{"product_id":"2940013696402","title":"Silas Bradford's Boy","description":"Late on a late autumn afternoon in the year 1903 the Village of\u003cbr\u003eDenboro, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, was undergoing\u003cbr\u003einspection and appraisal.  It did not know that it was undergoing\u003cbr\u003eanything of the kind, nor would it have been in the least troubled\u003cbr\u003eif it had known.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDenboro was satisfied with itself.  \"Not a city--no!  Not a crowded\u003cbr\u003emetropolis, teeming with riches and poverty, its gilded palaces\u003cbr\u003erubbing elbows with its sin-soaked slums--not that indeed.  But a\u003cbr\u003ecommunity of homes, the homes of God-fearing men and noble women,\u003cbr\u003ea town with churches and schools, of prosperous shops and a well-\u003cbr\u003epatronized circulating library, whose sons have sailed the seven\u003cbr\u003eseas, whose daughters have reared their children to be true\u003cbr\u003eAmericans--in short, my friends, perhaps as fine an example of what\u003cbr\u003ea town should be as may be found between the surging billows of the\u003cbr\u003eAtlantic upon the one hand and the blue bosom of the Pacific upon\u003cbr\u003ethe other.\"  (See the address of the Hon. Alonzo Pearson, delivered\u003cbr\u003eat the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the\u003cbr\u003eincorporation of the township of Denboro, and on file in the office\u003cbr\u003eof Abel Snow, town clerk.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo, Denboro would not have feared inspection, it would have\u003cbr\u003ewelcomed it; the more perfect the diamond the purer its glitter\u003cbr\u003ebeneath the magnifying glass.  If it had been aware that Banks\u003cbr\u003eBradford, as he strolled down Main Street toward home and supper\u003cbr\u003ethat afternoon, was looking it over with amused condescension it\u003cbr\u003ewould not have cared at all.  Several of its citizens looked young\u003cbr\u003eMr. Bradford over as he passed, and their comments were singularly\u003cbr\u003efree from awe or uneasiness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Who did you say?\" queried Ebenezer Tadgett, peering through the\u003cbr\u003epanes of the window of his secondhand shop.  \"Who did you say\u003cbr\u003e'twas, Joe?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJotham Gott, the cards of the euchre hand which had just been dealt\u003cbr\u003ehim clutched in his huge fist, answered casually.  \"Oh, it's that\u003cbr\u003eboy of Margaret Bradford's,\" he said.  \"Cap'n Silas Bradford's son.\u003cbr\u003eHe belongs here in town, but he's been away so much, up to college\u003cbr\u003eand studyin' law and the like of that, that I guess you ain't seen\u003cbr\u003emuch of him since you come to Denboro to live, Ebenezer.  His first\u003cbr\u003ename's Silas, same as his father's was, but they always call him by\u003cbr\u003ehis middle one--Banks.  Lord knows why!  If my old man was as smart\u003cbr\u003eas Cap'n Silas was in his day and time I'd be proud to use his name\u003cbr\u003eeven if 'twas Judas; yes\"--with a chuckle--\"even if 'twas Eliab--\u003cbr\u003eand that's stretchin' things up to the limit of eyesight, you'll\u003cbr\u003ehave to give in.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe third member of the euchre party was a tall, raw-boned, stoop-\u003cbr\u003eshouldered individual with a long face, the most prominent feature\u003cbr\u003eof which was nose.  His surname was Gibbons and his Christian name\u003cbr\u003eEliab.  He sniffed through the prominent feature just mentioned and\u003cbr\u003eturned on his heel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Humph!\" he growled.  \"If my eyesight was so poor I played the king\u003cbr\u003ethinkin' 'twas the right bower I'd keep still, seems to me.  Come\u003cbr\u003eon, boys; come on!  You owe me seven cents so fur, Jotham, and I'm\u003cbr\u003ecal'latin' to make it ten in a couple more hands, which is all\u003cbr\u003ewe've got time for.\"","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145710780656,"sku":"2940013696402","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013696402_p0.jpg?v=1763584129","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013696402","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}