{"product_id":"2940013243750","title":"A POOR WISE MAN","description":"CHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe city turned its dreariest aspect toward the railway on blackened\u003cbr\u003ewalls, irregular and ill-paved streets, gloomy warehouses, and over all\u003cbr\u003ea gray, smoke-laden atmosphere which gave it mystery and often beauty.\u003cbr\u003eSometimes the softened towers of the great steel bridges rose above the\u003cbr\u003eriver mist like fairy towers suspended between Heaven and earth. And\u003cbr\u003eagain the sun tipped the surrounding hills with gold, while the city\u003cbr\u003elay buried in its smoke shroud, and white ghosts of river boats moved\u003cbr\u003espectrally along.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSometimes it was ugly, sometimes beautiful, but always the city was\u003cbr\u003epowerful, significant, important. It was a vast melting pot. Through its\u003cbr\u003egates came alike the hopeful and the hopeless, the dreamers and those\u003cbr\u003ewho would destroy those dreams. From all over the world there came men\u003cbr\u003ewho sought a chance to labor. They came in groups, anxious and dumb,\u003cbr\u003ecarrying with them their pathetic bundles, and shepherded by men with\u003cbr\u003ecunning eyes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRaw material, for the crucible of the city, as potentially powerful as\u003cbr\u003ethe iron ore which entered the city by the same gate.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe city took them in, gave them sanctuary, and forgot them. But the\u003cbr\u003eshepherds with the cunning eyes remembered.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLily Cardew, standing in the train shed one morning early in March,\u003cbr\u003ewatched such a line go by. She watched it with interest. She had\u003cbr\u003edeveloped a new interest in people during the year she had been\u003cbr\u003eaway. She had seen, in the army camp, similar shuffling lines of men,\u003cbr\u003etransformed in a few hours into ranks of uniformed soldiers, beginning\u003cbr\u003ealready to be actuated by the same motive. These aliens, going by, would\u003cbr\u003ebecome citizens. Very soon now they would appear on the streets in new\u003cbr\u003eAmerican clothes of extraordinary cut and color, their hair cut with\u003cbr\u003eclippers almost to the crown, and surmounted by derby hats always a size\u003cbr\u003etoo small.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLily smiled, and looked out for her mother. She was suddenly\u003cbr\u003eunaccountably glad to be back again. She liked the smoke and the noise,\u003cbr\u003ethe movement, the sense of things doing. And the sight of her mother,\u003cbr\u003esmall, faultlessly tailored, wearing a great bunch of violets, and\u003cbr\u003eincongruous in that work-a-day atmosphere, set her smiling again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow familiar it all was! And heavens, how young she looked! The\u003cbr\u003elimousine was at the curb, and a footman as immaculately turned out as\u003cbr\u003eher mother stood with a folded rug over his arm. On the seat inside lay\u003cbr\u003ea purple box. Lily had known it would be there. They would be ostensibly\u003cbr\u003efrom her father, because he had not been able to meet her, but she knew\u003cbr\u003equite well that Grace Cardew had stopped at the florist's on her way\u003cbr\u003edowntown and bought them.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47165029744880,"sku":"2940013243750","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013243750_p0.jpg?v=1763578704","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013243750","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}