Henry Cuyler Bunner

Name: The Nice People
Author: Henry Cuyler Bunner

The Nice People (1890)

Summary

“The Nice People”, published in 1890, is a work by Henry Cuyler Bunner. It explores elements such as Brede, Jacobus and Tabb.

Quotes from The Nice People (Henry Cuyler Bunner)

Henry Cuyler Bunner, The Nice People (1890)

“ But it seemed to us, when we looked at "our view," as if we could only see those invisible villages of which Brede had told us--that other side of the ridges and rises of which we catch no glimpse from lofty hills or from the heights of human self-esteem. We meant to stay out until the Bredes had taken their departure; but we returned just in time to see Pete, the Jacobus darkey, the blacker of boots, the brasher of coats, the general handy-man of the house, loading the Brede trunks on the Jacobus wagon. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Cuyler Bunner, The Nice People (1890)

“ And yet, on the further side of those broad ridges and rises were scores of villages--a little world of country life, lying unseen under our eyes.
"A good deal like looking at humanity," he said; "there is such a thing as getting so far above our fellow men that we see only one side of them."
Ah, how much better was this sort of talk than the chatter and gossip of the Tabb and the Hoogencamp--than the Major's dissertations upon his everlasting circulars! My wife and I exchanged glances.
"Now, when I went up the Matterhorn" Mr. Brede began. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Cuyler Bunner, The Nice People (1890)

“ The Hoogencamp-Biggle-Tabb-Halkit contingent never stirred off Jacobus's veranda; but we both felt that the Bredes would not profane that sacred scene. We strolled slowly across the fields, passed through the little belt of woods and, as I heard Mrs. Brede's little cry of startled rapture, I motioned to Brede to look up.
"By Jove!" he cried, "heavenly!"
We looked off from the brow of the mountain over fifteen miles of billowing green, to where, far across a far stretch of pale blue lay a dim purple line that we knew was Staten Island. Towns and villages lay before us and under us ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Cuyler Bunner, The Nice People (1890)

“ As a near-sighted man learns by enforced observation to recognize persons at a distance when the face is not visible to the normal eye, so the man with a bad memory learns, almost unconsciously, to listen carefully and report accurately. My memory is bad; but I had not had time to forget that Mr. Brewster Brede had told me that afternoon that he had three children, at present left in the care of his mother-in-law, while he and Mrs. Brede took their summer vacation. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Cuyler Bunner, The Nice People (1890)

“ Jacobus, on the other side of the grape-trellis, looked at--I don't know what--and was as silent as we were.
Where is your marriage-license, married reader? Do you know? Four men, not including Mr. Brede, stood or sat on one side or the other of that grape-trellis, and not one of them knew where his marriage-license was. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Cuyler Bunner, The Nice People (1890)

“ She was "nice" in all her pretty clothes, and she herself was pretty with that type of prettiness which outwears most other types--the prettiness that lies in a rounded figure, a dusky skin, plump, rosy cheeks, white teeth and black eyes. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Cuyler Bunner, The Nice People (1890)

“ The two women were walking off toward "our view," each with an arm about the other's waist--touched by a sudden sisterhood of sympathy.
"Gentlemen," said Mr. Brede, addressing Jacobus, Biggle, the Major and me, "there is a hostelry down the street where they sell honest New Jersey beer. I recognize the obligations of the situation."
We five men filed down the street. The two women went toward the pleasant slope where the sunlight gilded the forehead of the great hill. On Mr. Jacobus's veranda lay a spattered circle of shining grains of rice. Two of Mr. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Cuyler Bunner, The Nice People (1890)

“ And nice people were all we wanted to make us happy in Mr. Jacobus's summer boarding-house on top of Orange Mountain. For a week we had come down to breakfast each morning, wondering why we wasted the precious days of idleness with the company gathered around the Jacobus board. What joy of human companionship was to be had out of Mrs. Tabb and Miss Hoogencamp, the two middle-aged gossips from Scranton, Pa.--out of Mr. ”

Henry Cuyler Bunner

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Quotes from The Nice People (Henry Cuyler Bunner)

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