A Little Journey in the WorldWarner, Charles Dudley
General
A Little Journey in the World
Warner, Charles Dudley
American fiction -- 19th century
Of all this there was nothing to write to Margaret, who was passing
her time agreeably in the Berkshire hills, a little impatient for her
husband's arrival, postponed from day to day, and full of sympathy for
him, condemned to the hot city and the harassment of a business the
magnitude of which gave him the obligations and the character of a
public man. Henderson sent her instead a column from The Planet devoted
to a description of his private library. Mr. Goss, the editor, who was
college bred, had been round to talk with Henderson about the Southwest
trip, and the conversation drifting into other matters, Henderson had
taken from his desk and shown him a rare old book which he had picked
up the day before in a second-hand shop. This led to further talk
about Henderson's hobby, and the editor had asked permission to send a
reporter down to make a note of Henderson's collection. It would make
a good midsummer item, “The Stock-Broker in Literature,” “The Private
Tastes of a Millionaire,” etc. The column got condensed into a portable
paragraph, and went the rounds of the press, and changed the opinions
of a good many people about the great operator--he wasn't altogether
devoted to vulgar moneymaking. Uncle Jerry himself read the column with
appreciation of its value. “It diverts the public mind,” he said. He
himself had recently diverted the public mind by the gift of a bell
to the Norembega Theological (colored) Institute, and the paragraph
announcing the fact conveyed the impression that while Uncle Jerry was
a canny old customer, his heart was on the right side. “There are worse
men than Uncle Jerry who are not worth a cent,” was one of the humorous
paragraphs tacked on to the item.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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