Douty Offers Useful Trip Back In New Book
At a time in human history when computer screens and artificial intelligence are seemingly winning over the modern mind, a simple book of joyful boyhood remembrances, almost 100 years in the making, remind us not to forget our notso- distant collective past.
In Horace Douty’s new “Home Farm Tales,” the modern reader is taken back to a time when having enough was enough, when using your imagination still mattered, when family and friends existed as part of daily life.
Douty’s trip back into time is not at the expense of today’s life, however. He is no Luddite. This is not a get-off-my-front yard recollection that shakes its fist at the modern world. No, this book of childhood recollections aims not to mourn the past, but instead, show us practices worth keeping. Use what you need. Grow what you can. Save what you harvest. Teach what you know.
As the world speeds up, Douty suggests we slow down and take stock in our past to help inform our future. It’s a celebration of sitting by the woodstove, climbing a tree, watching the world pass by, and recognize that these long ago memories raised a man and a generation that carry values that still matter today. But we have to be still enough to see and hear those ancient ghosts that make up who we are today - from the iron-skillet cornbread and smokehouse ham, horses rolling in evening grass after a day at the plow to a cellar glowing with peaches, berries, tomatoes and apple butter, and an ice pond that becomes a summer’s worth of cold. The narrative is rich with moments that explain a time in rural early 20th century Virginia. But it’s a past that is still relevant today.
Douty, a retired Presbyterian minister who grew up on a farm, lives with his wife Ellen in Lexington. He is also the author of “History Lessons From A Country Church,” volumes I and II.
“When I wrote these glimpses of my childhood,” Douty explained about his latest project, “I was serving as temporary pastor of a rural church. As part of Sunday worship, I in cluded a brief message for the children. At some point beyond my 80th birthday, I realized that my childhood was a world apart from theirs. I did not dream the material would ever be published. My aim for the children was to acquaint them with a lifestyle which worked well nearly a century ago, and could easily be replicated today. We are not nearly so dependent on technology as we suppose. I find that truth comforting.
“Mother Earth can sustain us indefinitely, if we know how to cooperate with her generosity.
“I am pleasantly surprised that so many readers find the information uplifting,” he continued. “The same is true for my You-Tube videos of ‘Nature Lessons.’ Out of hundreds of videos about religion and history which I have produced, the ‘Nature Lessons’ evoke more comments than all others. People seem to hunger for a stronger connection with the planet which gave them birth. I was fortunate to be nurtured in that strong connection. It must have been effective. I am in my 94th year, and enjoy remarkably good health.”
Douty’s book is illustrated by local artist Bruce Macdonald, whose images help convey a sense of wonderment worthy of a walk back into time.
Perhaps to truly enjoy the book, the modern reader needs to put away the phone or tablet, find a cozy spot, and curl up with “Home Farm Tales.” The written lines tell us what it used to be like, the space between the lines teach us lessons about what life can still be if we only take time to notice the things around us.
“Home Farm Tales” is a Mariner Publishing Company, Inc., publication that can be purchased at Downtown Books and the Washington and Lee University Bookstore in Lexington, and at all fine online stores.
