FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25  
26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   >>   >|  
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Alice Adams, by Booth Tarkington 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 www.gutenberg.org Title: Alice Adams Author: Booth Tarkington Posting Date: July 21, 2008 [EBook #980] Release Date: July, 1997 Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALICE ADAMS *** Produced by Charles Keller ALICE ADAMS By Booth Tarkington CHAPTER I The patient, an old-fashioned man, thought the nurse made a mistake in keeping both of the windows open, and her sprightly disregard of his protests added something to his hatred of her. Every evening he told her that anybody with ordinary gumption ought to realize that night air was bad for the human frame. "The human frame won't stand everything, Miss Perry," he warned her, resentfully. "Even a child, if it had just ordinary gumption, ought to know enough not to let the night air blow on sick people yes, nor well people, either! 'Keep out of the night air, no matter how well you feel.' That's what my mother used to tell me when I was a boy. 'Keep out of the night air, Virgil,' she'd say. 'Keep out of the night air.'" "I expect probably her mother told her the same thing," the nurse suggested. "Of course she did. My grandmother----" "Oh, I guess your GRANDmother thought so, Mr. Adams! That was when all this flat central country was swampish and hadn't been drained off yet. I guess the truth must been the swamp mosquitoes bit people and gave 'em malaria, especially before they began to put screens in their windows. Well, we got screens in these windows, and no mosquitoes are goin' to bite us; so just you be a good boy and rest your mind and go to sleep like you need to." "Sleep?" he said. "Likely!" He thought the night air worst of all in April; he hadn't a doubt it would kill him, he declared. "It's miraculous what the human frame WILL survive," he admitted on the last evening of that month. "But you and the doctor ought to both be taught it won't stand too dang much! You poison a man and poison and poison him with this April night air----" "Can't poison you with much more of it," Miss Perry interrupted him, indulgently. "To-morrow it'll be May night air, and I expect th
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25  
26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
poison
 

people

 
thought
 

windows

 
Tarkington
 
expect
 
ordinary
 

evening

 

screens

 

mosquitoes


mother

 

gumption

 

Project

 

Gutenberg

 

swampish

 

country

 

central

 

drained

 

interrupted

 

grandmother


suggested

 

indulgently

 

GRANDmother

 

morrow

 
taught
 
Likely
 

survive

 

miraculous

 

admitted

 

declared


malaria

 
doctor
 
Language
 

English

 

Character

 

Release

 

Posting

 

encoding

 

Produced

 
Charles

Keller
 
GUTENBERG
 

PROJECT

 

Author

 
restrictions
 

whatsoever

 

online

 

gutenberg

 

included

 
License