Monday, March 11, 2013

Testament of Trust

Testament of Trust was written by Faith Baldwin (seen above), and published in 1958.  I don't remember if I have ever read any of her other books, but I have read Testament of Trust several times.  I need to read more of her work.  However, as I just saw, she wrote over 100 novels!  Ms. Baldwin was born in 1893 and died in 1978.   

Testament of Trust is not a fictional novel.  It is observations.  Ms. Baldwin divided the book into 13 months, beginning and ending with October.  She compared the months as thus:

"A year is like a new house; each of us has lived in such a house before; at least the shape looks the same and we know before we enter that there will be twelve rooms.  It;'s funny how we can settle in, while knowing that someday we must move."

The months are divided as threshold, corridor, window seat, bridge, archway, breathing space, small altar, patio, fountain, steppingstones, reflecting pool, and a moon gate.

My favorite month in the book was July...I especially enjoyed her seeming rambles during this month:

"In a lifetime, we live, it seems, a thousand years and as many lives, in a sense, for we are no more the same people we were half an hour ago than we'll be tomorrow.  Growth is slow, almost imperceptible; you don't notice it from day to day.  All experiences leave marks like grooves in a record; if you play it back, how astonished you would be, how happy, how stricken, how ashamed and how proud."
And that is just a sneak peek at her wisdom!  I just find this book absolutely charming, as did my mom!
It is no longer in print, so if you want to find it, you have to search...it's worth it.

Finding Things in Your Old Books

Have you ever experienced this...picking up an old book you haven't looked at for years and discovering some treasure that you had stuck in it?  It has happened twice to me lately!

A few weeks ago I looked at the bookcase above my bed and spotted an old book that I thought my book group might be interested in reading.  As I looked through it, I discovered this:

If you can't read it, it says "To Sue-I found this book charming! luv from Mom"

It was a Christmas gift that she had given me years ago.  The book was Testament of Trust by Faith Baldwin...a truly charming book!

Then last week, I was again looking at an old book and found the following in it:



A note to the Easter Bunny from my oldest daughter, written about 1979.

Finding both of these were such unexpected pleasures!  Perhaps I should go look through more old books!