McClure's Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 5, October 1893Various
General
McClure's Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 5, October 1893
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Literature -- Periodicals
These lovers, therefore, wander about the Heath, sometimes up to their
knees in bracken, sometimes sitting under the trees, not talking much,
but, as the old phrase has it, "enjoying themselves" very much indeed.
At the end of the Spaniards' Road--that high causeway whence one can
see, in clear weather, the steeple of Harrow Church on one side and
the dome of St. Paul's on the other--there is a famous clump of firs,
which have been represented by painters over and over again. Benches
have been placed under these trees, where one can sit and have a very
fine view indeed, with the Hendon Lake in the middle distance, and a
range of hills beyond, and fields and rills between.
On one of these benches were sitting this evening two--Adam and Eve,
boy and girl--newly entered into paradise. Others were sitting there
as well--an ancient gentleman whose thoughts were seventy years back,
a working man with a child of three on his knee, and beside him his
wife, carrying the baby. But these lovers paid no heed to their
neighbors. They sat at the end of the bench. The boy was holding the
girl's hand, and he was talking eagerly.
"Lily," he said, "you must come some evening to our debating society
when we begin again and hear me speak. No one speaks better. That is
acknowledged. There is to be a debate on the House of Lords in
October. I mean to come out grand. When I'm done there will be mighty
little left of the Lords." He was a handsome lad, tall and well set
up, straight featured and bright eyed. The girl looked at him proudly.
He was her own lad--this handsome chap. Not that she was bad-looking
either. Many an honest fellow has to put up with a girl not nearly so
good-looking, if you were to compare.
He was a clerk in the city. She was in the post-office. He attended at
his office daily from half-past nine to six, doing such work as was
set before him for the salary of a pound a week. She stood all day
long at the counter, serving out postal orders, selling stamps,
weighing letters, and receiving telegrams. When I add that she was
civil to everybody you will understand that she was quite a superior
clerk--one of the queen's lucky bargains. It is not delicate to talk
about a young lady's salary, therefore I shall not say for how much
she gave her services to the British Empire.
He was a clever boy, who read and thought. That is to say, he thought
that he thought--which is more than most do. As he took his facts from
the newspapers, and nothing else, and as he was profoundly ignorant
of English history, English law, the British Constitution, the duties
of a citizen, and the British Empire generally, his opinions, after he
had done thinking, were not of so much value to the country, it is
believed. But still a clever fellow, and able to spout in a frothy way
which carried his hearers along, if it never convinced or defeated an
opponent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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