Quote of the Month ~ July 2016

Love this one! :) How about you?

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(Click here for previous Quotes of the Month on StJ!)

Heidi Peterson is a lover of wide-spreading land, summer dust, white pounding waterfalls, and mountain tops; also of good dark coffee and rich stories. Most of all she's a lover of the One who is the Word, the Word made flesh. You can visit her additional blog (where she shares more about books, movies, and further marvels of life) at: Along the Brandywine.

Visit and contact at: Sharing the Journey // Along the Brandywine // ladyofanorien(at)gmail(dot)com

Inkling Explorations Link-Up // July 2016

(Note: if you're interested in participating and new to the blog, you can find our link-up explanation/guidelines + more buttons here. :))

This month's selection is: A scene with a traveler arriving home in book or film

My selection comes from G.K. Chesterton's Manalive. The scene is (somewhat) of a court room setting and two letters are currently being read as evidence.

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" ' "Do you really mean," I cried, "that you have come right round the world? Your speech is English, yet you are coming from the west."

" '  "My pilgrimage is not yet accomplished," he replied sadly; "I have become a pilgrim to cure myself of being an exile."

" 'Something in the word "pilgrim" awoke down in the roots of my ruinous experience, memories of what my fathers had felt about the world, and of something from whence I came. I looked again at the little pictured lantern at which I had not looked for fourteen years.

" ' "My grandmother," I said in a low tone, "would have said that we were all in exile, and that no earthly house could cure the holy homesickness that forbids us rest."

" 'He was silent a long while, and watched a single eagle drift out beyond the Green Finger into the darkening void.

"'Then he said, "I think your grandmother was right," and stood up leaning on his grassy pole. "I think that must be the reason," he said, "the secret of this life of man, so ecstatic and so unappeased. But I think there is more to be said. I think God has given us the love of special places, of a hearth and of a native land, for a good reason."

" ' "I dare say," I said, "what reason!"

" ' "Because otherwise," he said, pointing his pole out at the sky and the abyss, "we might worship that."

" ' "What do you mean?" I demanded.

" ' "Eternity," he said in his harsh voice, "the largest of the idols--the mightiest of the rivals of God."

" ' "You mean pantheism and infinity and all that," I suggested.

" ' "I mean," he said with increasing vehemence, "that if there be a house for me in heaven it will either have a green lamp-post and a hedge, or something quite as positive and personal as a green lamp-post and a hedge. I mean that God bade me love one spot and serve it, and do all things however wild in praise of it, so that this one spot might be a witness against all the infinities and sophistries that Paradise is somewhere and not anywhere, is something and not anything. And I would not be very much surprised if the house in heaven had a real green lamp-post after all."

" 'With which he shouldered his pole and went striding down the perilous paths below, and left me alone with the eagles..."

"After a short silence Inglewood said: "And finally, we desire to put in as evidence the following document, -- 

" 'This is to say that I am Ruth Davis, and have been housemaid to Mrs. I. Smith at "The Laurels" in Croydon for the last six months. When I came the lady was alone with two children; she was not a widow, but her husband was away. She was left with plenty of money and did not seem disturbed about him, though she often hoped he would be back soon. She said he was rather eccentric and a little change did him good. One evening last week I was bringing the tea things out on to the lawn when I nearly dropped them. The end of a long rake was suddenly stuck over the hedge, and planted like a jumping pole; and over the hedge, just like a monkey on a stick, came a huge horrible man, all hairy and ragged like Robinson Crusoe. I screamed out, but my mistress didn't even get out of her chair; but smiled and said he wanted shaving. Then he sat down quite calmly at the garden table and took a cup of tea, and then I realized that this must be Mr. Smith himself. He has stopped here ever since and does not really give much trouble, though I sometimes fancy he is a little weak in his head."

" 'RUTH DAVIS.

" 'P. S. --I forgot to say that he looked round at the garden and said, very loud and strong, "Oh, what a lovely place you've got;" just as if he'd never seen it before.' "

Manalive by G.K. Chesterton

A favorite moment!

Tell me! Have you ever read Manalive?

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Just leave your own link here in a comment and I'll add it to the post. (Also, since I'm getting this up rather late this month, feel free to post your entries into August. :)) I can't wait to see your selections!

Entrants:

Blessing Counter ~ Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery

Cordy ~ The Parent Trap (1998)

Erudessa Aranduriel ~ Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott

Miss March ~ The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

MovieCritic ~ Willow

Natalie ~ Betsy's Wedding by Maud Hart Lovelace

*How to do it*

1. Post the Inklings button on your sidebar.

2. Do a post on your own blog relating to the month's selection/subject (a literary excerpt as short or as long as you like AND/OR—if specified that month—a screencap from a film with an explanation of how the scene builds/develops the story). Link back here somewhere in your post.

3. Come back here and paste your link in the comments box and I'll add it to the post. Then enjoy visiting and reading everyone else's contributions!

That's all there is to it!

Up next month: A description of a lady's dress in literature