The Autocrat of the Breakfast-table |
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American elm asked asphyxia Autocrat beauty beneath Benjamin Franklin better boarders bombazine brain Breakfast-Table chair cheroot comes commonly conversation Cotton Mather course dandyism dear divinity-student Doctor of Divinity dream England England town English elms eyes face fact falchion fancy feel feet flowers green grow hand head hear heard heart horse Houyhnhnm human hundred intellectual lady landlady's daughter laugh lecture lips literary living long path look man's mean meerschaum mind morning nature never o'er old age old gentleman opposite OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES once perhaps person pleasant poem poets poor pretty Professor race remarks remember round rowlocks schoolmistress seen smile sometimes soul speak spring stone story suppose sweet talk tell things thought tion told trees truth turned verses voice walk waves woman words write young fellow youth
Popular passages
Page 112 - Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings: — Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, As the swift seasons roll! Leave thy low-vaulted past! Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!
Page 271 - Thoroughbrace bison-skin, thick and wide ; Boot, top, dasher, from tough old hide Found in the pit when the tanner died. That was the way he
Page 272 - Huddup!" said the parson. Off went they. The parson was working his Sunday's text, Had got to fifthly, and stopped perplexed At what the -Moses - was coming next. All at once the horse stood still, Close by the meet'n'-house on the hill First a shiver, and then a thrill, Then something decidedly like a spill.
Page 270 - Have you heard of the wonderful one-hoss shay That was built in such a logical way, It ran a hundred years to a day, And then, of a sudden, it — ah, but stay...
Page 112 - 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 285 - LITTLE I ask ; my wants are few : I only wish a hut of stone (A very plain brown stone will do) That I may call my own ; — And close at hand is such a one, In yonder street that fronts the sun. Plain food is quite enough for me ; Three courses are as good as ten ; — If Nature can subsist on three, Thank Heaven for three. Amen ! I always thought cold victual nice ; — My choice would be vanilla-ice.
Page 270 - 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 273 - 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...
Page 286 - I love so much their style and tone, — One Turner, and no more (A landscape, — foreground golden dirt; The sunshine painted with a squirt). Of books but few, — some fifty score For daily use, and bound for wear; The rest upon an upper floor; — Some little luxury there Of red morocco's gilded gleam, And vellum rich as country cream. Busts, cameos, gems, — such things as these, Which others often show for pride...
Page 271 - T' make that place uz strong uz the rest." So the Deacon inquired of the village folk Where he could find the strongest oak, 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...