Our Philadelphia . that comes so easily to many less timidly I sat and listened, marvelling to find myselfthere, feeling like the humble who shall be exalted in theBible, looking upon my Uncles rooms as the literarythreshold from which I was graciously permitted to watchthe glorious company within. Ill I had gone no further than this first, tremulous ardentstage in my career when my Uncle deserted his memorablerooms never to return, and J. and I started on the journeythat we thought might last a year—as long as the moneyheld out, we had said, to the discomfort of the family wh
Our Philadelphia . that comes so easily to many less timidly I sat and listened, marvelling to find myselfthere, feeling like the humble who shall be exalted in theBible, looking upon my Uncles rooms as the literarythreshold from which I was graciously permitted to watchthe glorious company within. Ill I had gone no further than this first, tremulous ardentstage in my career when my Uncle deserted his memorablerooms never to return, and J. and I started on the journeythat we thought might last a year—as long as the moneyheld out, we had said, to the discomfort of the family whono doubt saw me promptly on their hands again—and thatdid not bring me back to Philadelphia for over a quarterof a century. Of literary events during my absence, some-body else must make the record. When I did go back after all those years, I was con-scious that there nmst have been events for a record to bemade of, or I could not have accounted for the was now in the air. Local prophets were. THE LITTLE STREET OE CLUBS, CA>L\C STREET ABOVE SPRUCE STREET PHILADELPHIA AND LITERATURE 351 acknowledged, if not by all Philadelphia, by little groupsof satellites revolving round them. Literary lights hadcome from under the bushel and were shining in highplaces. Societies had been industriously multiplying forthe encouragement of literature. All such encouragementin my time had devolved upon the Pemi Club that patron-ized literatin-e, among its other interests, and wrote aboutbooks in its monthly journal and invited their authors toits meetings. During my absence, not only had the PennClub continued to flourish—to such good purpose that I were honoured by one of these invitations and feltthat never again could Fame and Fate bring us such atriumphant moment, except when the Academy of FineArts paid us the same honour and so upset our old beliefthat no Philadelphian could ever be a prophet in Philadel-phia!—but Philadelphia had broken out into a multit
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectlithographyamerican
