ohn's; Thurston Gore departed, but leased his corner
first for a goodly sum, his ancestors being from Connecticut; leased
also the vacant lot he had beautified, where stores arose and hid the
spire from Tower Street. Cable cars moved serenely up the long hill
where a panting third horse had been necessary, cable cars resounded in
Burton Street, between the new factory and the church where Dr. Gilman
still preached of peace and the delights of the New-Jerusalem. And
before you could draw your breath, the cable cars had become electric.
Gray hairs began to appear in the heads of the people Dr. Gilman had
married in the '60's and their children were going East to College.

II

In the first decade of the twentieth century, Asa, Waring still clung to
the imposing, early Victorian mansion in Hamilton Street. It presented
an uncompromising and rather scornful front to the sister mansions with
which it had hitherto been on intimate terms, now fast degenerating into
a shabby gentility, seeking covertly to catch the eye of boarders, but
as yet refraining from open solicitation. Their lawns were growing a
little ragged, their stone steps and copings revealing cracks.

Asa Waring looked with a stern distaste upon certain aspects of modern
life. And though he possessed the means to follow his friends and
erstwhile neighbours into the newer paradise five miles westward, he had
successfully resisted for several years a formidable campaign to
uproot him. His three married daughters lived in that clean and verdant
district surrounding the Park (spelled with a capital), while Evelyn and
Rex spent most of their time in the West End or at the Country Clubs.
Even Mrs. Waring, who resembled a Roman matron, with her wavy white
hair parted in the middle and her gentle yet classic features, sighed
secretly at times at the unyielding attitude of her husband, although
admiring him for it. The grandchildren drew her.

On the occasion of Sunday dinner, when they surrounded her, her heart
was filled to overflowing.

The autumn sunlight, reddened somewhat by the slight haze of smoke,
poured in at the high windows of the dining-room, glinted on the silver,
and was split into bewildering colors by the prisms of the chandelier.
Many precious extra leaves were inserted under the white cloth, and Mrs.
Waring's eyes were often dimmed with happiness as she glanced along
the ranks on either side until they rested on the man with whom she had
chosen