The Autocrat of the breakfast tableHoughton, Mifflin, 1858 - 373 pages |
From inside the book
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Page 29
... believe some people save their bright thoughts , as being too precious for conversation . What do you think an admiring friend said the other day to one that was talking good things , — good enough to print ? " Why , " said he , " you ...
... believe some people save their bright thoughts , as being too precious for conversation . What do you think an admiring friend said the other day to one that was talking good things , — good enough to print ? " Why , " said he , " you ...
Page 33
... believe nobody has made before me . You know very well that I write verses sometimes , be cause I have read some of them at this table ( The company assented , -two or three of them in a 2 THE AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST - TABLE . 33 · ...
... believe nobody has made before me . You know very well that I write verses sometimes , be cause I have read some of them at this table ( The company assented , -two or three of them in a 2 THE AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST - TABLE . 33 · ...
Page 37
... believe , if a man were to be burned in any of our cities to- morrow for heresy , there would be found a master of ceremonies that knew just how many fagots were necessary , and the best way of arranging the whole matter . So we have ...
... believe , if a man were to be burned in any of our cities to- morrow for heresy , there would be found a master of ceremonies that knew just how many fagots were necessary , and the best way of arranging the whole matter . So we have ...
Page 44
... believe any man ever talked like that in this world . I don't believe I talked just so ; but the fact is , in reporting one's conversation , one cannot help Blair - ing it up more or less , ironing out crumpled paragraphs , starching ...
... believe any man ever talked like that in this world . I don't believe I talked just so ; but the fact is , in reporting one's conversation , one cannot help Blair - ing it up more or less , ironing out crumpled paragraphs , starching ...
Page 49
... believe ) wanted to inter- fere , and , very naturally , the young lady was too sharp for him . The play of course ends charmingly ; there is a general reconciliation , and all concerned form a line and take each others ' hands , as ...
... believe ) wanted to inter- fere , and , very naturally , the young lady was too sharp for him . The play of course ends charmingly ; there is a general reconciliation , and all concerned form a line and take each others ' hands , as ...
Common terms and phrases
American elm asked asphyxia beauty beneath Benjamin Franklin better boarders bombazine brain call John chair cheroot chloroform comes commonly conversation course dandyism dear divinity-student Doctors of Divinity dream English elm eyes face fact falchion fancy feel feet flowers give green grow hand head hear heard heart Houyhnhnm human intellectual kind lady laugh lecture lips literary live long path look man's mean meerschaum ment mind morning Nature never o'er old age old gentleman opposite OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES once perhaps person poem poets poor pretty Professor remarks remember round rowlocks schoolmistress seen smile sometimes soul speak spring stand stone story suppose sure sweet talk tell things thought tion told toutes les nuits tree truth turned uttered verses voice walk waves woman words write young fellow youth
Popular passages
Page 289 - Now in building of chaises, I tell you what, There is always somewhere a weakest spot, In hub, tire, felloe, in spring or thill, In panel, or crossbar, or floor , or sill, In screw, bolt, thoroughbrace, — lurking still, Find it somewhere you must and will, Above or below, or within or without, And that's the reason, beyond a doubt, A chaise breaks down but doesn't wear out. But the Deacon swore (as Deacons do, With an "I dew vum...
Page 290 - That couldn't be split nor bent nor broke,^ That was for spokes and floor and sills; He sent for lancewood to make the thills; The crossbars were ash, from the straightest trees, The panels of white-wood, that cuts like cheese, But lasts like iron for things like these; The hubs of logs from the "Settler's ellum...
Page 104 - Year after year beheld the silent toil That spread his lustrous coil; Still, as the spiral grew, He left the past year's dwelling for the new...
Page 292 - What do you think the parson found, When he got up and stared around? The poor old chaise in a heap or mound, As if it had been to the mill and ground! You...
Page 289 - Saw the earth open and gulp her down, And Braddock's army was done so brown, Left without a scalp to its crown. It was on the terrible earthquake-day That the Deacon finished the one-hoss shay.
Page 99 - I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, — but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.
Page 104 - THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS.* This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign, Sails the unshadowed main, — The venturous bark that flings On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings In gulfs enchanted, where the siren sings, And coral reefs lie bare, Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.
Page 305 - I care not much for gold or land; Give me a mortgage here and there — Some good bank-stock — some note of hand, Or trifling railroad share — I only ask that Fortune send A little more than I shall spend.
Page 194 - The smooth, soft air with pulse-like waves Flows murmuring through its hidden caves, Whose streams of brightening purple rush, Fired with a new and livelier blush, While all their burden of decay The ebbing current steals away, And red with Nature's flame they start From the warm fountains of the heart.
Page 104 - And every chambered cell, Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell...