Book excerpt: Tales of a Farmboy isn't just the life story of a farmer and his struggles (though it is that, too). It warmly relates the peaks and valleys in one man's life, told with a great depth of feeling, and with great humility and humor. Clarence Salmon paints pictures with his stories and poems, and the reader can almost smell the scents and hear the sounds that his vivid descriptions evoke. This book is filled with first-person accounts of a simpler time, when going to church meant hitching up the horse and buggy, when Christmas was truly a homegrown affair, and where children could actually go sledding down the middle of Allen Hill Road without danger. It describes the author's firsthand experiences with the traumatic events of the times, such as the stock market crash of 1929, when he was a twenty-year-old bellhop at a well-to-do Florida hotel, as well as the destruction of the 1938 hurricane - "The Storm of Storms". Together, Clarence and Donna Salmon have created a wonderful reading experience which follows one man's journey from cradle to old age using love, faith, determination, strength of character, perseverance and a great sense of humor. A true piece of Americana.