This poignant memoir shares one woman's memories growing up between the two world wars as a member of the McMillan family, a hardworking bunch who made their living on an eastern Washington farm. In a series of vignettes, Ernestine McMillan Hilton recalls the joys of small-town holiday celebrations, close-knit neighbors, and the events that shape the lives of the McMillans as they scratch a living from a scabland farm. With vivid detail, Hilton remembers how the sweet taste of strawberry Jell-O mingled with the wonders of Election Day in 1924 when her mother had the opportunity to vote for the first time, and she revisits how the end of the horse-and-buggy era gave rise to the Model T. She also relates the arrival of her baby brothers, the joys of going to school, and the hardships of the Great Depression. Once Upon a Green Meadow re-creates the charm and hardship of a rural American life that has vanished forever. But more importantly, Hilton's memoir reveals how one family's love sustained them throughout the hard times.

"The Green Meadow" follows the mysterious discovery of a diary inside a strange meteorite. The journal recounts a dreamlike journey through a surreal landscape, filled with bizarre creatures and eerie, otherworldly experiences. As the narrator ventures deeper into the unknown, reality begins to blur, raising questions about the boundaries between dreams and reality, life and death, and the unknown forces that govern them.

Thornton W. Burgess was an American naturalist and the author of dozens of books for children, the most enduring of which are Old Mother West Wind and The Burgess Bird Book for Children. Burgess was a passionate twentieth-century conservationist who dedicated his life to teaching children and their families about the importance of the natural life of the northern North American forest. The Green Meadow Stories compilation is made up of four distinct but entwined tales: those of Happy Jack Squirrel, Mrs. Peter Rabbit, Bowser the Hound, and Old Granny Fox. Through the adventures of these focal characters readers are introduced to the wider territory of the Green Meadows, the Green Forest, and the Smiling Pond as well as to the animals’ Great World. The animals of Burgess’s stories are anthropomorphized, undoubtedly, but not caricatured: these are not the twee creatures of Disney cartoons. Their behaviour is explained in ways that would be understandable to a human child—this is fiction, after all—but Burgess’s “little people of the forest” are not simply humans dressed in fur and feathers. The original illustrations in Burgess’s books (by Harrison Cady, not reproduced in this edition) show the animals wearing clothes, but Burgess’s own descriptions of animals are more natural and metaphorical, and less fantastic. For example, he describes Chatterer the Red Squirrel, “who always wears a red coat with vest of white,” a compact way of communicating the look of a squirrel that many of today’s children will never have seen with their own eyes. Less pleasantly, it is Peter Rabbit’s fur and flesh that is rent when Hooty the Owl tears Peter’s “coat” one night on the Old Pasture. Burgess has tremendous respect for the creatures he depicts, as well as for their natural home. While the presentation of the Green Meadow is hardly “Nature, red in tooth and claw,” it is surprisingly unsentimental. Peter Rabbit, for example, lives a highly anxious life under threat from the many predators who would enjoy having him for dinner; similarly, Happy Jack Squirrel experiences days and nights of terror when Shadow the Weasel discovers Happy Jack’s home and hunts him relentlessly. During a long, hard winter, Granny Fox and Reddy Fox come close to starving, and Old Man Coyote leads Bowser the Hound on a dangerous chase that may result in one or the other dying. Despite other fanciful, sentimental elements of storytelling, Burgess does not sugarcoat prey/predator relationships or the precarity of wild animals’ lives. Burgess is a clear conservationist in his representations of hunting. The animals are highly aware of hunters and their “dreadful guns.” It is a notable moment in this collection when Farmer Brown’s Boy decides he will no longer use his gun to harm the little people of the Green Meadow and the Green Forest. The stories are also notable in their detailed representation of a largely intact forest, something few children in the twenty-first century will experience. On the other hand, these are books for children, and they contain plenty of sweetness and light. Animal pairings—such as when Peter Rabbit meets the dainty Little Miss Fuzzytail, the future Mrs. Rabbit—are vague but sentimental and soon lead to proud new families of Rabbits, Ducks, Deer, and Owls. The “little people” celebrate the arrival of each spring’s babies, mark each other’s new relationships and homes, play together, and even help each other survive. They laugh, tease, and trick each other—a fanciful interpretation of animal behaviour that could lead to a reader’s life-long fascination with, and respect for, forest creatures—and for generations of readers, they did just that.

Lady Juliet Beaumont has loved and lost... long ago. But when Christopher, the Earl of Lockhart, returns, Juliet decides to be bold and will not let Fate rip them apart again. But, will she be able to win back his heart or does his heart belong to another? 💞 Friends to lovers 🍀 Unrequited love 💞 Love triangle 🍀 Second chance at love 💞 Star-crossed lovers 🍀 Secret child England 1803: LADY JULIET BEAUMONT, eldest daughter to the Earl of Whickerton, has loved and lost…long ago. With her hopes dashed, she turns away from seeking a match and continues on as her grandmother’s faithful companion, grateful to find happiness in her wild, boisterous and utterly unconventional family. Yet, every once in a while, a distant part of Juliet’s soul cries out for the man she once loved, unable to even contemplate the notion of choosing another. After all, one cannot give away one’s heart if it is no longer in one’s possession, can one. CHRISTOPHER HURST, EARL OF LOCKHART, left England years ago, turning his back not only on his family and the title that was never meant for him, but also on his dearest friend. Always has he loved Juliet, and yet it is only in the very moment that Fate forces him from these shores that he realizes he is in love with her. The realization comes far too late. Until the Dowager Countess of Whickerton—known to those who love her as Grandma Edie—calls Christopher back to England. He doubts whether it is wise to return, afraid he will find Juliet married to another; however, no one in their right mind would ever dare refuse the dowager. And so, Christopher does return…and the moment he finds Juliet’s bewitching green eyes look into his once more, he knows he cannot lose her a second time.

While in a temporary state of "clinical death," caused by a near-drowning accident, 31-year old attorney Scott Colby experiences a vivid image of having once been Pierre, an idealistic young French soldier killed in WWI. Specifically, it is of a 1916 romantic rendezvous with a lovely young maiden named Lucia beside a tucked away waterfall and pond somewhere in the Swiss Alps. Was it just a dream? Or had he truly lived a previous life?

Thornton W. Burgess was an American naturalist and the author of dozens of books for children, the most enduring of which are Old Mother West Wind and The Burgess Bird Book for Children. Burgess was a passionate twentieth-century conservationist who dedicated his life to teaching children and their families about the importance of the natural life of the northern North American forest. The Green Meadow Stories compilation is made up of four distinct but entwined tales: those of Happy Jack Squirrel, Mrs. Peter Rabbit, Bowser the Hound, and Old Granny Fox. Through the adventures of these focal characters readers are introduced to the wider territory of the Green Meadows, the Green Forest, and the Smiling Pond as well as to the animals’ Great World. The animals of Burgess’s stories are anthropomorphized, undoubtedly, but not caricatured: these are not the twee creatures of Disney cartoons. Their behaviour is explained in ways that would be understandable to a human child—this is fiction, after all—but Burgess’s “little people of the forest” are not simply humans dressed in fur and feathers. The original illustrations in Burgess’s books (by Harrison Cady, not reproduced in this edition) show the animals wearing clothes, but Burgess’s own descriptions of animals are more natural and metaphorical, and less fantastic. For example, he describes Chatterer the Red Squirrel, “who always wears a red coat with vest of white,” a compact way of communicating the look of a squirrel that many of today’s children will never have seen with their own eyes. Less pleasantly, it is Peter Rabbit’s fur and flesh that is rent when Hooty the Owl tears Peter’s “coat” one night on the Old Pasture. Burgess has tremendous respect for the creatures he depicts, as well as for their natural home. While the presentation of the Green Meadow is hardly “Nature, red in tooth and claw,” it is surprisingly unsentimental. Peter Rabbit, for example, lives a highly anxious life under threat from the many predators who would enjoy having him for dinner; similarly, Happy Jack Squirrel experiences days and nights of terror when Shadow the Weasel discovers Happy Jack’s home and hunts him relentlessly. During a long, hard winter, Granny Fox and Reddy Fox come close to starving, and Old Man Coyote leads Bowser the Hound on a dangerous chase that may result in one or the other dying. Despite other fanciful, sentimental elements of storytelling, Burgess does not sugarcoat prey/predator relationships or the precarity of wild animals’ lives. Burgess is a clear conservationist in his representations of hunting. The animals are highly aware of hunters and their “dreadful guns.” It is a notable moment in this collection when Farmer Brown’s Boy decides he will no longer use his gun to harm the little people of the Green Meadow and the Green Forest. The stories are also notable in their detailed representation of a largely intact forest, something few children in the twenty-first century will experience. On the other hand, these are books for children, and they contain plenty of sweetness and light. Animal pairings—such as when Peter Rabbit meets the dainty Little Miss Fuzzytail, the future Mrs. Rabbit—are vague but sentimental and soon lead to proud new families of Rabbits, Ducks, Deer, and Owls. The “little people” celebrate the arrival of each spring’s babies, mark each other’s new relationships and homes, play together, and even help each other survive. They laugh, tease, and trick each other—a fanciful interpretation of animal behaviour that could lead to a reader’s life-long fascination with, and respect for, forest creatures—and for generations of readers, they did just that. The stories are also more didactic than most twenty-first-century authors would dare to be. There are morals associated with most stories, often attributed to the animal about whom the story is being told. Through this practical teaching, Burgess suggests a correspondence between how animals and humans live; but he consistently clarifies that animal intelligence is different from, but certainly no less than, human intelligence. Unlike the bouncy rhyming verses of many of today’s children’s books, Burgess’s sentences have a somewhat old-fashioned cadence, creating the distinct and appealing music of traditional storytelling. Burgess’s episodic chapters are eminently readable and particularly come to life when they are voiced by animated reading-aloud. For older readers looking for something different to share with children, or for new readers beginning to tackle “chapter books,” the tales of the Green Meadow Stories collection are a delightful place to discover Burgess and his animal friends. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.