More Jonathan Papers

Elisabeth Woodbridge Morris

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• Publié par: argo
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 24
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of More Jonathan Papers by Elisabeth Woodbridge This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license Title: More Jonathan Papers Author: Elisabeth Woodbridge Release Date: December 19, 2006 [Ebook 20141] Language: English ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORE JONATHAN PAPERS*** More Jonathan Papers By Elisabeth Woodbridge [iiii] BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge 1915 [v] COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY ELISABETH WOODBRIDGE MORRIS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Published November 1915 TO JONATHAN [vi] [viii] Contents I. The Searchings of Jonathan . . . . II. Sap-Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . III. Evenings on the Farm . . . . . . IV. After Frost . . . . . . . . . . . . V. The Joys of Garden Stewardship VI. Trout and Arbutus . . . . . . . . VII. Without the Time of Day . . . . VIII. The Ways of Griselda . . . . . IX. A Rowboat Pilgrimage . . . . . Colophon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix A: Extra Front Pages . . . Errata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 15 29 48 56 66 79 93 104 125 127 129 [001] More Jonathan Papers I The Searchings of Jonathan “What I find it hard to understand is, why a person who can see a spray of fringed gentian in the middle of a meadow can’t see a book on the sitting-room table.” “The reason why I can see the gentian,” said Jonathan, “is because the gentian is there.” “So is the book,” I responded. “Which table?” he asked. “The one with the lamp on it. It’s a red book, about so big.” “It isn’t there; but, just to satisfy you, I’ll look again.” He returned in a moment with an argumentative expression of countenance. “It isn’t there,” he said firmly. “Will anything else do instead?” “No, I wanted you to read that special thing. Oh, dear! And I have all these things in my lap! And I know it is there.” “And I know it isn’t.” He stretched himself out in the hammock and watched me as I rather ostentatiously laid down thimble, scissors, needle, cotton, and material and set out for the sitting-room table. There were a number of books on it, to be sure. I glanced rapidly through the piles, fingered the lower books, pushed aside [002] 2 More Jonathan Papers [003] [004] a magazine, and pulled out from beneath it the book I wanted. I returned to the hammock and handed it over. Then, after possessing myself, again rather ostentatiously, of material, cotton, needle, scissors, and thimble, I sat down. “It’s the second essay I specially thought we’d like,” I said. “Just for curiosity,” said Jonathan, with an impersonal air, “where did you find it?” “Find what?” I asked innocently. “The book.” “Oh! On the table.” “Which table?” “The one with the lamp on it.” “I should like to know where.” “Why—just there—on the table. There was an ‘Atlantic’ on top of it, to be sure.” “I saw the ‘Atlantic.’ Blest if it looked as though it had anything under it! Besides, I was looking for it on top of things. You said you laid it down there just before luncheon, and I didn’t think it could have crawled in under so quick.” “When you’re looking for a thing,” I said, “you mustn’t think, you must look. Now go ahead and read.” If this were a single instance, or even if it were one of many illustrating a common human frailty, it would hardly be worth setting down. But the frailty under consideration has come to seem to me rather particularly masculine. Are not all the Jonathans in the world continually being sent to some sittingroom table for something, and coming back to assert, with more or less pleasantness, according to their temperament, that it is not there? The incident, then, is not isolated; it is typical of a vast group. For Jonathan, read Everyman; for the red book, read any particular thing that you want Him to bring; for the sitting-room table, read the place where you know it is and Everyman says it isn’t.