The Sleeping-car and Other Farces Author:William Dean Howells Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE REGISTER. Scene : In an upper chamber of a boarding-house in Melanchthon Place, Boston, a mature, plain young lady, with every appearance of establishing ... more »herself in the room for the first time, moves about, bestowing little touches of decoration here and there, and talking with another young lady, whose voice comes through the open doorway of an inner room. Miss Ethel Seed, from within: "What in the world are you doing, Nettie ? " Miss Henrietta Spaulding: " Oh, sticking up a household god or two. What are you doing ? " Miss Seed: " Despairing." Miss Spaulding: " Still ? " Miss Seed, tragically: " Still! How soon did you expect me to stop ? I am here on the sofa, where I flung myself two hours ago, and I don't think I shall ever get up. There is no reason why I ever should." Miss Spaulding, suggestively: " Dinner." Miss Reed: " Oh, dinner ! Dinner, to a broken heart!" Miss Spaulding : " I don't believe your heart is broken." Miss Seed: " But I tell you it is ! I ought to know when my own heart is broken, I should hope. What makes you think it isn't ? " Miss Spaulding: " Oh, it's happened so often!" Miss Reed: " But this is a real case. You ought to feel my forehead. It's as hot! " Miss Spaulding: " You ought to get up and help me put this room to rights, and then you would feel better." Miss Reed: " No ; I should feel worse. The idea of household gods makes me sick. Sylvan deities are what / want; the great god Pan among the cat-tails and arrow-heads in the ' ma'sh' at Ponk- wasset; the dryads of the birch woods — there are no oaks; the nymphs that haunt the heights and hollows of the dear old mountain; the " — Miss Spaulding: "Wha-a-at? I can't hear a word you say." Miss Seed: " That's because you keep fussing about so. Why don'...« less