. There was a fireplace, and a few assorted chairs and tables. I recall books on those, and on the floor as well. It seemed to be overflowing with the written word. What treasures, what ancient knowledge, might we find among the pages? Our favorite was the edition of the Oxford English dictionary that filled an entire shelf, all on its own. This edition was several volumes in size, and contained etymology as well as meaning for the words. We loved looking through it to discover bits of the history of our language.
Once, we measured the total length of the OED volumes - about 4 feet in all! Our young selves were convinced it was the longest book in the world - right there in our great-uncle's library...
