ANNALS OF A FISHING VILLAGE DRAWN FROM THE NOTES OF "A SON OF THE MARSHES" EDITED BY J. A. OWEN WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS MDCCCXCI All Rights reserved PREFACE. THESE Annals of a locality almost unknown in its day to the outside world, whose native characteristics are full of quaint simplicity and old-world ideas, have been taken from the Notes of the self-taught Naturalist, the author of 'Woodland, Moor, and Stream.' At his request I have not given the real names either of the village described or of the characters depicted. All is, however, drawn "from the life"-a life rich in a colour peculiarly its own, whether as regards the primitive ways and thoughts of the Marshmen, or the feathered visitants to the wild and picturesque tracts which formed their environment. Readers have already recognised a tender and sympathetic penetration into Nature in the writings of a "Son of the Marshes," as rare as it is delicate, and will be interested in discovering from the following chapters, which are to some extent biographical, how Nature herself educates her own students. A small portion of the matter has already appeared in magazine form. I am indebted to the editors for their courtesy in allowing me to include it here. J. A. OWEN. |