The BOOK of
GALLANT VAGABONDS
HENRY BESTON
Ship Bonetta Salem Departing from Leghorn
Courtesy Peabody Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.
THE HARBOR OF LEGHORN IN SHELLEY’S DAY SHOWING THE AMERICAN SHIP“BONETTA” OF SALEM LEAVING PORT.
The Book of
Gallant Vagabonds
By
HENRY BESTON
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
Copyright, 1925,
By George H. Doran Company
THE BOOK OF GALLANT VAGABONDS
—A—
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
To
COLONEL THEODORE ROOSEVELT
and
MRS. THEODORE ROOSEVELT
IN GRATEFUL APPRECIATION OF
MANY YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP
AND ENCOURAGEMENT
There are times when everyone wantsto be a vagabond, and go down the road toadventure, strange peoples, the mountains,and the sea. The bonds of convention, however,are many and strong, and only a few ever breakthem and go.
In this book I have gathered together the strangeand romantic lives of actual wanderers who didwhat so many have wished to do; here aresome who gave up all to go and see the world.The booming of temple gongs over the rice fieldssounded in their ears, they tasted strange foodcooked on charcoal fires in the twilight quiet ofmidocean isles, they knew the mountain wind keenwith the smell of snow, the mystery of roads alonggreat rivers, and the broad path of ships on lonelyseas. Whatever was to be seen, they went to see;[10]they did things the world thought could not bedone.
Life is a kind of book which is put into our handswith many pages still uncut; some are content withthe open leaves, others cut a few pages, the vagabondreads the whole