{"product_id":"2940013488601","title":"MY TERMINAL MORAINE","description":"A man's birth is generally considered the most important event of his\u003cbr\u003eexistence, but I truly think that what I am about to relate was more\u003cbr\u003eimportant to me than my entrance into this world; because, had not these\u003cbr\u003ethings happened, I am of the opinion that my life would have been of no\u003cbr\u003evalue to me and my birth a misfortune.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy father, Joshua Cuthbert, died soon after I came to my majority,\u003cbr\u003eleaving me what he had considered a comfortable property. This consisted\u003cbr\u003eof a large house and some forty acres of land, nearly the whole of which\u003cbr\u003elay upon a bluff, which upon three sides descended to a little valley,\u003cbr\u003ethrough which ran a gentle stream. I had no brothers or sisters. My\u003cbr\u003emother died when I was a boy, and I, Walter Cuthbert, was left the sole\u003cbr\u003erepresentative of my immediate family.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy estate had been a comfortable one to my father, because his income\u003cbr\u003efrom the practice of his profession as a physician enabled him to keep\u003cbr\u003eit up and provide satisfactorily for himself and me. I had no profession\u003cbr\u003eand but a very small income, the result of a few investments my father\u003cbr\u003ehad made. Left to myself, I felt no inducement to take up any profession\u003cbr\u003eor business. My wants were simple, and for a few years I lived without\u003cbr\u003eexperiencing any inconvenience from the economies which I was obliged\u003cbr\u003eto practice. My books, my dog, my gun and my rod made life pass very\u003cbr\u003epleasantly to me, and the subject of an increase of income never\u003cbr\u003edisturbed my mind.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut as time passed on the paternal home began to present an air of\u003cbr\u003eneglect and even dilapidation, which occasionally attracted my attention\u003cbr\u003eand caused, as I incidentally discovered, a great deal of unfavorable\u003cbr\u003ecomment among my neighbors, who thought that I should go to work and\u003cbr\u003eat least earn money enough to put the house and grounds in a condition\u003cbr\u003ewhich should not be unworthy the memory of the good Dr. Cuthbert. In\u003cbr\u003efact, I began to be looked upon as a shiftless young man; and, now and\u003cbr\u003ethen, I found a person old enough and bold enough to tell me so.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut, instead of endeavoring to find some suitable occupation by which I\u003cbr\u003emight better my condition and improve my estate, I fell in love, which,\u003cbr\u003ein the opinion of my neighbors, was the very worst thing that could have\u003cbr\u003ehappened to me at this time. I lived in a thrifty region, and for a man\u003cbr\u003ewho could not support himself to think of taking upon him the support of\u003cbr\u003ea wife, especially such a wife as Agnes Havelot would be, was considered\u003cbr\u003emore than folly and looked upon as a crime. Everybody knew that I was in\u003cbr\u003elove with Miss Havelot, for I went to court her as boldly as I went to\u003cbr\u003efish or shoot. There was a good deal of talk about it, and this finally\u003cbr\u003ecame to the ears of Mr. Havelot, my lady's father, who, thereupon,\u003cbr\u003epromptly ordered her to have no more to do with me.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47070089478384,"sku":"2940013488601","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013488601_p0.jpg?v=1763593004","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013488601","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}