Trafford Publishing: A Life of Simplicity

Here is the full reference card for this book...

If you'd rather place an order by talking to one of our cheerful order desk clerks, please call 1-888-232-4444 (USA and Canada only) or 250-383-6864. From Europe, ring our UK order desk clerk at local rate number 0845 230 9601 (UK only) or 44 (0)1865 722 113.

A Life of Simplicity

by Thomas Conlan

155 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #05-0496; ISBN 1-4120-5598-9; US$18.87, C$21.70, EUR15.50, £10.85

A Life of Simplicity, set in rural Ireland, spans a century of turbulent change. It shows how life in its fullness can be joyfully lived in a harmony of spirit, body and mind.

Read more!

About the Book About the Author Excerpts Catalogue Information

About the Book

A Life of Simplicity is more than an autobiography. The author, Thomas Conlan, first put pen to paper in his eighty-third year to recount his journey through life for the benefit of future generations, the ones not yet born. Having lived and experienced the turbulence of the twentieth century he still holds firm to the fact that life is always new and good. He trusts that the simplicity of its message might help bring clarity to anyone needing to know why we are here on this earth.
Reading through its pages is a refreshing interlude between the growing urgencies pressing upon us in these current times of consumerism. The book's gentle pace and naturalness helps us to reconnect with our true nature, with the wonder of love in existence and it shows us how being simple is being fulfilled.

About the Author

Thomas Conlan was born on December 17th 1917 in Kildooras, Co. Clare. He was the third youngest in a family of nine and at the age of three, by his own choosing, he went to live with his childless aunt and uncle. In the surroundings of this small farmstead he enjoyed the simplicity of his childhood years in close contact with nature. At the age of fourteen the responsibility of the farm was suddenly thrust upon him after the unexpected death of his uncle, and this became the deciding moment of his life journey. He has never left this place where later his five children were naturally born to Nora, his wife.
Thomas has a rare gift of insight, although he would not claim to be anyone special. Yet it soon becomes apparent in his book that he is not just recalling his path, rather he is showing the way, and in particular to the ones not yet born.

Excerpts

Born into a large family, the seventh child to be precise, I was made to feel that I was not very important. At the age of three I was encouraged to stay with an aunt and uncle who were childless. They treated me with love, as if I was their very own, and I was less than a mile from my family whom I could see at any time.
I soon became very happy in my new home. My aunt was a lovely, homely woman who loved and cared for me. She was not well educated, as at that time in her school years children were kept at home from a very young age to help on the farm. My uncle was a very intelligent man. He was most interested in world affairs and read and studied everything with great interest. He was also very talented, a fine concertina player, and he would sing wonderful songs when he was feeling good. But his health was never robust.
My sisters, who were a few years older than me, would come most days to visit. In the early days I would sometimes go home with them, but I would always return on the following morning. As time went by, these journeys back home grew lesser and lesser and gradually I grew apart. I became very much at home where I was, and I liked very much the attention I was getting. I had everything to myself and I enjoyed doing the odd job around the farm with my aunt and uncle. I soon began to feel useful.
At that time there was also a young girl working with us. Although she was just about fifteen years old, to me she was a fully-grown, mature person. We got on great together and she taught me how to sing. The song she taught me when I was just three and a half years old is the only song that I still have all the verses and words to this day, now eighty years on. Whenever I hear it on the radio or television I always think of her presence. Her name was Biddy, and to me she was lovely.
But she was not with us very long after I had arrived. It seems that she had a boyfriend whom no one knew about and when she became pregnant the boyfriend disappeared. When the time came she went to the Good Shepherd Convent, a place where girls in her condition were taken care of in those times. In return the girls would have to give their time and labour towards the maintenance of mother and child.
Before I forget it, the name of the song was Danny Boy. She had a lovely voice and she would sing it every day. Many years later I discovered that her boyfriend's name was Danny and now I know why she loved the song so much. I feel sad now that I never saw her since that day she left.
There was also my uncle's father living in the house at that time. He was in his eighties, a grand intelligent old man, although his temper was a bit quick, but otherwise he was interesting and we got on well. He had spent twenty years of his young life in Australia and he would recall and relate what life and living in Australia was like at that time. Apparently, he first left in a sailing ship from Cove, or Queenstown as it was then known, and it took all of nine months to complete the journey ...
***
The morning was cold and crisp, with a skin of ice on the ground. We were beginning to feel that Patrick might have forgotten, or maybe got cold feet, until we heard the faint sound of quick-stepping pony's hooves in the distance becoming clearer by the second.
Within minutes he arrived, later than expected, with his usual grumpy look. He seemed to like giving the impression he was in a bad mood to cover the excitement he was feeling deep down. Patrick has a fine animal that could eat up the road and a lovely rubber-tyre trap that was a pleasure to sit in. So in we got and after wrapping a large rug around ourselves he sped onwards at an even faster pace to make good the lost time. When we got to the main road it was glistening with ice causing the pony to slip a few times going down Garvin's hill ... We got to Killaloe in time for the early morning mass, a long slow process in a cold and frosty church which was regarded as being good for the soul. But nobody complained and eventually we were back on the road for the next phase of our journey that led on to Ogonnelloe and Scarriff. It was a beautiful drive all the way with the brisk morning air on our cheeks. Lough Derg was at its best between us and the North Tipperary hills of Grange sloping down to meet the Ballina-Derry Road with Tountina in the background. Nora was enthralled by the beauty of it all as she gazed across the lake on the countryside where she had grown up and had run wild all over those hills just a few short years before. Even the grumpy look was fading from Patrick's face as he was beginning to blend in with the beauty of the countryside and the odd pleasure boat as it made ripples on the lake.
The pony was stepping it out at a steady pace which she had set out of her own accord and it seemed as though she was equally enjoying the journey. Nora and Patrick fell into conversation where she recalled the times she had spent long summer evenings with her family and friends roaming through those fields and the places they used to go swimming together. She talked about the islands and how her brothers and their friends used sometimes swim out to meet and chat with the occupants of the pleasure boats just for the crack.
By now the sun was high in the sky and was giving off a pleasant heat. The road eventually wound away from the lake and brought us into Scarriff where we stopped to have some light refreshments ...
***
I will never cease to be amazed at the progress in the world all around us in the last thirty years or so, as everywhere I go it has changed for the better. It is like a breath of fresh air to see how neatly everything has been put in place in the countryside, which is all due to people and education that have changed the structure of society. I think this is very relevant now and in the future for the benefit of all and the world in general. People are eager to keep up with a new world, and a new generation that seems to me to be on a roll.
I also think that education has brought people more in line with politics and they are now in a better position to express their views in the press and on television without fear or favour. It is good to see people being more vocal about their needs and the road they chose to follow into the future. They have made so clear that peace in our country is the most important factor in life. With peace and cooperation it is possible to raise all boats large and small, resulting in a better life for all.
It is not politics or politicians that are doing that, it is the people. I think it is time for people to make their demands loud and clear when electing a government of whatever party to carry out whatever it takes, provided it is necessary, just and in line with common sense. I also think that institutions should be more open where those elected or appointed to run the affairs of our country should consciously do so with a directness and honesty that would be beneficial to all people.

Catalogue Information