Ray Cummings

Name: The Big Idea — I. Jimmy's Big Idea
Author: Ray Cummings

The Big Idea — I. Jimmy's Big Idea (1920)

Summary

“The Big Idea — I. Jimmy's Big Idea”, published in 1920, is a work by Ray Cummings. It explores elements such as coal, Menchon and Jimmy.

Quotes from The Big Idea — I. Jimmy's Big Idea (Ray Cummings)

Ray Cummings, The Big Idea — I. Jimmy's Big Idea (1920)

“ Jimmy Rand was by nature a dreamer. He had imagination, which, to one who mines coal, is neither necessary nor desirable. It was not the hours of active work in the mine that proved irksome to him. Stripped to the waist, his lean torso covered with sweat and the grime of coal-dust, he would load steadily. But when the little car was filled, properly trimmed, and the last great, glistering chunk of coal heaved to its top, there was nothing more to do but sit quiet while the mule-boy took it away and brought him another “empty.” ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Ray Cummings, The Big Idea — I. Jimmy's Big Idea (1920)

“ Jimmy’s face was flushed; his eyes sparkled.
“Why—why, just that, Anne! I’m going to build a factory over where the coal is and burn the coal in the ground without bothering to mine it at all, and just pipe the heat up to the boilers. Don’t you see, Anne? Nobody ever thought of that before. They mine the coal now—dig it out and bring it up to the top and take it away on railroads to factories to be burned. And all you’ve got to do is leave it where it is, and put the factory overhead. Look at the work you save, Anne! ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Ray Cummings, The Big Idea — I. Jimmy's Big Idea (1920)

“ His bunky, who worked at his side in the little gallery, wondered at his unusual silence, although Jimmy was always inclined to be silent. When the first car was loaded, Jimmy fastened to it his metal tag—they took turns in labeling the cars they jointly filled—and then sat down on a lump of coal with his cap in his bands, trimming the wick of his little pit-lamp with a nail from his pocket.
His mind was far away. He read a good deal now—books from the public library of Menchon, which he took home to read during the evenings. Books of travel and adventure interested him ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Ray Cummings, The Big Idea — I. Jimmy's Big Idea (1920)

“ For this was the day he was to stop work at noon, and he and Anne were to take that long walk together they had planned. Jimmy looked up at the sky; it was a perfect day, almost cloudless, and with just a hint of chill in the air.
By birth and breeding Jimmy Rand was a coal-miner. His father and grandfather before him had been miners—his father, now dead some three years, had worked in this same Fallon Brothers Mine. It was located near the little town of Menchon, Pennsylvania, in the valley of the Susquehanna. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Ray Cummings, The Big Idea — I. Jimmy's Big Idea (1920)

“ He had often spoken this way to her before—used the very same words, perhaps—and he knew that she understood, and felt that way about it, too. But to-day it seemed different, more important, more pressing a problem—as though to-day, somehow, he must find some way out, some goal ahead toward which he could strive. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Ray Cummings, The Big Idea — I. Jimmy's Big Idea (1920)

“ Jimmy did his work well; there were few other loaders who could surpass him in tonnage. This the records showed, for each car bore a little metal tag with the loader’s number, of which account was kept.
But although Jimmy was a good coal-miner by heredity and training, he was by nature not a miner at all. He had known this now for many years; but only to Anne, and to his mother, had he ever said so. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Ray Cummings, The Big Idea — I. Jimmy's Big Idea (1920)

“ And it’s no good, Anne. It don’t get me anything—and sometimes I wonder if it ever will.”
The little girl pressed his hand again and looked shyly up into his face.
“It will, Jimmy,” she said softly. “You’re going to be a wonderful man some day—I just know you will. And we’ll—we’ll all be so proud of you.”
Again they fell silent. The road they were following—they were now some two miles from Menchon—was taking them directly toward the burning mines that were famous throughout all that part of Pennsylvania. These were a system of coal-mines that years before had been in active operation. ”

Ray Cummings

Summary

Quotes from The Big Idea — I. Jimmy's Big Idea (Ray Cummings)

Common terms

Similar works

Get perspective with Kwize: daily news enlightened by great literature