A HANDFUL OF STARS
Texts That Have Moved Great Minds
By
F. W. Boreham
THE ABINGDON PRESS
NEW YORK; CINCINNATI
Copyright, 1922, by
F. W. BOREHAM
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition Printed March, 1922
Reprinted June, 1922
Contents
VIII. Michael Trevanion's Text
By Way Of Introduction
It is not good that a book should be alone: thisis a companion volume to A Bunch of Everlastings.'O God,' cried Caliban from the abyss,
Fling us a handful of stars!
The Height evidently accepted the challenge of theDepth. Heaven hungered for the love of Earth,and so the stars were thrown. I have gathered upa few, and, like children with their beads and berries,have threaded them upon this string. It willbe seen that they do not all belong to the same constellation.Most of them shed their luster over thestern realities of life: a few glittered in the firmamentof fiction. It matters little. A great romanceis a portrait of humanity, painted by a master-hand.When the novelist employs the majestic words ofrevelation to transfigure the lives of his characters,he does so because, in actual experience, he findsthose selfsame words indelibly engraven upon thesouls of men. And, after all, Sydney Carton's Textis really Charles Dickens' Text; Robinson Crusoe'sText is Daniel Defoe's Text; the text that standsembedded in the pathos of Uncle Tom's Cabin is the[Pg 8]text that Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe had enthronedwithin her heart. Moreover, to whatever groupthese splendid orbs belong,