{"id":1192,"date":"2020-01-08T19:41:25","date_gmt":"2020-01-08T19:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.elizabethgoudge.org\/?p=1192"},"modified":"2020-01-08T19:41:28","modified_gmt":"2020-01-08T19:41:28","slug":"happy-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elizabethgoudge.org\/index.php\/2020\/01\/08\/happy-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Open a book and let Elizabeth speak\u2026..<br>\n\u201cDuring the next twenty minutes he passed through one of the oddest experiences\nof his life. As he moved up and down before the bars, trying ceaselessly for\nanother sight of that boy, he began to recognise some of the faces that came\nand went in front of him. One hulking brute of a fellow had the bluest Irish\neyes he had ever seen. Another, a boy, with the face of a depraved old man, had\na mouth as sensitively cut as Stella\u2019s own. A third, hunchbacked and deformed,\nhad a pock marked face that startled the Abbe by suddenly splitting into a\ngrin. He noticed other eyes, other mouths, other gallant attempts at\ncheerfulness. Occasionally, when he slipped a coin into a wooden spoon, his\neyes would meet the eyes of the poor devil that held it, and he had the\nsensation that the trivial act was not trivial at all but an actual entering in\nof himself into the being of the man before him\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Gentian Hill p 378)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.elizabethgoudge.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Gentian-Hill-Cover.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-90\" width=\"318\" height=\"444\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.elizabethgoudge.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Gentian-Hill-Cover.jpg 248w, https:\/\/www.elizabethgoudge.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Gentian-Hill-Cover-215x300.jpg 215w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 318px) 100vw, 318px\" \/><figcaption>Front cover of 1st Edition Gentian Hill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Like many of us, we were taken out for dinner over the\nfestive break and went to a small market town to enjoy it. The town is a pretty\nand ancient one, the evening cool enough to be seasonal and the Christmas\nlights added their glamour to the occasion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we walked up the charming narrow street soaking up the atmosphere, we passed in a doorway a hump of sleeping bag and blankets, and a man looked up and gave me a cheerful wave as we passed. Not behind bars, but a prisoner none the less; of circumstances, of fate, from a society that had locked him out. In 2020, I am appalled, ashamed and amazed that this is one of the problems that not only has not been eradicated, but sadly is on the rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Elizabeth spoke to me through the medium of the random\npage of the first of her works I pulled off the shelf. Many of her works contain\nprisoners, their inner turmoil, their crimes and punishment. Prisoner welfare\nwas a cause close to her heart, one that she carried out quietly, consummately away\nfrom the public eye, all her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of her favourite quotes was: &#8211; \u201cwhat the dead had\nno speech for, when living, they can tell you, being dead: the communication of\nthe dead is tongued with fire..\u201d<br>\n(T. S. Eliot Little Gidding). I have no doubt that Elizabeth would have had\nsimilar feelings towards the homeless as my own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She would also have taken away the gifts of his smile,\nthe total lack of judgement he displayed, the fact that in his destitution, he\ncould look up and be happy for us. She would also have enjoyed the other\naspects of the evening just as keenly; companionship and the importance of\nfamily, the quiet appreciation of the beauty of starlight over old roofs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.elizabethgoudge.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Monk-Stanton-Lacy-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-123\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.elizabethgoudge.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Monk-Stanton-Lacy-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.elizabethgoudge.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Monk-Stanton-Lacy-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.elizabethgoudge.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Monk-Stanton-Lacy-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.elizabethgoudge.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Monk-Stanton-Lacy.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for the companionship of like minds. We wish\nall of you a safe, peaceful and happy New Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Open a book and let Elizabeth speak\u2026.. \u201cDuring the next twenty minutes he passed through one of the oddest experiences of his life. As he moved up and down before the bars, trying ceaselessly for another sight of that boy, he began to recognise some of the faces that came and went in front of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[51,47,120],"class_list":["post-1192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gentian-hill","tag-prisoners","tag-reaching-out","no-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Happy New Year - Elizabeth Goudge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.elizabethgoudge.org\/index.php\/2020\/01\/08\/happy-new-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Happy New Year - Elizabeth Goudge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Open a book and let Elizabeth speak\u2026.. \u201cDuring the next twenty minutes he passed through one of the oddest experiences of his life. 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