Families -- Fiction; Girls -- Conduct of life -- Fiction; Young women -- Conduct of life -- Fiction
"That is just what it used to be called," said Miss Hazen. "It was not
a very poetical name, but we liked it. They changed the name, some
years ago."
"What?" Sally asked. "What did they change it to?"
"Washington Street," answered Cousin Martha plaintively. "It seemed to
us that it was not necessary to call it Washington Street. There is no
individuality in the name."
Fox laughed again. "Not a great deal," he agreed.
Miss Hazen smiled and sighed.
"We cling to the old names," she continued. "We still call this
street, among ourselves, the Cow Path, and Parker Street is still West
India Lane, and Smith Street is Witch Lane. The old names are more
picturesque and romantic. There seemed to be no sufficient reason for
changing them. For us, they are not changed."
Washington Street--the Cow Path, as Miss Hazen preferred to call
it--had upon it a great many handsome places. They were big houses, of
stone, for the most part, or covered with stucco, although a few of
them were of wood; and they were set well back from the street, behind
well-kept lawns with clumps of shrubbery or of trees scattered at
careful random. Sally did not see one of these old places with the
rather formal garden, with its box hedges, in front of the house, but
she saw a good many with gorgeous gardens at the side, and many with
the gardens, apparently, at the back.
They were very different, these great places, from her own home. Her
own home might have occupied a whole square, as many of these did, if
it had been in a city. It was not in a city, but in what was scarcely
more than a village and the trees were where nature had set them. The
whole place--Sally's own place--had an atmosphere of wildness quite in
keeping with coal trees and sauri. These places, if they had had no
more care than the professor had been accustomed to give to his, would
have a pathetic air of abandon and desolation. What would a poor
little gynesaurus do here?
They turned off of the Cow Path and Miss Hazen brightened perceptibly.
"We are getting near home," she remarked. "Our house is on the next
corner."
"Oh, is it?" Sally asked. "What street is this?"
"This is Box Elder and our house is on the corner of Apple Tree."
Sally laughed. "How funny!" she said. "And what pretty names!"
"We think they are pretty names. Now, here we are."
They were just turning in between granite gateposts that were green
with dampness, and Sally looked up with a lively interest. She caught
a glimpse of a wooden front fence of three octagonal rails; but it was
only a glimpse, for the view was cut off, almost immediately, by the
row of great evergreens which stood just back of the fence. There were
two other evergreens in the middle of the plot of lawn, and the elms
on the streets stretched their branches far over, nearly to the house.
Altogether, it gave a depressing effect of gloom and decay, which the
aspect of the house itself did not tend to relieve.
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