Remembering

There was a prominent family from my home town called the MacGregor's they had an estate which had been past through inheritance to several generations. The house sat on a large pie shaped lot bordered by the streets of St. Andrews, Osborne and Victoria avenue. The house was shielded from view by huge lilac bushes the gardens were delightful, three large pines stood at the thin edge of the wedge shaped lot . I don't remember ever talking to Mr. MacGregor. I have a hazy distant memory of the man walking around the edge of his property wearing suspenders and a hat, picking lilacs in the sun of May.

Mr MacGregor died or his wife died, then he, I can not remember. Rights to the property past to a nephew from out of town. The nephew was not interested in living in the house, so the property was sold. There was a huge auction on the grounds of the estate, many antique dealers were in attendance.

I was about seventeen at the time and had a love of old books. I spotted a set of five Kitto's Daily Bible Illustrations. I didn't know anything about the author or the content, but I was attracted to the antiquity of the volumes and the wonderful prints inside.

There was no competition in the bidding, maybe it was the religious content that scared away the sinners from the big city. I won the bidding and paid for the books with a crisp, orange, two dollar bill.

So now this heirloom from a family that is ingrained in the history of my home town, sits on my bookshelf. They've been there twenty seven years now and never once have I read them, but I can say the I have looked at every single picture.