Eben Holden's Last Day a-Fishing
Irving Bacheller
Paperback
(Forgotten Books, Oct. 12, 2017)
Excerpt from Eben Holden's Last Day a-FishingAlways, when our train went roaring into the quiet village, we used to look out of the car-window down across the river and a smooth stretch of fields into the edge of the little town. At a small, familiar opening in the shade trees, almost half a mile from the train, we never failed to see the flicker of a white handkerchief. It signalled their welcome. And then-well, I doubtif any one may have in this world a better moment. Yes - that was years ago, and there are strangers in the old home, but to this day every time I enter Hillsborough I look for that flick er of white, away off among the trees.That day the signal greeted us, and was only one of many joys, for it was a day of a thousand, warm, and full of the music of birds and of bees' wings and the odor of new blossoms and a great happiness. Elizabeth Brower stood at the gate, and beyond her we could see Uncle Eb on the veranda, sitting in his arm-chair. The clear woman put her fingers on her lips, and we knew what it meant. Uncle Eb had fallen asleep in the warm sunlight. We greeted her with hushed voices, and approached the venerable man, and sat down at his feet, smilingand looking up at his fine old face. He continued to sleep, all unconscious that we were near him. Soon we heard him call in his dreams, just above a whisper: Here Fred! Here Fred! It was the name of our old dog, dead these many years. His nap must have taken him far back - per haps into that long, westward journey through woods and fields. I took his hand in mine. He came out of his dreams with a start, and looked up at me.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.