Marm Lisa
CHAPTER I--EDEN PLACE
Eden Place was a short street running at right angles with Eden
Square, a most unattractive and infertile triangle of ground in a
most unattractive but respectable quarter of a large city. It was
called a square, not so much, probably, because it was triangular in
shape, as because it was hardly large enough to be designated as a
park. As to its being called 'Eden,' the origin of that qualifying
word is enveloped in mystery; but it is likely that the enthusiastic
persons who projected it saw visions and dreamed dreams of green
benches under umbrageous trees, of a green wire fence, ever green,
and of plots of blossoming flowers filling the grateful air with
unaccustomed fragrance.
As a matter of fact, the trees had always been stunted and stubby,
the plants had never been tended, and all the paint had been worn off
the benches by successive groups of working-men out of work. As for
the wire fence, it had been much used as a means of ingress and
egress by the children of the neighbourhood, who preferred it to any
of the gateways, which they considered hopelessly unimaginative and
commonplace, offering no resistance to the budding man of valour or
woman of ambition.
Eden Place was frequented mostly by the children, who found it an
admirable spot to squabble, to fight, and to dig up the hapless
earth; and after them, by persons out of suits with fortune. These
(generally men) adorned the shabby benches at all times, sleeping,
smoking, reading newspapers, or tracing uncertain patterns in the
gravel with a stick,--patterns as uncertain and aimless as
themselves. There were fewer women, because the unemployed woman of
this class has an old-fashioned habit, or instinct, of seeking work
by direct assault; the method of the male being rather to sit on a
bench and discuss the obstacles, the injustices, and the unendurable
insults heaped by a plutocratic government in the path of the honest
son of toil.
The corner house of Eden Place was a little larger than its
neighbours in the same row. Its side was flanked by a sand-lot, and
a bay window, with four central panes of blue glass, was the most
conspicuous feature of its architecture. In the small front yard was
a microscopic flower-bed; there were no flowers in it, but the stake
that held up a stout plant in the middle was surmounted by a neat
wooden sign bearing the inscription, 'No Smoking on these Premises.'
The warning seemed superfluous, as no man standing in the garden
could have put his pipe in his mouth without grazing either the fence
or the house, but the owner of the 'premises' possibly wished to warn
the visitor at the very threshold.
"1107881670"
Eden Place was a short street running at right angles with Eden
Square, a most unattractive and infertile triangle of ground in a
most unattractive but respectable quarter of a large city. It was
called a square, not so much, probably, because it was triangular in
shape, as because it was hardly large enough to be designated as a
park. As to its being called 'Eden,' the origin of that qualifying
word is enveloped in mystery; but it is likely that the enthusiastic
persons who projected it saw visions and dreamed dreams of green
benches under umbrageous trees, of a green wire fence, ever green,
and of plots of blossoming flowers filling the grateful air with
unaccustomed fragrance.
As a matter of fact, the trees had always been stunted and stubby,
the plants had never been tended, and all the paint had been worn off
the benches by successive groups of working-men out of work. As for
the wire fence, it had been much used as a means of ingress and
egress by the children of the neighbourhood, who preferred it to any
of the gateways, which they considered hopelessly unimaginative and
commonplace, offering no resistance to the budding man of valour or
woman of ambition.
Eden Place was frequented mostly by the children, who found it an
admirable spot to squabble, to fight, and to dig up the hapless
earth; and after them, by persons out of suits with fortune. These
(generally men) adorned the shabby benches at all times, sleeping,
smoking, reading newspapers, or tracing uncertain patterns in the
gravel with a stick,--patterns as uncertain and aimless as
themselves. There were fewer women, because the unemployed woman of
this class has an old-fashioned habit, or instinct, of seeking work
by direct assault; the method of the male being rather to sit on a
bench and discuss the obstacles, the injustices, and the unendurable
insults heaped by a plutocratic government in the path of the honest
son of toil.
The corner house of Eden Place was a little larger than its
neighbours in the same row. Its side was flanked by a sand-lot, and
a bay window, with four central panes of blue glass, was the most
conspicuous feature of its architecture. In the small front yard was
a microscopic flower-bed; there were no flowers in it, but the stake
that held up a stout plant in the middle was surmounted by a neat
wooden sign bearing the inscription, 'No Smoking on these Premises.'
The warning seemed superfluous, as no man standing in the garden
could have put his pipe in his mouth without grazing either the fence
or the house, but the owner of the 'premises' possibly wished to warn
the visitor at the very threshold.
Marm Lisa
CHAPTER I--EDEN PLACE
Eden Place was a short street running at right angles with Eden
Square, a most unattractive and infertile triangle of ground in a
most unattractive but respectable quarter of a large city. It was
called a square, not so much, probably, because it was triangular in
shape, as because it was hardly large enough to be designated as a
park. As to its being called 'Eden,' the origin of that qualifying
word is enveloped in mystery; but it is likely that the enthusiastic
persons who projected it saw visions and dreamed dreams of green
benches under umbrageous trees, of a green wire fence, ever green,
and of plots of blossoming flowers filling the grateful air with
unaccustomed fragrance.
As a matter of fact, the trees had always been stunted and stubby,
the plants had never been tended, and all the paint had been worn off
the benches by successive groups of working-men out of work. As for
the wire fence, it had been much used as a means of ingress and
egress by the children of the neighbourhood, who preferred it to any
of the gateways, which they considered hopelessly unimaginative and
commonplace, offering no resistance to the budding man of valour or
woman of ambition.
Eden Place was frequented mostly by the children, who found it an
admirable spot to squabble, to fight, and to dig up the hapless
earth; and after them, by persons out of suits with fortune. These
(generally men) adorned the shabby benches at all times, sleeping,
smoking, reading newspapers, or tracing uncertain patterns in the
gravel with a stick,--patterns as uncertain and aimless as
themselves. There were fewer women, because the unemployed woman of
this class has an old-fashioned habit, or instinct, of seeking work
by direct assault; the method of the male being rather to sit on a
bench and discuss the obstacles, the injustices, and the unendurable
insults heaped by a plutocratic government in the path of the honest
son of toil.
The corner house of Eden Place was a little larger than its
neighbours in the same row. Its side was flanked by a sand-lot, and
a bay window, with four central panes of blue glass, was the most
conspicuous feature of its architecture. In the small front yard was
a microscopic flower-bed; there were no flowers in it, but the stake
that held up a stout plant in the middle was surmounted by a neat
wooden sign bearing the inscription, 'No Smoking on these Premises.'
The warning seemed superfluous, as no man standing in the garden
could have put his pipe in his mouth without grazing either the fence
or the house, but the owner of the 'premises' possibly wished to warn
the visitor at the very threshold.
Eden Place was a short street running at right angles with Eden
Square, a most unattractive and infertile triangle of ground in a
most unattractive but respectable quarter of a large city. It was
called a square, not so much, probably, because it was triangular in
shape, as because it was hardly large enough to be designated as a
park. As to its being called 'Eden,' the origin of that qualifying
word is enveloped in mystery; but it is likely that the enthusiastic
persons who projected it saw visions and dreamed dreams of green
benches under umbrageous trees, of a green wire fence, ever green,
and of plots of blossoming flowers filling the grateful air with
unaccustomed fragrance.
As a matter of fact, the trees had always been stunted and stubby,
the plants had never been tended, and all the paint had been worn off
the benches by successive groups of working-men out of work. As for
the wire fence, it had been much used as a means of ingress and
egress by the children of the neighbourhood, who preferred it to any
of the gateways, which they considered hopelessly unimaginative and
commonplace, offering no resistance to the budding man of valour or
woman of ambition.
Eden Place was frequented mostly by the children, who found it an
admirable spot to squabble, to fight, and to dig up the hapless
earth; and after them, by persons out of suits with fortune. These
(generally men) adorned the shabby benches at all times, sleeping,
smoking, reading newspapers, or tracing uncertain patterns in the
gravel with a stick,--patterns as uncertain and aimless as
themselves. There were fewer women, because the unemployed woman of
this class has an old-fashioned habit, or instinct, of seeking work
by direct assault; the method of the male being rather to sit on a
bench and discuss the obstacles, the injustices, and the unendurable
insults heaped by a plutocratic government in the path of the honest
son of toil.
The corner house of Eden Place was a little larger than its
neighbours in the same row. Its side was flanked by a sand-lot, and
a bay window, with four central panes of blue glass, was the most
conspicuous feature of its architecture. In the small front yard was
a microscopic flower-bed; there were no flowers in it, but the stake
that held up a stout plant in the middle was surmounted by a neat
wooden sign bearing the inscription, 'No Smoking on these Premises.'
The warning seemed superfluous, as no man standing in the garden
could have put his pipe in his mouth without grazing either the fence
or the house, but the owner of the 'premises' possibly wished to warn
the visitor at the very threshold.
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940013787940 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | SAP |
| Publication date: | 12/06/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 107 KB |
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