The Devil's Own Imp

by Edward J. Laurie


Formats

Softcover
£10.99
£7.20
Softcover
£7.20

Book Details

Language : English
Publication Date : 27/09/2007

Format : Softcover
Dimensions : 5x8
Page Count : 228
ISBN : 9781434331083

About the Book

Imps are born and not made. Being an imp these days is a far more difficult thing than in the time prior to WWII. Those earlier pre-war days are reported in this book. Today’s imps require medical advise, appropriate dampening pills, and an entirely different form of discipline, perhaps even psychiatric treatment. Nothing seems so unwanted in modern times as a full-fledged imp of any age.

 

Being an imp in a small western railroad town (Sparks, Nevada) in the twenties and thirties of the previous century offered a wide range of puckish opportunities and freedoms. Somehow it was expected that the young were to be adventurous and create various minor problems which the adult world of the time seemed able to take in stride.

 

The one thing we didn’t do, in my day, was report on our ‘adventures’ to our parents. It was our sincere belief that the less they knew about the risks we took, the more serene their existence, and also ours.

 

Of course, with the small-town gossip network operating at full-bore, our parents knew much more than we thought they did. The inherent blessing was that, in most cases, they shrugged their shoulders, credited our activities to youth and only interfered when serious injury or mayhem might result.

 

We owe them a great debt - - allowing us to learn from our own experiences.

 

 


About the Author

This author was a college professor for some 54 years, which he much enjoyed. Teaching the youth of the land keeps one young and, just perhaps, a childhood of impishness on the part of the professor himself blends well with the youth of the land. I take great pride in the agreement by most of my students (in their thousands) that it was all a pleasant adventure (tests and grades notwithstanding).

 

Like teaching, writing is something of a permanent disease. It stems no doubt from the peculiar belief one has that what he has to say in print has some interest for others. Bad weather or bad reviews have never slowed down the production of a writer for one minute. We rise in the morning, conjure words and stories in our heads, and then sit down to the somewhat lonely business of getting it recorded. One thing done, we are never satisfied. We must move on. Tomorrow is another writing day.