Perfect Day Research Articles

II. Pabbay or the Island Fathers

It took an hour and a half in the fishing boat driven by its small paraffin motor. Jonathan, the fisherman, sitting on the box covering the engine, said it was the most perfect day for the trip; as calm as it could ever be, and November was already a week old. Everyone that morning had said it was calm: the parish priest, the man who drove us to the harbour from the north of the island at 8.15 prompt, the man at the store who had known the weather of the Islands for nearly 70 years, for them all it was a miracle of fine weather. This is an important point; for although the boat was of the size that normally takes trippers out into the Channel at Brighton, and although Jonathan’s son dextrously steered into the waves so that we never once were splashed, the boat did toss. Jonathan on his perch moved to the rhythm of the waves, but we, his two passengers leaning against a cross-beam two yards away, were alternately looking down at him and peering up at him; and once or twice we were flung brusquely against each other. The sensation was that of a boat swing. This was to be expected. The sun was out, and had been ever since we had first arrived at Castlebay; for fifteen minutes we had peered out under its rays just over the horizon to catch the first glimpse of Jonathan’s boat coming round the point from the island of Vatersay.

A List of the Lichens of the Athabasca Lake Region of Northwestern Canada

It was a perfect day. After we had had our lunch I sat on the high ledge below the Big Spring, Mary went upstream where she had seen a thrush's nest earlier, but 'Lizabeth reclined against a big old tree and filled her soul with the beauty of the place. When Mary returned an hour or so later, I heard her say, What have you been doing all this time, 'Lizabeth? And Elizabeth replied, Oh, I've been pretending that this is the garden of Eden and you are Adam! And I wondered-Could the Garden of Eden have been lovelier? Anyway the mosses were no better!

Some Experiences in Fern-Hunting near Philadelphia

It was with some misgivings that I complied with Mr. Scott's order to address you, and I think the best thing I can do will be to relate some of my experiences. Mr. Joseph Meehan claimed that Aspidium Goldieanun, as figured in Meehan's Monthly, was too narrow in outline and did not agree with any specimens that he had seen. As he, Edwin Jellett, and myself took botanical trips together, we were very anxious to find some of this species in our rambles. As we had canvassed most of the locality within twenty miles without results, we began to despair of ever finding it, though Prof. Meehan claimed the specimen figured had been collected in the Wissahickon. One Sunday, after a most delightful trip along Edge Hill to the Pennypack, Joseph remarked: Wouldn't it be a grand ending to a perfect day to find some Goldieanum?, and, while drinking from a spring which ran down along a gentle slope, I noticed a number of extra large ferns growing in the water among stones and proceeded to investigate. On picking a frond and looking for the spore-cases, I found them to be very close to the mid-vein and on my showing it to Joseph, he let out a Hurrah! and said: We have found it 52

The International Critical Commentary on Genesis, Chronicles, and the Psalms

“What with Winckler, Jeremias, and Cheyne, and now Eerdmans, Old Testament scholars have a good many new eras dawning on them just now. Whether any of them will shine unto the perfect day, time will show.” With these gently sarcastic words Dr. Skinner describes the situation which a commentator on Genesis must be prepared to face at the present time. But the dawn is the waking-up time. The reveille sounded by these various scholars is exhilarating. The war to which they challenge Old Testament investigators may not prove to be a world-war, the critical map of the Old Testament may not be materially altered; but it is a good thing that the dominant school of criticism which follows Wellhausen should be compelled to meet antagonists equipped with all the resources of modern warfare. So long as their opponents were armed only with the weapons of the old apologetics, these critics had an easy time of it. After the publication of the great Prolegomena it seemed as if the last word had been spoken. Canaan had been conquered anew. All that remained for the victors to do was to settle down in the land, appropriate the high-places to themselves, and reduce the ancient inhabitants to Nethinim. But no sooner had they entered into possession than the temptation of the settled life began to beset them as it beset the Hebrews of old. They had driven out the traditions that had occupied the land for millenniums, but the ancient inhabitants, as is so often the case, soon threatened to conquer the conquerors.