Aladdin & Co.: A Romance of Yankee MagicQuick, Herbert
General
Aladdin & Co.: A Romance of Yankee Magic
Quick, Herbert
Fiction
"Didn't I show you those blueprints?" he asked. "An oversight I assure
you. As for the scheme, you suggested it yourself that night we first
drove out to Trescott's. Don't you remember saying something about
'breathing space for the populace'? Well, I had the surveys made at
once; contracted for the land, all but what Bill owns of it, which we'll
have to get later; and had a landscapist out from Chicago to direct us
as to what we ought to admire in improving the place. As for the name,
I'm indebted to kind nature, which planted the valley in basswood, and
to Josie, who contributed the philological knowledge and the taste.
That's the street-car line," said he, unrolling an elaborate plat and
pointing. "We may throw it over to the west to develop section seven, if
we close for it. Otherwise, that line is the very thing."
Our street-railway franchise had been granted by the Lattimore city
council--they would have granted the public square, had we asked for it
in the potent name of "progress"--and Cornish was even now making
arrangements for placing our bonds. The impossible of less than a year
ago was now included in the next season's program, as an inconsiderable
feature of a great project for a street-railway system, and the
"development" of hundreds of acres of land.
The place so to be named Lynhurst Park was most agreeably reached by a
walk up Brushy Creek from Lattimore. Such a stroll took one into the
gorge, where the rocks shelved toward each other, until their crowning
fringes of cedar almost interlocked, like the eyelashes of drowsiness.
Down there in the twilight one felt a sense of being defrauded, in
contemplation of the fact that the stream was troutless: it was such an
ideal place for trout. The quiet and mellow gloom made the gorge a
favorite trysting-place, and perhaps the cool-blooded stream-folk had
fled from the presence of the more fervid dwellers on the banks. In the
crevices of the rocks were the nests of the village pigeons. The
combined effects of all these causes was to make this a spot devoted to
billing and cooing.
Farther up the stream the rock walls grew lower and parted wider,
islanding a rich bottom of lush grass-plot, alternating with groves of
walnut, linden, and elm. This was the Lynhurst Park of the blueprints
and plats. Trescott's farm lay on the right bank, and others on either
side; but the houses were none of them near the stream, and the entire
walk was wild and woodsy-looking. None but nature-lovers came that way.
Others drove out by the road past Trescott's, seeing more of corn and
barn, but less of rock, moss, and fern.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account