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Oliver Goldsmith

Nov10

Born November 10, 1728. You can read She Stoops to Conquer online. The Vicar of Wakefield, Goldsmith’s novel, is also available here. Said novel starts with this line:

I was ever of opinion that the honest man who married and brought up a large family did more service than he who continued single and only talked of population.

This was written back when populating the world was still considered a service. The book goes on to tell the story of Dr. Primrose, the vicar of Wakefield, and his family and his many troubles. Samuel Johnson said of Goldsmith: “Goldsmith, however, was a man, who, whatever he wrote did it better than any other man could do.” High praise, indeed.
Goldsmith, however, said of Samuel Johnson: “There is no arguing with Johnson; for when his pistol misses fire, he knocks you down with the butt end of it. “

Kate Seredy

Nov10

Kate Seredy (SHER edy) was born November 10, 1899 in Budapest, Hungary. She came to the United States in 1922. She was the owner of a children’s bookstore at first, and then she began to illustrate children’s books and textbooks. An editor at Viking Press suggested she write a book about her childhood, and in 1935 she published The Good Master. Its sequel, The Singing Tree, was published in 1940. Both books are about children growing up in Hungary during World War I. Seredy won the Newbery Medal in 1938 for her book The White Stag ( a sort of mythological story about the Magyars and the Huns), but I enjoyed the two books about Jansci and Kate surviving war times more. I found this quote at one of the quotation websites:

I make money using my brains and lose money listening to my heart. But in the long run my books balance pretty well.