<br>L O W L A N D S - L - 13 January 2007 - Volume 02<br><br>=========================================================================<br><br>From: <span id="_user_arthurobin2002@yahoo.com" style="color: rgb(91, 16, 148);">
Arthur Jones <<a href="mailto:arthurobin2002@yahoo.com">arthurobin2002@yahoo.com</a>></span><br>Subject: LL-L 'Members' 2007.01.10 (05) [E]<br><br><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">To: All family, Lowlands-L and beyond:
</font></div> <div> </div> <div>Piet Bult schreev:</div><div><br>,From: <span>Stellingwerfs Eigen <<a href="mailto:info@stellingwerfs-eigen.nl" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"> info@stellingwerfs-eigen.nl
</a>></span><br><ubject: <span>LL-L 'farewell'<br><br></span><font color="#000080" face="Arial"><Hi all,<br><Today I am exactly one year reader on this list and received appr. 1.900 L-mails.<br><In
the same time I submitted appr. 160 contributions, a contribution to
the 100 <Words-table and an introduction (who disapeared behind the
horizon some time <ago for an unknown reason?).<br><I'm
very sorry to let You all know that for me the benefit of joy on this
list is <doubtful in comparison to the time I spend with reading and
writing all those.<br><My special thanks for to the Great Kahuna for having so much patience with me.<br><So, I'm (already) off now and wish You all: "All the best".<br><With a last 'goodbye' and
<br><Mit een vrundelike groet uut Stellingwarf (Fryslân, NL),<br><Piet Bult</font><br></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="times new roman" size="3">Dear Folks, and all of you,</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
I have seldom read a sadder <em>farvel. </em></font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Once
the turning point came, once the ink joined to the paper, shadows
shifting in the light of white wax candle over a nocturne table of
oaken, flemish-friesisch sorrow, there was nothing left but to count,
count, the wondrous things that came to us from Stellingwarf.</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">And, dear Piet, you make us count. I'm sure your tally is correct; and you gave more than you got. I, for one, was derelict.
</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The stunning verse, the earth-real talk, the people's market-speak: The tiny differentials that make us all unique.</font></div> <div> </div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The
whole time, I was listening. And I was not alone, but speaking for
myself, I know that there was simply too much to record, too much to
learn, too much to let sound---and so little time to absorb and respond.</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Many
of you know that I cannot enter into close discussions of the Lowlands
kind because despite the years I spent in Flanders, Netherlands and the
Niederelbe, you simply outclass me in basic knowledge. Although I
understand, somewhat, the morphology and syntax of Low Saxon tongues
and their heart-breaking history, I cannot but read, hear, and
appreciate what you have presented to us. As I had nothing to add to
the dialogue, I remained silent. </font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Perhaps
that is the lesson to be learned. Had I spoken out, even once, to thank
you and your friends for the wonderful and imaginative education you
presented to us on a silver platter, then I would feel less at fault
than I do this evening.</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">You
have not missed the mark, my friend. I have no doubt that there are
hundreds out there who were equally impressed ---and challenged--- by
your contributions. But if I had written in to my Lowlands-L colleagues
to indicate that the richness of this bunch of threads is one of the
strongest arguments yet for our going to the barricades to fight for
these muscular, faithful, stalwart and truthful old tongues--- I was
afraid that my public show of emotion would be quickly ridiculed by
more erudite linguists than I, to whom it all dissolves into a vat of
sound shifts of mathematical interest alone.</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">So I failed to speak up. But, Piet, please know that your efforts are not
in vain. Sooner or later, you will gain the support of souls with more courageous fibre than my own.</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I cannot blame you for leaving us: I would have said the same to Zarathustra. But your gift remains. And that's what counts.
</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Mit frundelike groeten,</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Arthur A. Jones</font></div> <div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
<a href="mailto:arthur.jones@yahoo.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">arthur.jones@yahoo.com</a></font></div><br>