THE RIVET IN GRANDFATHER'S NECK A Comedy of Limitations BY JAMES BRANCH CABELL "_To this new South, who values her high past in chief, as fit foundation of that edifice whereon she labors day by day, and with augmenting strokes_." 1915 TO PRISCILLA BRADLEY CABELL "Nightly I mark and praise, or great or small, Such stars as proudly struggle one by one To heaven's highest place, as Procyon, Antarês, Naös, Tejat and Nibal Attain supremacy, and proudly fall, Still glorious, and glitter, and are gone So very soon;--whilst steadfast and alone Polaris gleams, and is not changed at all. "Daily I find some gallant dream that ranges The heights of heaven; and as others do, I serve my dream until my dream estranges Its errant bondage, and I note anew That nothing dims, nor shakes, nor mars, nor changes, Fond faith in you and in my love of you." CONTENTS PART ONE - PROPINQUITY PART TWO - RENASCENCE PART THREE - TERTIUS PART FOUR - APPRECIATION PART FIVE - SOUVENIR PART SIX - BYWAYS PART SEVEN - YOKED PART EIGHT - HARVEST PART NINE - RELICS PART TEN - IMPRIMIS In the middle of the cupboard door was the carved figure of a man.... He had goat's legs, little horns on his head, and a long beard; the children in the room called him, "Major-General-field-sergeant -commander-Billy-goat's-legs" ... He was always looking at the table under the looking-glass where stood a very pretty little shepherdess made of china.... Close by her side stood a little chimney-sweep, as black as coal and also made of china.... Near to them stood another figure.... He was an old Chinaman who could nod his head, and used to pretend he was the grandfather of the shepherdess, although he could not prove it. He, however, assumed authority over her, and therefore when "Major-general-field-sergeant-commander-Billy-goat's -legs" asked for the little shepherdess to be his wife, he nodded his head to show that he consented.