The Man-With-the-Wooden-Face (Classic Reprint)

Bücher

Angebote / Angebote:

Excerpt from The Man-With-the-Wooden-FaceHE was only a little music-teacher, not really old, but already somewhat worsted in the battle of life, having for years now - very long years they seemed to her - wrestled single-handed with the grim battalions of poverty. None but she knew how thin at times the line of defence had been, how at others ammunition had all but failed, or to how low an ebb now and again had the siege rations fallen. But in that camp surrender meant e¿'ace ment under the feet of the cruel conqueror, and though, at times, the struggle seemed almost hope less, the thin ¿ag of respectability had never yet failed to ¿utter limply from the standard, and the gallant little defender still struggled on, working carly and late, and taking scant rest at night.She had not always been a music-teacher. There were dim far-off memories as of half-heard strains of music quite other than those of the Solos for Juvenile Performers, and the Infants' Pianoforte Bouquet in which she sedulously instructed her pupils. These dim recollections Showed, in an atmosphere of golden haze, a happy country home, a proud father, a dainty Winsome mother.The Little Teacher loved to watch those far-off joys dance like motes in the thin ray of sunshine which shot at times from the happy past athwart the dull grey present when she sat alone in her dingy lodging, her weary hands folded on her lap, her tired feet stretched out to her tiny fire, a fire which, squeezed to one side by the comfortless, coal-saving brick, had yet a part of its minimum of warmth absorbed by the wet and mud-stained boots, placed sole upwards on the fender to dry. Such frail cheap things those boots too often were for one who had to toil from house to house in all weathers and at all seasons of the year.At such times the Little Teacher would have laid aside the neat serge she wore when giving her lessons. She had to be so pitifully careful, for had she not with her own hands to tidy her one room and cook her modest supper, so the' neat serge would be hanging inside-out on its peg behind the door, and the Little Teacher would have donned her play dress, as she laughingly dubbed the old Liberty tea-gown, a relic of far-off, happy days, and the Winsome, blithe-hearted mother.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.