15 year old Nathan resents having to leave Kentucky where he wants to learn to be a doctor under his grandfather's guidance.But Nathans father wants to get away from civilization so they pack all their belongings on horseback and head for Missouri.Nathan has a special knack for doctoring and when his horse gives birth two weeks too early and the filly is unable to walk because it's bones are too soft,Nathan fixes bark splints to allow it to walk and eventually it can walk on its own.The real test for Nathan comes when his father must travel to enter their land at the land office several days journey away and doesn't return.Rumors of small pox reach the family and Nathan must decide toleave his mother and sister to find his father before winter sets in.My children begged me to read "just one more chapter" every night.A real pioneer story!

It seems hard to overstate the importance of the work of photographer Edwin Smith to the preservation and cataloguing of English ecclesiastical architecture. This book, first published in 1952 and substantially updated and enlarged after Smith's death in 1971, is, if not the definitive guide to the subject, probably one of the most important.

Smith's photography is enhanced by informative chapters, written by Graham Hutton, that trace the evolution of English parish church design and construction from well before the Conquest up to and through the Victorian era. Of course, the story of parish churches is also the story of the parish, and therefore the reader also will find here a fine capsule summary of changing sociological patterns over many centuries.

If I have one complaint, it's in the way the text, explanatory notes, and photos are arranged. Hutton's chapters are annotated with references to the photographic plates, which are all generally in one section following the relevant text. The explanatory notes on the photos, in turn, are in a section following the plates. So a reader who wants to look at a photo to which Hutton refers must turn ahead several pages to find the photo, and then several more pages to read, essentially, the caption to the photo. In all, it makes for a lot of flipping pages back and forth and a less than entirely efficient reading experience.

Apart from that, though, this title should have a lot of appeal, not just to architecture and art historians, but also to the not-insubstantial number of people who have affection for historic churches, the English countryside, and the preservation of both. There is much here to learn from, and enjoy.

Classic account of the subject. Beautiful pictures. Distillation of the views of people who've spent a lifetime on this subject.

how to cure olives or make cheese, these are some of things I wish that my grandparents would have toughs me if they were alive. such things are a truly becoming a lost art in our fast paced society. however, thanks to this and other books we the novice cook/gardener will find this vary pleasing book to have and use.