Love Instigated: The Story of a Carved Ivory Umbrella Handle By: Douglass Sherley (1857-1917)
First Page: [Illustration] LOVE INSTIGATED BY BELL THE CAT SURLY of the PENDENNIS CLUB THE STORY OF A CARVED IVORY UMBRELLA HANDLE. "The Man that Plants Cabbages Imitates God." Dobson's Choice. Caveat Filed, By CURRY & DEARING, Publishers, Louisville, Ky. LOVE PERPETUATED: The Story of a Dagger. By Douglass Sherley, WHO WROTE THE STORY OF A PICTURE. An Edition de Luxe [special] net, $10.00. Limited number. Ninety nine copies signed by the Author. Right reserved to advance price at any time. Subscriptions received now. Popular Edition a Christmas Card Booklet [in a box], $1.00. Liberal Discount to the Trade. Edition de Luxe ready December Fifteenth. Popular Edition ready December First. John P. Morton and Company. Main St., Louisville, Ky. Special·Dedication to the·Members·of·the·Sherley·Club of Little·:·Britain: Despair·ye·not·at·all E'en·by·so·Small·a·Thing·as·this·Poor·Booklet May·Your Loves·be·Instigated! Dedicated To·Each·Single·Son·of·St.·Pendennis Who·Worships·not·at·the·Shrine·of The·Maiden·Priestess·of·To day Let·Him·Look·to't, Or·Likewise·He·May·Somewhere·Find Love·Perpetrated. Love Instigated. It was a daisy bit of Ivory. It was a curious piece of Workmanship. It was carved and carved again with Conventional Lines, which formed a Female Head of East Indian Unexceptionableness. It seemed to Smile and to Beckon, and then to Scowl repellantly a Living Mockery! It was Hateful Oh, so Hateful! the sight Of so conventional a Thing. And yet there had been such a Longing to touch It and to Hold It in the Hand! But See the Sequel. It was not an Idol of India. It was the Carved Ivory Handle of a Tanned Gingham Umbrella, of very Plebeian American Manufacture. It stood in a Hand painted China Receptacle in The long quiet Hall, in the House of a Friend. It was there when I Dined with him the Night After Christmas. It Gleamed at me with a Sinister Gleam of its Dexter Eye! And it seemed to Smile and to Beckon at me out of the Soft, Voluptuous Environment of The "Inner·Sisterhood," of which it was a Fellow. And when we were seated at the Glittering Table, beautiful with Crystal and Silver And Lemonade and Cake An Esthetic Banquet It Chanced, by Merest Accident, that I was Given a seat opposite The Portiered Archway which led into The Long Quiet Hall, With its Wine Colored Wealth of Turkish Bath Toweling thrown back. And as we Sat Beneath the Iridescent Glow Of the Keely Motor Electric Lamp, which Glistened and Shimmered Its Stained Glass Iridescence on all about it, and gave its hue to The Invigorating Beverage, we heeded not the Elemental war waging upon the Queen Anne Exterior of the Hospitable Mansion of my Friend. And when we were left to our Coffee and our Pipes, we talked of Daggers, and Epitaphs, and Tombs! And as he told me in a Mysterious Whisper the Story of the Malay Dagger, "Guiltless of all Guile," the Vitreous Eye of that Quaintly Carved Odalisque for such my fevered fancy Pictured it was ever Glaring at me with its Sinister Glare! And when our Ghostly Talk was Interrupted By the Entrance of other Guests, I Quaffed Another Crystal Goblet of My Friend's Brain Maddening Concoction, and casting a long, lingering Look at the Persian Rug which hid the Graeco Romanesque Architecture of the vaulted Ceiling, I passed from the Gothic Portals of this Esthetic Shrine into the outer darkness beyond the glamour of the Seven Lamps of Architecture... Continue reading book >>

Love Instigated: The Story of a Carved Ivory Umbrella Handle By: Douglass Sherley (1857-1917)

First Page:

[Illustration]

LOVE INSTIGATED

BY BELL THE CAT SURLY of the PENDENNIS CLUB

THE STORY OF A CARVED IVORY UMBRELLA HANDLE.

"The Man that Plants Cabbages Imitates God." Dobson's Choice.

Caveat Filed, By CURRY & DEARING, Publishers, Louisville, Ky.

LOVE PERPETUATED: The Story of a Dagger.

By Douglass Sherley,

WHO WROTE

THE STORY OF A PICTURE.

An Edition de Luxe [special] net, $10.00. Limited number. Ninety nine copies signed by the Author. Right reserved to advance price at any time. Subscriptions received now. Popular Edition a Christmas Card Booklet [in a box], $1.00. Liberal Discount to the Trade.

Edition de Luxe ready December Fifteenth.

Popular Edition ready December First.

John P. Morton and Company. Main St., Louisville, Ky.

Special·Dedication to the·Members·of·the·Sherley·Club of Little·:·Britain:

Despair·ye·not·at·all

E'en·by·so·Small·a·Thing·as·this·Poor·Booklet May·Your Loves·be·Instigated!

Dedicated To·Each·Single·Son·of·St.·Pendennis Who·Worships·not·at·the·Shrine·of The·Maiden·Priestess·of·To day Let·Him·Look·to't, Or·Likewise·He·May·Somewhere·Find Love·Perpetrated.

Love Instigated.

It was a daisy bit of Ivory.

It was a curious piece of Workmanship.

It was carved and carved again with Conventional Lines, which formed a Female Head of East Indian Unexceptionableness.

It seemed to Smile and to Beckon, and then to Scowl repellantly a Living Mockery!

It was Hateful Oh, so Hateful! the sight Of so conventional a Thing.

And yet there had been such a Longing to touch It and to Hold It in the Hand!

But See the Sequel.

It was not an Idol of India.

It was the Carved Ivory Handle of a Tanned Gingham Umbrella, of very Plebeian American Manufacture.

It stood in a Hand painted China Receptacle in The long quiet Hall, in the House of a Friend. It was there when I Dined with him the Night After Christmas.

It Gleamed at me with a Sinister Gleam of its Dexter Eye!

And it seemed to Smile and to Beckon at me out of the Soft, Voluptuous Environment of The "Inner·Sisterhood," of which it was a Fellow.

And when we were seated at the Glittering Table, beautiful with Crystal and Silver

And Lemonade and Cake

An Esthetic Banquet

It Chanced, by Merest Accident, that I was Given a seat opposite The Portiered Archway which led into

The Long Quiet Hall,

With its Wine Colored Wealth of Turkish Bath Toweling thrown back.

And as we Sat Beneath the Iridescent Glow Of the Keely Motor

Electric Lamp, which

Glistened and Shimmered Its Stained Glass Iridescence on all about it, and gave its hue to The Invigorating Beverage, we heeded not the Elemental war waging upon the Queen Anne Exterior of the Hospitable Mansion of my Friend.

And when we were left to our Coffee and our Pipes, we talked of Daggers, and Epitaphs, and Tombs!

And as he told me in a Mysterious Whisper the Story of the Malay Dagger, "Guiltless of all Guile," the Vitreous Eye of that Quaintly Carved Odalisque for such my fevered fancy Pictured it was ever Glaring at me with its Sinister Glare!

And when our Ghostly Talk was Interrupted By the Entrance of other Guests, I Quaffed Another Crystal Goblet of My Friend's Brain Maddening Concoction, and casting a long, lingering Look at the Persian Rug which hid the Graeco Romanesque Architecture of the vaulted Ceiling, I passed from the Gothic Portals of this Esthetic Shrine into the outer darkness beyond the glamour of the Seven Lamps of Architecture... Continue reading book >>

Genres for this book
Literature
Short stories

eBook links
Wikipedia – Douglass Sherley
Wikipedia – Love Instigated: The Story of a Carved Ivory Umbrella Handle

eBook Downloads
ePUB eBook • iBooks for iPhone and iPad • Nook • Sony Reader	Kindle eBook • Mobi file format for Kindle
Read eBook • Load eBook in browser	Text File eBook • Computers • Windows • Mac