Shillaber, B. P. (Benjamin Penhallow), 1814-1890 [1859], Knitting-work: a web of many textures. (Brown, Taggard & Chase, Boston) [word count] [eaf676T].
To look up a word in a dictionary, select the word with your mouse and press 'd' on your keyboard.
Front matter
Covers, Edges and Spine
-- --
[figure description] Top Edge.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Front Cover.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Spine.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Front Edge.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Back Cover.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Bottom Edge.[end figure description]
Preliminaries
-- --
Hic Fructus Virtutis; Clifton Waller Barrett
[figure description] Paste-Down Endpaper with Bookplate: heraldry figure with a green tree on top and shield below. There is a small gray shield hanging from the branches of the tree, with three blue figures on that small shield. The tree stands on a base of gray and black intertwined bars, referred to as a wreath in heraldic terms. Below the tree is a larger shield, with a black background, and with three gray, diagonal stripes across it; these diagonal stripes are referred to as bends in heraldic terms. There are three gold leaves in line, end-to-end, down the middle of the center stripe (or bend), with green veins in the leaves. Note that the colors to which this description refers appear in some renderings of this bookplate; however, some renderings may appear instead in black, white and gray tones.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Free Endpaper.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Free Endpaper.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Blank Page.[end figure description]
Mrs Jettson
from her
Husband
-- --
[figure description] Blank Page.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Blank Page.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Illustration page.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Blank Page.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Blank Page.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Title page.[end figure description]
Title Page
KNITTING-WORK:
A
WEB OF MANY TEXTURES,
WROUGHT BY
RUTH PARTINGTON,
(B. P. SHILLABER.)
“Various, that the mind of desultory man, studious of change, and pleased with novelty, may
be indulged.”
BOSTON:
BROWN, TAGGARD & CHASE.
NEW YORK: SHELDON & COMPANY.
PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
1859.
-- --
[figure description] Copyright Page.[end figure description]
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by
B. P. SHILLABER,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.
Stereotyped by
HOBART & ROBBINS,
New England Type and Stereotype Foundery
BOSTON.
Cambridge: Printed by Welch, Bigelow, & Co.
-- 003 --
PREFACE.
[figure description] Page 003.[end figure description]
The author of the present volume, while preparing it for publication,
has been impressed with a due regard of its destined benefit
to the world — and to himself — and, while thus obtruding himself,
like a fist, into the public eye,
Gentlemen: It has suddenly occurred to me that a preface is
altogether unnecessary, and, therefore, I positively decline writing
one, inasmuch as I have commenced five already, and been compelled
to abandon them all, from sheer inability to complete them.
Prefaces have always seemed to me like drummers for a show,
calling upon people to “come up and see the elephant,” with a
slight exaggeration of the merit of the animal to be exhibited; and
though, in the present case, such enlargement of the fact would
not be necessary, still those disposed to be captious might read our
promises with incredulity. Mrs. Partington, no less than the Roman
dame, should be above suspicion; therefore, this heralding should be
avoided, and her name left with only its olden reputation resting
about it, like the halo of cobweb and dust about an ancient vintage
of port. Her coädjutors, Dr. Spooner, Old Roger, and Wideswarth,
representing the profound, the jolly, and the sentimental, need no
endorsement among the enlightened many who will buy this book;
and we can safely leave them, as lawyers sometimes do their cases
when they have nothing to say, without argument. Again, all will
-- IV --
[figure description] Page IV.[end figure description]
see for themselves the acid and sugar, and spirit and water, comprised
in the contents of the volume, — forming the components of a
sort of intellectual punch, of which they can partake to any extent,
without headache or heartache, as the sedate therein forms a judicious
corrective of the eccentric and gay which might intoxicate.
The illustrations, by Hoppin, tell their own story, and need no
further commendation than their great excellence. The local
meaning of many of the sayings and doings of the book will, of
course, be readily understood, without explanation or apology; and
the new matter will be distinguished from the old, by the quality of
novelty that generally attaches to that with which we are not familiar.
I thought somewhat of giving the name beneath each individual
represented in our frontispiece; but the idea was dispelled in a
moment, by the reflection that Mrs. Partington — the central sun of
our social system — could not be misinterpreted; while Dr. Spooner,
Prof. Wideswarth, Old Roger, and Ike, were equally well defined;
and the skill of the artist in depicting them needed no aid. Therefore,
all things considered, I think we had better let the book slip
from its dock quietly, and drift out into the tide of publication, to
be borne by this or that eddy of feeling to such success as it may
deserve, without the formality of prefatory bottle-breaking. I leave
the matter, then, as a settled thing, that we will not have a preface.
Resolutely yours,
The Author.
Note by the Publishers. — There is an axiom which says that
one needs must submit when a certain character drives; and hence
we acquiesce, deeming that if a preface cannot be had, we will do
without it.
-- v --
CONTENTS.
[figure description] Page v.[end figure description]
Page
The Guardian for Ike, 9
Autumn, 33
Twenty Years Married, 34
Whole-souled Fellows, 36
Behind the Scenes, 37
Woman's Sovereignty, 38
Pets, 39
By Chance, 40
Mrs. Partington and the Russian Helmet, 41
Who is Vile? 42
The Household Ghost, 43
Mrs. Partington Patriotic, 44
Weaning the Baby, 45
Home Music, 45
Mrs. Partington at the Ballet, 48
Flowers, 48
Involuntary, 49
Signs of Fall, 50
Ike's Spring Medicine, 51
Parting, 52
Assimilation, 53
Comparison, 54
Malapropos, 54
Mrs. Partington on Surprise Parties, 55
Individuality, 56
Misapprehension, 57
Home Music, 58
Harvest Hymn, 59
Mrs. Partington on Horticulture, 60
A Bit of Nonsense, 61
Character, 62
Self-Respect, 62
Love, 63
Frenchman's Lane, 64
The First Suit, 66
Moral Tendency, 67
Sympathy with Rascals, 68
Organic, 69
Scratching for a Living, 70
Odorless Roses, 70
The Pritchard Heirs, 71
-- VI --
[figure description] Page VI.[end figure description]
Don't Fret, 101
The Dicky, 102
Heathenish, 103
Bringing up Children, 104
Unmet Confidence, 106
The Dead Sailor, 108
The Coolies, 109
Talking Horse, 110
Pictures, 111
The Ocean, 112
Fatality, 112
A Serious Call, 113
The Baron of Boston, 114
Swearing, 115
The Prima Donna, 116
Misanthropy, 117
Measuring Love, 118
Plebeian Pretension, 119
The Franklin Statue, 120
A Way to be Happy, 121
New England's Lion, 122
Unnatural Fathers, 122
A Difficulty, 124
Love, 124
Heirlooms, 125
Don't Look Back, 126
Good Resolutions, 127
Mrs. Partington on Music, 128
Sacrilegious, 129
An Old Fable Modernized, 130
Robert Burns, 133
The Knocking at the Gate, 135
Mrs. Partington and Ike, 137
Cold Weather, 138
An Analogy, 139
Nahant, 140
Number One Hundred and One, 141
Contentment, 146
The Old Piano, 147
Ike at Church, 148
Sounds of the Summer Night, 149
The Household Shadow, 150
Character, 151
A Leaf from a Record, 152
The Gable, 154
A Pleasant Story for Jealous People, 155
A Courting Reminiscence, 168
Fidgety People, 170
The Philistines be upon Thee, 171
Mrs. Partington on Intemperance, 172
Mrs. Partington and the Telegraph, 172
Great and Little Struggles, 173
Died of Cramp, 174
Cosmetics, 178
A Tale with a Moral, 179
Electro-Chemical Baths, 181
True Courage, 182
My Grandmother, 183
-- VII --
[figure description] Page VII.[end figure description]
The Mill-Brook, 188
Damaged Goods, 189
The Spirit of Seventy-Six, 190
Ike Partington and Pugilism, 192
The Old South Bell, 194
The Falses, 195
Hard Times, 196
A Night off Point Judith, 197
Letter Writing, 197
Sympathy, 199
Sea-Air, 200
An Odd Fellow's Funeral, 201
The Courts, 202
Sick of It, 204
Look Up, 205
A Domestic Story, 206
An Inner Shrine, 216
Constant Dropping Wears, 217
Emulation, 218
Partingtonian Wisdom, 219
A Cup of Tea, 220
Christmas Hearths and Hearts, 223
Higher, 260
Reveries, 261
Old and Young, 262
The Valley of the Shadow, 263
The Model Husband, 265
Sonnet to Pan, 267
Illustrative Pantomime, 268
On the Mississippi, 269
Mrs. Partington at Saratoga, 270
A Picture, 271
Job a Drummer, 272
A Slight Misconception, 273
Story of Frazer's River, 274
Habits, 277
Checkers, 278
Grammar, 278
Feeling, 279
An Impostor, 279
Mesmerism and Matrimony, 280
The Old North Mill-Pond, 285
The True Philosophy, 287
A Classic, 289
Be Contented, 292
Whist, 293
To a Heel-Tap, 295
Oysters, 296
California Tan, 298
A Gouty Man's Reverie, 299
Ike and Lion, 300
On a Child's Picture, 302
Wearing Ornaments, 303
Operatic, 303
A Narrow Escape, 304
The World, 306
Niagara Falls, 307
Ballad about Bunker, 308
-- VIII --
[figure description] Page VIII.[end figure description]
Attending the Anniversaries, 309
The Country Ride, 310
Economy, 313
Life's Masquerade, 318
Mrs. Partington Philosophizing, 319
Luck, 320
On such a Night as this, 321
The Reason, 323
The Banker's Dream, 324
Sea-Sickness, 326
How Curious it is, 328
Earth Speaketh to Earth, 329
Without a Speck, 330
Forced Obedience, 331
A Life's Fortunes, 332
Mount Washington, 353
Albuminous, 354
Parted Ties, 357
Unconditional Cheerfulness, 358
Mrs. Partington grows Desultory, 359
Emblematic, 359
A Night of It, 360
The Preacher and the Children, 369
Out West, 370
Conscience, 370
Babies, 371
Agricultural, 372
Mrs. Partington and Patent Medicines, 373
Song of Chelsea Ferry, 374
Mr. Blifkins' Baby, 375
Patience, 377
Ike's Compositions in School, 378
Mrs. Sled put out, 388
Tale of a Horse, 389
Mrs. Partington on the Currency, 392
A Fourth of July Incident, 393
Scratched Gneiss and Bear Skin, 394
Watering-Places, 395
Hezekiah and Ruth, 396
Burglars in the Partington Mansion, 398
A Text Applied, 400
Justly Critical, 401
Starry, 401
Birth-Day of Lafayette, 402
Croaking, 403
Heathen Sympathy, 404
Whitewashing, 405
Prospective Summer, 407
Shillaber, B. P. (Benjamin Penhallow), 1814-1890 [1859], Knitting-work: a web of many textures. (Brown, Taggard & Chase, Boston) [word count] [eaf676T].
|
