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Goldsmith's the Vicar of Wakefield and the Deserted Village
Goldsmith's the Vicar of Wakefield and the Deserted Village Author:Oliver Goldsmith General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1907 Original Publisher: American book company Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where y... more »ou can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD CHAPTER I THE DESCRIPTION OF THE FAMILY OF WAKEFIELD, IN WHICH A KINDRED LIKENESS PREVAILS, AS WELL OF MINDS AS OF PERSONS. I Was ever of opinion that the honest man who married and brought up a large family did more service than he who continued single and only talked of population. From this motive, I had scarcely taken orders a year before I began to think seriously of matrimony, and chose 5 my wife as she did her wedding-gown, not for a fine, glossy surface, but for such qualities as would wear well. To do her justice, she was a good-natured, notable1 woman; and as for breeding, there were few country ladies who could show more. She could read any English book 10 without much spelling; but for pickling, preserving, and cookery, none could excel her. She prided herself also upon being an excellent contriver in housekeeping; though I could never find that we grew richer with all her contrivances. 15 However, we loved each other tenderly, and our fondness increased as we grew old. There was, in fact, nothing that could make us angry with the world or each l Careful, bustling. other. We had an eleganti house, situated in a fine country and a good neighbourhood. The year was spent in moral2 or rural amusements, in visiting our rich neighbours, and relieving such as were poor. We had no revo- 5 lutions to fear, nor fatigues to undergo; all our adventures were by the fireside, and all our migrations from the blue bed to the brown. As we lived near the road, we often had the traveller or stranger visit us to taste our gooseberry wine, ...« less