What do you think?
Rate this book
Familiar Fields
Canadian essays.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1925
1 person is currently reading
2 people want to read
About the author
Peter McArthur
20 books1 followerPeter Gilchrist McArthur was a Canadian writer, poet, essayist, and farmer. Born in Ekfrid Township, Canada West (now Ontario), to Scottish immigrant parents, McArthur was educated in Strathroy and later at the University of Toronto, though he left before graduating to pursue journalism.
He began his writing career as a reporter for the Toronto Daily Mail and later moved to New York City, where he worked as a freelance writer and editor of the magazine Truth. His literary circle included notable Canadian writers such as Bliss Carman, Charles G.D. Roberts, and Stephen Leacock. McArthur also spent time in London, England, contributing to Punch and other publications.
In 1908, McArthur returned to his family farm in Ekfrid, combining his rural lifestyle with a prolific writing career. His humorous and philosophical reflections on rural life were widely published in the Toronto Globe and Farmer’s Advocate, and later compiled into popular books such as In Pastures Green (1915), The Red Cow and Her Friends (1919), and The Affable Stranger (1920).
McArthur also wrote biographies of Stephen Leacock and Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier. He was a popular public speaker and was celebrated for his wit and insight into Canadian rural life. He died in 1924 at the age of 58 following surgery, at the height of his popularity.
He began his writing career as a reporter for the Toronto Daily Mail and later moved to New York City, where he worked as a freelance writer and editor of the magazine Truth. His literary circle included notable Canadian writers such as Bliss Carman, Charles G.D. Roberts, and Stephen Leacock. McArthur also spent time in London, England, contributing to Punch and other publications.
In 1908, McArthur returned to his family farm in Ekfrid, combining his rural lifestyle with a prolific writing career. His humorous and philosophical reflections on rural life were widely published in the Toronto Globe and Farmer’s Advocate, and later compiled into popular books such as In Pastures Green (1915), The Red Cow and Her Friends (1919), and The Affable Stranger (1920).
McArthur also wrote biographies of Stephen Leacock and Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier. He was a popular public speaker and was celebrated for his wit and insight into Canadian rural life. He died in 1924 at the age of 58 following surgery, at the height of his popularity.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 3, 2025
"Familiar Fields" 1925 JM Dent & Sons Ltd London, Temple Press Letchworth Great Britain, pages 157
Peter Gilchrist McArthur (March 10, 1866 – October 28, 1924) was a farmer and writer in Ekfrid, Ontario in 1908.
A collection of tales that you can get lost in as he writes very vivid details of the countryside and the beauty of the farm life. Peter McArthur, a Canadian poet and author, captures the essence of familiar places and heartfelt emotions in his verses.
It is more than a collection of poems it is an exploration of nature around him.
He reflects on it all, the changing seasons and his connection between himself and nature. The stories instill vivid images of familiar landscapes and the beauty that he sees and that surrounds him everyday through the rural existance. He shares his heartfelt simple writing style in the tales and poetry.
I love his details like:
The Friendly Trees...Although the oak is my particular friend among the trees on the farm, there are others with which I can claim at least an acquaintanceship. His favorite is a giant maple over three feet in diameter whose spreading top rises far above the other trees on the farm.
It is a great day, an expansive day, a large day.
Getting out to Grass: When the sun begins to get warm, and the grass starts to grow, I get impatient for the time when I can fling myself at full length on the sod without being scolded for taking chances of catching cold.
Land of Good Neighbours...How will that do as a descriptive title for Canada?
A Little Walk...One spring morning four, or perhaps five, years ago, the youngest boy and I took a little walk that may leave its record on the farm for more years than anything that has been accomplished on it since the original clearing of the land.
THE SOLITUDE OF RAIN
A CANADIAN GARDEN
A LONESOME SQUIRREL
AN OCTOBER WALK...are some of my favorites. He usually has poems intertwined in the stories.
When the maples flame with crimson
And the nights are still with frost,
Ere the summer's luring beauty
Is in autumn glory lost,
Through the marshes and the forests
An imperious summons flies,
And from all the dreaming north-land
The wild birds flock and rise
My review is really sharing. If you love nature stories and poetry about nature this is one I recommend. A quick read and a very enjoyable. His style is just as beautiful and simple as nature is.
I finally received my copy it came this way:
It is hardcover, red cloth with a Blind Stamp
Peter Gilchrist McArthur (March 10, 1866 – October 28, 1924) was a farmer and writer in Ekfrid, Ontario in 1908.
A collection of tales that you can get lost in as he writes very vivid details of the countryside and the beauty of the farm life. Peter McArthur, a Canadian poet and author, captures the essence of familiar places and heartfelt emotions in his verses.
It is more than a collection of poems it is an exploration of nature around him.
He reflects on it all, the changing seasons and his connection between himself and nature. The stories instill vivid images of familiar landscapes and the beauty that he sees and that surrounds him everyday through the rural existance. He shares his heartfelt simple writing style in the tales and poetry.
I love his details like:
The Friendly Trees...Although the oak is my particular friend among the trees on the farm, there are others with which I can claim at least an acquaintanceship. His favorite is a giant maple over three feet in diameter whose spreading top rises far above the other trees on the farm.
It is a great day, an expansive day, a large day.
Getting out to Grass: When the sun begins to get warm, and the grass starts to grow, I get impatient for the time when I can fling myself at full length on the sod without being scolded for taking chances of catching cold.
Land of Good Neighbours...How will that do as a descriptive title for Canada?
A Little Walk...One spring morning four, or perhaps five, years ago, the youngest boy and I took a little walk that may leave its record on the farm for more years than anything that has been accomplished on it since the original clearing of the land.
THE SOLITUDE OF RAIN
A CANADIAN GARDEN
A LONESOME SQUIRREL
AN OCTOBER WALK...are some of my favorites. He usually has poems intertwined in the stories.
When the maples flame with crimson
And the nights are still with frost,
Ere the summer's luring beauty
Is in autumn glory lost,
Through the marshes and the forests
An imperious summons flies,
And from all the dreaming north-land
The wild birds flock and rise
My review is really sharing. If you love nature stories and poetry about nature this is one I recommend. A quick read and a very enjoyable. His style is just as beautiful and simple as nature is.
I finally received my copy it came this way:
It is hardcover, red cloth with a Blind Stamp
Displaying 1 of 1 review