On this page
-
Text (1)
-
102 ADVENTURES OP YOUR OWN CORRESPONDENT...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
* W • With: Tliat Natural Clieerfulness ...
alL Our rooms satisfactorily arranged , we proceeded to put up A . ' s easel , and to dispose our writing materials and books in the small
parlor which was exclusively our own . Those standard works which our London minds had steadily
rejected for years , as far too heavy to get through , and which , with yearly recurring and delusive confidence in some " thaumaturgic "
effect of country air , we had brought down with us , were prominently and proudly put in the most conspicuous places ; while lighter
works , with an affectation of careless contempt , were thrown in the rear .
In the strictest confidence your O . Cs . will confide to you that the geological volume , the large philosophical treatise , and the abstruse
historical investigations , with which they meant to charm their leisure hours , will return to London uncut , unread , untouched ;
whereas ——shall we confess to that box _from Mudie _' s , or shall we not ? Confidence , even in our beloved public , may go too far , so I
think we will pass over that in silence . " That looks very well , " said I , falling back to a distance , to admire
the effect produced by my artistic grouping of Huskin , Goethe , Carlyle , and Tennyson , the best bound of our library .
" This looks a great deal better , " said A ., dragging me to the door , where Scawfell Pikes towering up shut out the eastern
heavens , while the morning cloud of vapour , which always seemed to love to linger on the highest point of the Gable-End , was slowly
fleeting away . _^ See , rising up the mountain gorges , pale
To Columns me , as of unto mist Adam , sun- ere smitten he fell , afar , off The angel warders , their brief vigil o ' er
Rising from Eden ' s vales on snowy wings . " * " That is such a pretty passage , " said I , after quoting it , " and
from a little volume which is not half enough known . " How long I might have held forth on the inexplicable caprices of popular favor
I know not , for A . stopped me with something" decidedly more to the point " I . have been asking about dinner , " said _slie , and do you know
they say they can very seldom get fresh meat . " " Delightful ! " exclaimed I ,. " that does sound remote and wild ! "
"Yes , " said A ., not responding with that cheerfulness I expected , " but I am not particularly fond of eggs and "bacon . Are you ? "
"I never tried it for long , " returned I , "but I have no doubt it will be extremely nice . "
" I have also asked about the post , " said A . ; " we have to send seven miles to post and get our letters , and there is not always a
messenger to be had . " " Well , I like that too , " answered I , with , that defiant emphasis
which we never use except when we are trying to impose upon ourselves as to our real opinion . * " Autumn Leaves . " By the late Dunsterviile _Brucks .
102 Adventures Op Your Own Correspondent...
102 ADVENTURES OP YOUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS .
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Oct. 1, 1859, page 102, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01101859/page/30/
-