“Old things return with a difference. Nowadays we do not burn Yule logs nor go a-mumming. Our feasting has less of the grand heartiness of the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, Christmas, almost alone of all the great feasts, has retained its essential spirit of universal good will. Christmas opens the heart, sweeps away some of the cobwebs from our darker corners. The feast of the family, it reminds us of the greater family to which we all belong, and a tide of good fellowship flows out at Christmas to the poor and the lonely as at no other time of the year. We should all be poorer without it, for there is a fellowship in rejoicing which remains over when the last crumb of the feast has been swept away, when the last sprig of holly has been burned.
“Among craftsmen, especially, a spirit of good fellowship makes all the difference. Modern conditions do not always make it easy. Wherever there is a feeling of insecurity a man may easily become distrustful of his fellows, guarding his knowledge with the feeling that it is the one thing he has to arm him against the world. But hoarded knowledge can never be as productive as knowledge which is shared. It is not the man who warns off enquirers with a mutter of “trade secrets” and a “please-keep-off-the-grass” expression who will keep abreast of the times, but the man who will readily exchange experiences, discuss, and, when need be, give guidance to others. It is remarkable, when one comes to think of it, the number of ideas which are generated in conversation. A tradesman can easily, in answering the questions of the novice, be brought to consider for the first time the whys and wherefores of using certain processes. Such was the trade custom, but why? Or, swopping experiences with another old hand, he gets to know of other methods as sound, maybe sounder, than his own. But he has to give as well as take. There has to be fellowship, even in the generation of ideas.”
— Charles Hayward, The Woodworker magazine, 1936
Merry Christmas to you all!
A hearty thanks to everyone at Lost Art Press, and for everything you do. To quote Hayward, “We should all be poorer without it.”
From this reader’s view, LAP had a great year, and I eagerly look forward to the next.
wish you the same
wish you the Same Lost art press
Regarding Hayward. Dang, that guy was a Renaissance man.
Merry Christmas!
From the Kunstman family to the Lost Art Press family and families, to each and every follower and families of. We would like to wish each of you a Merry Christmas. May your stockings be as full as your hearts. Thank you for all you do, and thank you for all you have done. Each of you has made the world a better place.
So raise a glass brothers and sisters. May the splinters be small and the boards be true. This toast is for you!
Wise words. Thank you, and merry Xmas.
Just opened a copy of the intelligent hand! Pretty excited! Thanks to everyone at LAP!
Merry Christmas!
A fantastic quote! Thank you for sharing!