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The Rubble and the Roseleaves
Rubble and Roseleaves, and Things of That Kind is a collection of short stories by Frank Boreham. These small gems touch upon any and all subjects within a human life, and are perfect companions for a comfy armchair and a blazing fire.
- GenresChristian
First published January 1, 2008
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About the author
F.W. Boreham
204 books57 followersRev. Dr. Frank W. Boreham
(March 3rd 1871 – May 18th 1959) Served, and wrote, in the UK, New Zealand, and Australia.
(March 3rd 1871 – May 18th 1959) Served, and wrote, in the UK, New Zealand, and Australia.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 15, 2021
An entire chapter about pie-crusts and another about envelopes. This is a beautiful, meandering collection of essays from a pastor in 1920’s New Zealand about humdrum aspects of life. He muses with elegance, including this classic opening sentence:
“Three envelopes, cruelly torn and sadly crumpled, look reproachfully up at me from the yawning abyss of my waste-paper basket”.
Other chapters include, ‘The green chair’, ‘Edges tools’, Saturday’ and ‘The front door bell’.
It’s not a book I would be tempted to binge-read. Rather, I would read one chapter and look forward to reading the next a day or few later.
My copy is my grandfather’s from 1930, passed on with strong recommendation by my Dad 20 years ago...
I’ve bought more of his books on eBay since finishing this.
“Three envelopes, cruelly torn and sadly crumpled, look reproachfully up at me from the yawning abyss of my waste-paper basket”.
Other chapters include, ‘The green chair’, ‘Edges tools’, Saturday’ and ‘The front door bell’.
It’s not a book I would be tempted to binge-read. Rather, I would read one chapter and look forward to reading the next a day or few later.
My copy is my grandfather’s from 1930, passed on with strong recommendation by my Dad 20 years ago...
I’ve bought more of his books on eBay since finishing this.
December 9, 2020
With a sigh I come to the end of another powerful Boreham experience. I still contend that F.W. Boreham is the most well read mind I have ever encountered. Once again he stunned me at every turn of the page. As usual, I will add some quotes (I can't help myself) but this collection was really more about entire essays that really spoke to my heart. I believe that all or at least most of these are available on public domain and, if so, everyone should read at least the four essays titled Old Envelopes, The Green Chair, Achmed's Investments, and The Fish-pens (this last one is a fantastic reminder of why God allows us to be tried).
"The desire for wealth is good as long as we have some use for the riches that we acquire; it deteriorates into mere covetousness as soon as we crave to possess if for sheer sake of possessing it and apart from any use to which we propose to put it." -John Ruskin
"Of all our ingenious inventions and bewildering contrivances, a ship is the only one that has a divine origin and a divine authority."
"God has built his world in such a way that the ship is the foundation of everything."
"All of our food comes from afar. Yes, all of it, including food for thought."
"The happy guests who sit at the Church's table find that, as they partake of her sacred hospitalities, there is ministered to them a comfort that wipes all tears from all faces, a hope that transfigures with strange radiance every unborn day, and a peace that passeth all understanding. They know, as they taste this delectable fare, that such fruits grew in no earthly garden."
"Southey once declared that, however long a man lives, the first twenty years of his life will always represent the biggest half of all."
"Bells are not only heard at a distance, they are better heard at a distance. It is possible to get too near to things. You do not see the grandeur of a mountain as you recline upon its slopes. The disciples were too near to Jesus; that explains some of the most poignant tragedies of the New Testament. A minister, through constant association with the sublimities of divine truth, may lose vision of their eternal grandeur."
"The line of simplicity is invariably the line of strength...It is ever so. The simplest language is the strongest language, and the simplest lives are the strongest lives."
"Every man who aspires to the Christian ministry should read every word that Charles Dickens ever wrote."
"With a knife in his had a boy feels that he is monarch of all he surveys."
"He is Alpha and Omega and, like the alphabet, He adapts Himself to every case. He is the very Saviour I need."
"Mr. Chesterton says that the bravest thing about Robert Louis Stevenson is that he never allowed his manuscripts to smell of his medicines. The tortures that racked his frame never passed down his pen to the paper spread out before him. You read his sprightly and stirring romances; n you live for the time being among pirates and smugglers and corsairs; you catch the breath of the hills and the tang of the sea; and it never occurs to you that you are the guest of a man who is terribly ill."
"Henry Drummond used to say that he could never get on with people until he had laughed with them."
"Of all the things that are made in a world like this, mistakes are by no means the worst."
"The desire for wealth is good as long as we have some use for the riches that we acquire; it deteriorates into mere covetousness as soon as we crave to possess if for sheer sake of possessing it and apart from any use to which we propose to put it." -John Ruskin
"Of all our ingenious inventions and bewildering contrivances, a ship is the only one that has a divine origin and a divine authority."
"God has built his world in such a way that the ship is the foundation of everything."
"All of our food comes from afar. Yes, all of it, including food for thought."
"The happy guests who sit at the Church's table find that, as they partake of her sacred hospitalities, there is ministered to them a comfort that wipes all tears from all faces, a hope that transfigures with strange radiance every unborn day, and a peace that passeth all understanding. They know, as they taste this delectable fare, that such fruits grew in no earthly garden."
"Southey once declared that, however long a man lives, the first twenty years of his life will always represent the biggest half of all."
"Bells are not only heard at a distance, they are better heard at a distance. It is possible to get too near to things. You do not see the grandeur of a mountain as you recline upon its slopes. The disciples were too near to Jesus; that explains some of the most poignant tragedies of the New Testament. A minister, through constant association with the sublimities of divine truth, may lose vision of their eternal grandeur."
"The line of simplicity is invariably the line of strength...It is ever so. The simplest language is the strongest language, and the simplest lives are the strongest lives."
"Every man who aspires to the Christian ministry should read every word that Charles Dickens ever wrote."
"With a knife in his had a boy feels that he is monarch of all he surveys."
"He is Alpha and Omega and, like the alphabet, He adapts Himself to every case. He is the very Saviour I need."
"Mr. Chesterton says that the bravest thing about Robert Louis Stevenson is that he never allowed his manuscripts to smell of his medicines. The tortures that racked his frame never passed down his pen to the paper spread out before him. You read his sprightly and stirring romances; n you live for the time being among pirates and smugglers and corsairs; you catch the breath of the hills and the tang of the sea; and it never occurs to you that you are the guest of a man who is terribly ill."
"Henry Drummond used to say that he could never get on with people until he had laughed with them."
"Of all the things that are made in a world like this, mistakes are by no means the worst."
December 3, 2020
First reading but not the last
Boreham is a master of words. He has the ability to take the least of overlooked themes and turn it into a delightful story with value. I couldn’t praise him more highly.
Boreham is a master of words. He has the ability to take the least of overlooked themes and turn it into a delightful story with value. I couldn’t praise him more highly.
July 4, 2019
Boreham is always engaging and thoughtful.
January 27, 2023
smiles
Frank Boreham has a way of painting stories that fit my thought process. Always tying the Bible into those paintings.
Frank Boreham has a way of painting stories that fit my thought process. Always tying the Bible into those paintings.
August 13, 2025
I really liked this book, but I only listened to half of it because I didn’t like some of the LibriVox narrators. It’s a pity.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews