Wednesday, March 26, 2014

forming souls

"Thus when we teach our youngest children by means of rhymes and songs, we do not so merely because rhymes and songs are effective mnemonic devices. We do so because we wish to form their souls by memory: we wish to bring them up as rememberers, as persons, born, as Caldecott points out, in certain localities, among certain people, who bear a certain history, and who claim our love and loyalty." ~ Anthony Esolen, writing in the Foreward to Beauty in the Word by Stratford Caldecott.



Cindy announced a book study through Beauty in the Word, starting last week and for once, thanks to Amazon Canada(amazon.ca), I could get the book at a great price and in time to participate. (And with thanks to my in-laws for birthday money they sent, I did not have to justify buying myself more books. They were basically a gift. Yep.)
Stratford Caldecott's books have been on my wish list for a couple of years now, so this seemed like a great time to dig in, with Cindy at the helm.
I chose this quote from the Foreward because as I read it last night, I was glad to hear someone else say what others around me are saying too. I want to our children to know their people's history and culture and to know that they belong to a certain group of people. We are part of Western civilization and it has many aspects worth conserving and remembering.
Recently I watched Wesley Callihan give a tour of his personal library, shelf by shelf. (I posted a link to it on March 22 on my new Facebook page, more details down below.)
His library is organized chronologically from ancient/ classical up through the early church writers, through the Middle Ages and on into the Reformation and Modern era. They are books that tell the story of Western/Christian civilization. It is a past worth remembering.

On another note, I wanted to announce that back at the end of Feburary, I created a Facebook page to be a companion to both this blog and my Tumblr blog, Whatever is Lovely.  Over the years since Facebook came into existence, I have pondered whether to create a page for Prone to Wander on Facebook.  But wanting to keep some order and control over the content-management prevented me from doing so. Two years ago, not very happy with Pinterest, but liking the visual array it presented, I started a Tumblr blog to create a place where I could post pleasant photos and images. Along the way, I have somehow collected a couple hundred followers who can see what I post on Whatever is Lovely. But I really only post with me in mind. And you, if you enjoy beautiful images and photos.
So I finally happened to consider that perhaps if I started a Facebook page as a companion to my Tumblr blog, it could also serve as a way of sharing items similar to what you would find on here and still make me happy with social media managing the content.
So to summarize, my announcement is that I have created a Facebook page called Whatever is Lovely and you are invited to go check it out and like it. And I think that the link should work even if you don't have a Facebook account. I have tested it, but please let me know if it works for you. That is all.

8 comments:

  1. Followed both. Thanks!

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    1. Thank you, Dawn. I have read your blog several times in the past, so it's nice to meet you.

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  2. "...form their souls by memory: we wish to bring them up as rememberers..."

    Hi Heather, I am enjoying all the Wednesday With Words posts today. I love this idea here - to bring our children up as rememberers. There is a lot packed into that idea, I think.

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    1. I haven't caught up to everyone's quotes from this week, but thank you Amy, for leaving a comment.

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  3. Thanks for humouring the facebook-challanged among us.

    I'll follow you where ever you roam online...

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    1. So thankful for you, K.
      Glad you can see the page.

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  4. I don't get on Tumblr much. I get confused easily but I joined your site and on FB. I also had that quote underlined.

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    1. Oh Cindy, you are so kind to me. Thank you.
      I get confused with Twitter, so I don't use my account.
      I also find Google+ overwhelming.
      I only rejoined Pinterest when you started your Hidden Homemaking board, but I find that a bit much at times.
      I'm so glad to be finally reading a great book at the *same* time as you all!

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