Ellis Parker Butler

Name: A Bird in the Hand
Author: Ellis Parker Butler

A Bird in the Hand (1906)

Summary

“A Bird in the Hand”, published in 1906, is a work by Ellis Parker Butler. It explores elements such as turkey, New Yorker and Wilbur.

Quotes from A Bird in the Hand (Ellis Parker Butler)

Ellis Parker Butler, A Bird in the Hand (1906)

“ The turkey was so much like an ostrich in size that even Arthur laughed. The idea of wringing the neck of a turkey that looked as if it might be able to wrestle with a full grown man on even terms pleased Mr. Foster, and he laughed heartily.
"The first thing," said Arthur, "is to open this cage some way. Anna, get me the hammer."
Anna looked at Mr. Wilbur a minute, and then at Mrs. Wilbur.
"Hammer," explained Mrs. Wilbur. "Hammer, hammer," She made the motions that accompany the driving of a nail, and Anna smiled and went cheerfully into the house. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ellis Parker Butler, A Bird in the Hand (1906)

“ He was the kind of New Yorker that runs in grooves, in pleasant grooves, but in grooves, and the general impression is that that kind of New Yorker will never willingly get out of his grooves, and that if he does get out he is lost and miserable. He was the kind of New Yorker that you cannot imagine willingly straying above One Hundredth Street. When he agreed to cross the raging East River, and spend a whole afternoon in a suburb, Arthur Wilbur was thoroughly surprised. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ellis Parker Butler, A Bird in the Hand (1906)

“ If I could let it out of the cage, and give it a fair start, I shouldn't feel so much like an assassin, but I couldn't hit it then. I feel like a man who would load a cannon and then lead a helpless little squirrel up in front of it. I can't shoot that turkey."
"Well, Arthur," said Amelia, "you will have to kill it some way, and soon, too. It has to be picked and cleaned and stuffed after you kill it, and it is now about two o'clock. And a bird that size will have to cook for three hours. That will make it seven o'clock at least, if you kill it this very minute, before we have dinner. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ellis Parker Butler, A Bird in the Hand (1906)

“ Foster made a mistake, or that you made a mistake, or that I made a mistake, and that dinner was to be at six this evening, instead of at one. Or else to go to him and tell him the truth, and one of those things you will have to do, for I don't know him as well as you do."
"Amelia," said Arthur, sadly, "this is the saddest occasion of my life. To get a born New Yorker out into what he calls 'the woods' on the pretense of giving him a good dinner, and then to tell him that the dinner is postponed, is awful! That man has had no breakfast, Amelia! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ellis Parker Butler, A Bird in the Hand (1906)

“ You don't know what a hungry New Yorker can do to a turkey. The way I feel I believe I could almost eat one raw."
"I—hope you won't have to wait long, Mr. Foster," said poor Wilbur. "Ah, dinner wasn't just ready when I left home, but I hope——"
"Now, that's all right," said Mr. Foster reassuringly. "I was joking. I guess I can wait a few minutes as well as the next man can. I know all about these turkeys. They have to cook just so long. Wife won't let them out of the oven until they are just so brown—oh, is this where you live? Pretty place, Wilbur." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ellis Parker Butler, A Bird in the Hand (1906)

“ He stopped short and looked at Amelia.
"By George!" he cried. "I never thought of that! We have no hatchet! No, sir, we haven't a hatchet or an axe in the place! I wonder——"
"How do you chop your wood?" asked Mr. Foster, who was having the best time he had had for years.
"We use coal and gas," said Arthur, seriously. "We heat with coal and we cook with gas. I wonder—I wonder if I could use a carving knife?"
He walked around the cage and looked at the turkey critically.
"I don't believe you could kill that gentle creature with a carving knife," said Mr. Foster. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ellis Parker Butler, A Bird in the Hand (1906)

“ Wilbur was not. She was a young wife and she could not imagine a man who would not rather spend an afternoon in her home than anywhere else, and she accepted his coming as calmly as she would have accepted the coming of any of the other men Arthur had asked. She wrote the letter to her father in Vermont, telling him that she expected to have company for dinner, and asking him to send his best turkey, and she went on with her other preparations just as if Mr. Foster had been a common man, and not Arthur's employer. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ellis Parker Butler, A Bird in the Hand (1906)

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1937, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 85 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”

Ellis Parker Butler

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