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James R Hawkinson
FYI: New undated offerings under each link on this site will be marked as new with a
May - 2011
A Wisdom Writer Worth Knowing
The writings are exceptionally earthy and profound at the same time. Vigil was a keen observer of both nature and the human spirit. In brief essays on life circumstances we all face, and in parables, prayers, wayside words, and letters both confidential and to the people in general, he prods his readers to face their own foibles, even while encouraging them to note the beauty and grasp the creative possibilities in all of life surrounding.
Having now completely reprinted all the material in Glad Hearts over a three year period, where it will remain available in the archive section under the “Sightings” link to your left, it is my intention to offer fragments of Vigil’s work under that same link beginning next month, hoping readers will find them as stimulating and challenging as I have these many years.
One sample follows. Ponder it awhile:
“The best part of this world is the existence of the other. Even if they were begged on bended knees, some people would never pardon the superiority of their neighbors. They who say that Christianity has failed overstep the bounds of truth. No nation has followed the teachings of Jesus."
One of the most valuable books I have in my library is one I bought years ago while a student at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. On a remainder table in the College Bookstore it cost me all of 10 cents! Though drawn immediately by the poetic content of it, little did I realize how influential it would be in my own life and how useful as well though a lifetime of ministry.
Originally published as El Erial in 1915, it was a gathering of selected writings from the pen of prominent Uruguayan-Argentine writer and publisher named Constancio C. Vigil (1876-1954). My copy, The Fallow Land, had been translated by Lawrence Smith from the 14th Spanish edition and published by Harper and Row (no date). Winston Publishing Company has more recently made it available in an interpolated and revised edition seen above (1997).
