Our Philadelphia . y houses of Colonialdate; I was blind to the meaning and dignity of greatgables turned to the street, and stately Eighteenth Cen-tury doorways, and dormer windows, and old ironwork,and a patchwork of red and black brick; I was indifferentto the interest these things might have given to every stepI took at a time when, too often, every step seemed for-lornly barren of interest or its possibility. Into the oldPhiladelphia Library on Fifth Street I did penetrate onceor twice, and once or twice sat in its quiet secluded alcovesdipping into musty volumes: a mere accident it must
Our Philadelphia . y houses of Colonialdate; I was blind to the meaning and dignity of greatgables turned to the street, and stately Eighteenth Cen-tury doorways, and dormer windows, and old ironwork,and a patchwork of red and black brick; I was indifferentto the interest these things might have given to every stepI took at a time when, too often, every step seemed for-lornly barren of interest or its possibility. Into the oldPhiladelphia Library on Fifth Street I did penetrate onceor twice, and once or twice sat in its quiet secluded alcovesdipping into musty volumes: a mere accident it must havebeen, my daily reading being provided for at the easy-going, friendly, pleasantly dingy, much more modernMercantile Library in Tenth Street. But the memoryof these visits, few as they were, is one of the strongestmy Third Street days have left with me, and I think, orI hope, I must have felt the charm of the old town if Imav not have realized that I did, for I can never look back i 1 S£0 5 ^%,ft, ^^•y:\:Wi ). Iftl^^feiii:^ \V«^»r ,,^/n,. V -1. > *^ 4¥i? 5 - ^^-^^ SECOND STREET MARKET TRANSITIONAL 117 to myself as I was then without seeing it as the backgroundto all my comings and goings—a background that lendscolour to my colourless life. Ill I can understand my ignorance and blindness and in-difference, if I cannot forgive them. All my long elevenyears at the Convent I had had the virtue of obedience dulyimpressed upon me, and, though there custom led me easilyinto the temptation of disobedience, when I returned toPhiladelphia I was at first too frightened and bewilderedto defy Philadelphias laws written and especially un-written, for in these I was immediately concerned. I wasthe more bewildered because I had come away from theConvent comfortably convinced of my own importance,and it was disconcerting to discover that Philadelphia, sofar from sharing the conviction, dismissed me as a person ofno importance whatever. I had also my natural indolenceand moral cowa
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectlithographyamerican
