United States or Finland ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The beautiful tiled-roof the picturesque roughness and crookedness of the architectural lines of the whole building, so different to the smooth, hard, angular imitations of half-timbered work common in these degenerate days, were a delight to the eyes to rest upon, a wealth of ivy clung thickly to the walls and clambered round the quaint old chimneys; some white doves clustered in a group on the summit of one broad oak gable, were spreading their snowy wings to the warm sun and discussing their domestic concerns in melodious cooings; the latticed windows, some of which in their unspoilt antiquity of 'horn' panes were a particular feature of the house, were all thrown open, but to Walden's sensitive observation there seemed a different atmosphere about the place, a suggestion of change and occupation which was almost startling.
In this daily companionship with a sensitive and charming woman, endowed beneath her light reserve with all the sweetness of unspoilt feeling, while yet commanding through her long training in an old society a thousand delicacies and subtleties, which played on Anderson's fresh senses like the breeze on young leaves whither had he been drifting to the brink of what precipice had he brought himself, unknowing?
The shabby, neglected house the sacks of coffee and flowers run riot the deaf, courteous ex-official, perhaps proud of his descent from some great Makassar chief the kindly lady, embodiment of perfect health, who long ago had left her home in Europe for life in a distant land with the husband of her choice and last but not least of all these impressions of that day their child reared in a glorious country unspoilt by contact with civilization simple, unaffected, a picture from the past.
The bounders might say he was a bounder, but they had to admit that he could give and take punishment with the best. He left Eton absolutely unspoilt. A year before the lad quitted the school his father sent for him. "I didn't want you to go to Eton, Jim," he said. "I'm glad now. Do you want to go on to Oxford?" The boy thought; and when his reply came it was honest as himself.
And a vague regret for his lost youth moved him; he was a very wealthy man, and had he been in his prime he would have tried a matrimonial chance with this unspoilt beautiful creature, it would have pleased him to robe her in queenly garments and to set the finest diamonds in her dark tresses, so that she should be the wonder and envy of all beholders.
The branch line of the Great Western from Maiden Newton makes a wide detour northwards to reach Bridport, passing through a very charming and unspoilt countryside where old "Do'set" ways still hold out against that drab uniformity that seems to be creeping over rustic England.
And what a jolly place this is! He first looked her up and down with admiring eyes, and then made a gesture towards the beautiful modern house, and the equally beautiful and modern gardens in which it stood, with their still unspoilt autumn flowers, their cunning devices in steps and fountains and pergolas.
I have seen the neurasthenic, quivering with agony in his distress of imaginary terrors, and the man with steady nerves, who can turn a deaf ear to the close roar of guns and eat a hunk of bread-and-cheese with an unspoilt appetite within a yard or two of death; I have seen the temperament of the aristocrat and the snob in the same carriage with the sons of the soil and the factory whose coarse speech and easy-going manners jarred upon his daintiness.
How amiable and kind-hearted she is, and how unspoilt by all the brilliancy of her position! While I was there the mother and son of a young page, for whom the Duc and Duchesse have obtained that office at court, came to thank her. The boy is a very fine youth, and the mother and sister seem to dote on him.
Ranged in a semicircle before the tent was a crowd of braves and warriors all arrayed in the picturesque garb that was unspoilt by any touch of Saxon attire, such as is commonly seen among redskins of the present day. Except that the old-time bows and arrows were replaced by more modern muzzle-loaders, there was nothing to suggest any association with white men and white men's tastes.
Word Of The Day