The best short stories of 1920, and the yearbook of the American short story
General
The best short stories of 1920, and the yearbook of the American short story
American fiction -- 20th century; Short stories -- 20th century -- Bibliography; Short stories -- 20th century -- Indexes; Short stories, American
The shabby waiter who had served him at dinner appeared to him to be a
true representation of the serving-man who had eaten most of David
Copperfield's chops, and drained the little boy's half pint of port when
he went up to school. It may be that Tuckerman's age protected him from
any such invasion of his viands, but in justice to the serving-man it
seems probable that he would have cut off his right hand rather than
been disrespectful to a guest at dinner.
After the cloth was removed, Tuckerman ordered a half-pint decanter of
port out of regard for the memory of Dickens, and, sipping it, looked
about with admiration at the room with its dark old panels. Comfortable
as he felt, after his dinner, he could not help regretting that he had
not had with him his old friends Mr. and Mrs. Micawber and Traddles to
share his enjoyment--the guests whom Copperfield entertained when "Mr.
Micawber with more shirt collar than usual and a new ribbon to his
eyeglass, Mrs. Micawber with a cap in a whitey-brown paper parcel,
Traddles carrying the parcel and supporting Mrs. Micawber on his arm"
arrived at David's lodgings and were so delightfully entertained. He
wished that he could see "Micawber's face shining through a thin cloud
of delicate fumes of punch," so that at the end of the evening Mr. and
Mrs. Micawber would feel that they could not "have enjoyed a feast more
if they had sold a bed to pay for it."
These cheery spirits seemed to come back to him from the charming
paradise where they live to delight the world for all time, and it
seemed to him that he could distinctly hear Mr. Micawber saying: "We twa
have rin about the brae, And pu'd the gowans fine," observing as he
quoted: "I am not exactly aware what gowans may be, but I have no doubt
that Copperfield and myself would frequently have taken a pull at them
if it had been possible."
His modest modicum of port would have seemed a poor substitute to the
congenial Micawber for the punch.
Finally he went up to bed, delighted to be given a bedroom candle in a
brass candlestick, and to find on his arrival there that the plumber had
never entered its sacred precincts, for a hat tub on a rubber cloth
awaited the can of hot water, which would be lugged up to him in the
morning; the four-post bedstead with its heavy damask hangings, the
cushioned grandfather's chair by the open fireplace, the huge mahogany
wardrobe and the heavy furniture--all were of the period of 1830. Back
to such a room Mr. Pickwick had tried to find his way on the memorable
night when he so disturbed the old lady whose chamber he had unwittingly
invaded.
So impressed was the young American with his transference to the past
that his stem-winding watch seemed an anachronism when he came to attend
to it for the night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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