Being a Boy

Set amid the rolling farms and woods of New England between 1830 and 1850, the book sketches a boy’s world before electric light, when mornings began with the clatter of harnesses and evenings faded into quiet fields. Through brief scenes—yoking oxen, chasing trout, leaping over stone walls, and sitting in a one‑room schoolhouse—the listener hears the cadence of seasonal chores and the simple, reckless joy of youthful adventure.

The author, recalling personal experience, avoids romanticising the past and lets each vignette stand as a snapshot from an old photograph. Accompanied by Clifton Johnson’s period illustrations, the stories feel both documentary and vivid, inviting listeners to imagine the scent of fresh‑cut hay, the thrill of a first fish catch, and the nervous excitement of a farm‑yard race. Together they offer a gentle portrait of a vanished era, a window into the work, play, and quiet aspirations that defined being a boy in that time.