Several weeks ago, we drove over to Knoxville to watch our oldest daughter receive her Masters Degree in History. Chinese history to be more precise. All my fault, actually. I took her with me when she was thirteen when I went to China to complete the adoption of her younger sister (you can read all about this if you want to, over at the Greenleaf Press website on the page titled “Corrie’s Story“).
While there, I picked up a book in Micah’s apartment with the intriguing title, “The Sayings of Mrs. Solomon: Being the Confessions of the Seven Hundredth Wife.”
As I started reading, I found myself smiling, then chuckling, then laughing out loud. The book was originally published in 1913, and the author (Helen Rowland) had a comedic gift and a skill with words that was both astonishing and entertaining.
The premise of the book is that Mrs. Solomon is passing on her hard-earned wisdom about men to younger women. There are chapters on Husband, Bachelors, Flirts, Damsels, and Sirens. My daughters loved it. And I must admit, it is funny.
Here are some sample lines:
And Verily, a Woman Need Know But One Man Well, in Order to Understand ALL Men;
Whereas a Man May Know All Women and Understand Not One of Them.
and:
He muttereth unto his wife, “Lo! I will go
unto the corner for a cigar” – and behold, he
wandereth unto many corners and returneth
by a circular route.
Rowland has 120 pages of these pithy sayings, illustrated with period engravings and very stylized Egyptian border-art.
The Shearers (especially the Shearer daughters) enjoyed the book so much, that we decided we would bring it back into print. Mrs. Solomon, in fact, now has her own web site (http://MrsSolomon.com) and twitter account (http://twitter.com/mrs_solomon).
The books are being produced for us by CreateSpace (which is an Amazon.com subsidiary, so the best way to order a copy is to go directly to their web site.
The Sayings of Mrs. Solomon is a paperback, 120 pages and may be ordered directly from CreateSpace by clicking on any of the links in this message.
– Rob Shearer,
Publisher, Greenleaf Press