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Do You Know Them?: Brief Stories of Famous Lives
Excerpt from Do You Know Them?: Brief Stories of Famous Lives
When you were a child did you ever picture to yourself what some favourite author or hero or heroine was really like? I did, any number of times; and some of the mental pictures I drew, of my most admired celebrities, would have deeply shocked the subjects themselves.
Mr. Grimm, whom I adored, I firmly believed to be a round, plump gentleman, of Irish descent. He was born with a perpetual smile on his face, and with a remarkable magic wand in his hand.
When I finally heard of such a person as Francis Scott Key, I thought he must be a famous poet who died young. I knew without question that Joel Chandler Harris was a nice curly-headed old negro; didn't someone tell me he was the father of Uncle Remus?
The name of Confucius never troubled me at all; I placed him at once among the early Greek gods, along with Ptolemy and Garibaldi. If I had ever heard of such a person as Carmen Sylva, I should probably have imagined her a descendant of the gypsy lady of operatic fame.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
When you were a child did you ever picture to yourself what some favourite author or hero or heroine was really like? I did, any number of times; and some of the mental pictures I drew, of my most admired celebrities, would have deeply shocked the subjects themselves.
Mr. Grimm, whom I adored, I firmly believed to be a round, plump gentleman, of Irish descent. He was born with a perpetual smile on his face, and with a remarkable magic wand in his hand.
When I finally heard of such a person as Francis Scott Key, I thought he must be a famous poet who died young. I knew without question that Joel Chandler Harris was a nice curly-headed old negro; didn't someone tell me he was the father of Uncle Remus?
The name of Confucius never troubled me at all; I placed him at once among the early Greek gods, along with Ptolemy and Garibaldi. If I had ever heard of such a person as Carmen Sylva, I should probably have imagined her a descendant of the gypsy lady of operatic fame.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
164 pages, Paperback
First published September 27, 2015
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