One of my favourite books when I was young was Phyllis Garrard's 'Hilda New Zealand Schoolgirl' I bought the 1960s reprint with my own pocket money, it cost 5/- and it was really thick! The Hilda stories were written in the 1930s and I loved them and read them over and over again. When my parents moved house whilst I was at university, my Mother - not the most sensitive of people - thought she might as well get rid of my childhood books. So Hilda went. I spent years in second hand book shops looking for the familiar pale turquoise binding. Then about ten years ago I found her again. A kind bookshop in Sidney Australia sent her to me.
Re-reading the stories was truly weird. It is true that your brain contains every thing you have ever experienced, I found thankfully that I still loved Hilda, but more than that. I found she had entered my consiousness and never left. Some of the things I say and think are a direct 'lift' from her.
There is one chapter called 'Another Blue Day' - a quote from a Thomas Carlyle poem which became a popular hymn. We often sang it at school, I loved the words and I loved the music. I can give you the words at least.
Today
So here hath been dawning
Another blue day:
Think, wilt thou let it
Slip useless away?
Out of Eternity
This new day is born:
In to Eternity
At night will return.
Behold it aforetime
No eye ever did:
So soon it forever
From all eyes is hid.
Here hath been dawning
Another blue day:
Think, wilt thou let it
Slip useless away
Thomas Carlyle 1795-1881
It's very 'Scottish work ethic' just like Carlyle himself. But I never open the curtains on a beautiful morning like today without thinking of it.
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