Eben Holden: A Tale of the North CountryBacheller, Irving
General
Eben Holden: A Tale of the North Country
Bacheller, Irving
Farm life -- Fiction; Historical fiction; New York (State) -- Fiction
He did not leave me until I was on my way home loaded with fact and
fable and good dialect with a savour of the sea in it.
Hope and Uncle Eb were sitting together in his room when I returned.
'Guess I've got a job,' I said, trying to be very cool about it..
'A job! said Hope eagerly, as she rose. 'Where?
'With Mr Horace Greeley,' I answered, my voice betraying my excitement.
'Jerusalem! said Uncle Eb. 'Is it possible?'
'That's grand! said Hope. 'Tell us about it.'
Then I told them of my interview with the great editor and of what I had
done since.
'Ye done wonderful!' said Uncle Eb and Hope showed quite as much
pleasure in her own sweet way.
I was for going to my room and beginning to write at once, but Hope said
it was time to be getting ready for dinner.
When we came down at half-past six we were presented to our host and the
guests of the evening--handsome men and women in full dress--and young
Mr Livingstone was among them. I felt rather cheap in my frock coat,
although I had thought it grand enough for anybody on the day of my
graduation. Dinner announced, the gentlemen rose and offered escort
to the ladies, and Hope and Mrs Fuller relieved our embarrassment
by conducting us to our seats--women are so deft in those little
difficulties. The dinner was not more formal than that of every evening
in the Fuller home--for its master was a rich man of some refinement of
taste--and not at all comparable to the splendid hospitality one may
see every day at the table of a modern millionaire. But it did seem very
wonderful to us, then, with its fine-mannered servants, its flowers, its
abundant silver. Hope had written much to her mother of the details of
deportment at John Fuller's table, and Elizabeth had delicately imparted
to us the things we ought to know. We behaved well, I have since been
told, although we got credit for poorer appetites than we possessed.
Uncle Eb took no chances and refused everything that had a look of
mystery and a suggestion of peril, dropping a droll remark, betimes,
that sent a ripple of amusement around the table.
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account