Malta calling

Abstract

Foreword

In times past I have often asked myself why Maltese are so passionately attached to their island? Why are they so loath to leave it even for a few years?_ Why is absence to them always exile, even though they may be in pleasant places abroad? The answer comes to me from the pages of Malta's long history, and from all her traditions of faith and culture. Few, if any, places on this earth appeal so irresistibly to the memories that link the peoples to their homes. Can any other spot boast of the like associations which bind the spirit of men to the land of their fathers and to the hearths which are warm with the love of kin? Storm after storm from all points of the compass have age after age burst on the rocks of Malta; they have served only to root more deeply the sturdy faith and the undying charity of its people. In these simple homely pages of Maltese literature will be found witness of the attachment of the people to their native land, to their language and to their faith. [Excerpt]