Produced by Olaf Voss, Eric Eldred, Charles Franks, David Widger, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team SUBURBAN SKETCHES By William Dean Howells Author Of “Venetian Life,” “Italian Journeys” Etc. CONTENTS MRS. JOHNSON DOORSTEP ACQUAINTANCE A PEDESTRIAN TOUR BY HORSE-CAR TO BOSTON A DAY'S PLEASURE A ROMANCE OF REAL LIFE SCENE JUBILEE DAYS SOME LESSONS FROM THE SCHOOL OF MORALS FLITTING LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (not available) SHE LIGHTED A POTENT PIPE “BUT I SUPPOSE THIS WINE IS NOT MADE OF GRAPES, SIGNOR?” LOOKING ABOUT, I SAW TWO WOMEN THE YOUNG LADY IN BLACK, WHO ALIGHTED AT A MOST ORDINARY LITTLE STREET THAT SWEET YOUNG BLONDE, WHO ARRIVES BY MOST TRAINS FRANK AND LUCY STALKED AHEAD, WITH SHAWLS DRAGGING FROM THEIR ARMS THEY SKIRMISH ABOUT HIM WITH EVERY SORT OF QUERY. A GAUNT FIGURE OF FORLORN AND CURIOUS SMARTNESS. THE SPECTACLE AS WE BEHELD IT VACANT AND CEREMONIOUS ZEAL MRS. JOHNSON It was on a morning of the lovely New England May that we left the horse-car, and, spreading our umbrellas, walked down the street to our new home in Charlesbridge, through a storm of snow and rain so finely blent by the influences of this fortunate climate, that no flake knew itself from its sister drop, or could be better identified by the people against whom they beat in unison. A vernal gale from the east fanned our cheeks and pierced our marrow and chilled our blood, while the raw, cold green of the adventurous grass on the borders of the sopping sidewalks gave, as it peered through its veil of melting snow and freezing rain, a peculiar cheerfulness to the landscape. Here and there in the vacant lots abandoned hoop-skirts defied decay; and near the half-finished wooden houses, empty mortar-beds, and bits of lath and slate strewn over the scarred and mutilated ground, added their interest to the scene. A shaggy drift hung upon the trees before our own house (which had been built some years earlier), while its swollen eaves wept silently and incessantly upon the embankments lifting its base several feet above the common level.