{"product_id":"2940013787940","title":"Marm Lisa","description":"CHAPTER I--EDEN PLACE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEden Place was a short street running at right angles with Eden\u003cbr\u003eSquare, a most unattractive and infertile triangle of ground in a\u003cbr\u003emost unattractive but respectable quarter of a large city.  It was\u003cbr\u003ecalled a square, not so much, probably, because it was triangular in\u003cbr\u003eshape, as because it was hardly large enough to be designated as a\u003cbr\u003epark.  As to its being called 'Eden,' the origin of that qualifying\u003cbr\u003eword is enveloped in mystery; but it is likely that the enthusiastic\u003cbr\u003epersons who projected it saw visions and dreamed dreams of green\u003cbr\u003ebenches under umbrageous trees, of a green wire fence, ever green,\u003cbr\u003eand of plots of blossoming flowers filling the grateful air with\u003cbr\u003eunaccustomed fragrance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs a matter of fact, the trees had always been stunted and stubby,\u003cbr\u003ethe plants had never been tended, and all the paint had been worn off\u003cbr\u003ethe benches by successive groups of working-men out of work.  As for\u003cbr\u003ethe wire fence, it had been much used as a means of ingress and\u003cbr\u003eegress by the children of the neighbourhood, who preferred it to any\u003cbr\u003eof the gateways, which they considered hopelessly unimaginative and\u003cbr\u003ecommonplace, offering no resistance to the budding man of valour or\u003cbr\u003ewoman of ambition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEden Place was frequented mostly by the children, who found it an\u003cbr\u003eadmirable spot to squabble, to fight, and to dig up the hapless\u003cbr\u003eearth; and after them, by persons out of suits with fortune.  These\u003cbr\u003e(generally men) adorned the shabby benches at all times, sleeping,\u003cbr\u003esmoking, reading newspapers, or tracing uncertain patterns in the\u003cbr\u003egravel with a stick,--patterns as uncertain and aimless as\u003cbr\u003ethemselves.  There were fewer women, because the unemployed woman of\u003cbr\u003ethis class has an old-fashioned habit, or instinct, of seeking work\u003cbr\u003eby direct assault; the method of the male being rather to sit on a\u003cbr\u003ebench and discuss the obstacles, the injustices, and the unendurable\u003cbr\u003einsults heaped by a plutocratic government in the path of the honest\u003cbr\u003eson of toil.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe corner house of Eden Place was a little larger than its\u003cbr\u003eneighbours in the same row.  Its side was flanked by a sand-lot, and\u003cbr\u003ea bay window, with four central panes of blue glass, was the most\u003cbr\u003econspicuous feature of its architecture.  In the small front yard was\u003cbr\u003ea microscopic flower-bed; there were no flowers in it, but the stake\u003cbr\u003ethat held up a stout plant in the middle was surmounted by a neat\u003cbr\u003ewooden sign bearing the inscription, 'No Smoking on these Premises.'\u003cbr\u003eThe warning seemed superfluous, as no man standing in the garden\u003cbr\u003ecould have put his pipe in his mouth without grazing either the fence\u003cbr\u003eor the house, but the owner of the 'premises' possibly wished to warn\u003cbr\u003ethe visitor at the very threshold.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47152786866416,"sku":"2940013787940","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013787940_p0.jpg?v=1763590286","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013787940","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}