Grattis Christopher!

I wonder if there isn't a lot of bunkum in higher education? I never found that people who were learned in logarithms and other kinds of poetry were any quicker in washing dishes or darning socks. I've done a good deal of reading when I could, and I don't want to "admit impediments" to the love of books, but I've also seen lots of good, practical folk spoiled by too much fine print. Reading sonnets always gives me hiccups, too.

I never expected to be an author! But I do think there are some amusing things about the story of Andrew and myself and how books broke up our placid life. When John Gutenberg, whose real name (so the Professor says) was John Gooseflesh, borrowed that money to set up his printing press he launched a lot of troubles on the world.

De första styckena i "Parnassus on Wheels".

Grattis Christopher!

Christopher Morley

5 maj 1890 - 28 mars 1957

 Såvitt jag förstår är Christopher inte översatt till svenska, vilket förmodligen är anledningen till att han inte är speciellt känd här. Något jag kan tycka är synd eftersom jag finner honom underhållande, och liksom så många andra författare, lyser hans bokintresse fram i många av hans böcker. I hans första bok, "Parnassus on Wheels ", från 1917, tröttnar Helen på att sköta hushållet åt sin bror Andrew, köper en bokhandel på hjul, inklusive hästen som drar ekipaget, och beger sig ut på vägarna.

 DEAR ANDREW,
Don't be thinking I'm crazy. I've gone off for an adventure. It just came over me that you've had all the adventures while I've been at home baking bread. Mrs. McNally will look after your meals and one of her girls can come over to do the housework. So don't worry. I'm going off for a little while—a month, maybe—to see some of this happiness and hayseed of yours. It's what the magazines call the revolt of womanhood. Warm underwear in the cedar chest in the spare room when you need it. With love, HELEN.
skriver Helen, innan hon säger åt Mrs. McNally "a brawny, slow-witted Swede", att ta över matlagningen åt Andrew, packar mat åt sig och hästen:
I filled a sack with oats in the stable and Mr. Mifflin showed me where to hang it under the van. Then in the kitchen I loaded a big basket with provisions for an emergency: a dozen eggs, a jar of sliced bacon, butter, cheese, condensed milk, tea, biscuits, jam, and two loaves of bread. These Mr. Mifflin stowed inside the van, Mrs. McNally watching in amazement.

Christophers nästa bok "The Haunted Bookshop", kom två år senare, och är en fortsättning på hans första bok.

"Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity."