Chimneysmoke

By Christopher Morley

"Chimneysmoke" by Christopher Morley. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Good Press
• Release date: Dec 12, 2019
• ISBN: 4064066206185

Christopher Morley

Christopher Morley (1890-1957) was an American journalist, poet, and novelist. Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, he was the son of mathematics professor Frank Morley and violinist Lillian Janet Bird. In 1900, Christopher moved with his parents to Baltimore, returning to Pennsylvania in 1906 to attend Haverford College. Upon graduating as valedictorian in 1910, he went to Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship to study modern history. While in England, he published The Eighth Sin (1912), a volume of poems. After three years, he moved to New York, found work as a publicist and publisher’s reader at Doubleday, and married Helen Booth Fairchild. After moving his family to Philadelphia, Morley worked as an editor for Ladies’ Home Journal and then as a reporter for the Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger. In 1920, Morley moved one final time to Roslyn Estates in Nassau County, Long Island, commuting to the city for work as an editor of the Saturday Review of Literature. A gifted humorist, poet, and storyteller, Morley wrote over one hundred novels and collections of essays and poetry in his lifetime. Kitty Foyle (1939), a controversial novel exploring the intersection of class and marriage, was adapted into a 1940 film starring Ginger Rogers, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role.

Book preview

Christopher Morley

Chimneysmoke

Published by Good Press, 2022

[e-mail]

EAN 4064066206185

Table of Contents

TO THE LITTLE HOUSE

A GRACE BEFORE WRITING

TAKING TITLE

THE SECRET

ONLY A MATTER OF TIME

AT THE MERMAID CAFETERIA

OUR HOUSE

ON NAMING A HOUSE

A HALLOWE'EN MEMORY

REFUSING YOU IMMORTALITY

BAYBERRY CANDLES

SECRET LAUGHTER

SIX WEEKS OLD

A CHARM

MY PIPE

THE 5:42

PETER PAN

IN HONOR OF TAFFY TOPAZ

THE CEDAR CHEST

READING ALOUD

ANIMAL CRACKERS

THE MILKMAN

LIGHT VERSE

THE FURNACE

WASHING THE DISHES

THE CHURCH OF UNBENT KNEES

ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY COAL-BIN

THE OLD SWIMMER

THE MOON-SHEEP

SMELLS

SMELLS (JUNIOR)

MAR QUONG, CHINESE LAUNDRYMAN

THE FAT LITTLE PURSE

THE REFLECTION (To N. B. D.)

THE BALLOON PEDDLER

LINES FOR AN ECCENTRIC'S BOOK PLATE

TO A POST-OFFICE INKWELL

THE CRIB

THE POET

TO A DISCARDED MIRROR

TO A CHILD

TO A VERY YOUNG GENTLEMAN

TO AN OLD-FASHIONED POET

BURNING LEAVES IN SPRING

BURNING LEAVES, NOVEMBER

A VALENTINE GAME

FOR A BIRTHDAY

KEATS

TO H. F. M. a sonnet in sunlight

QUICKENING

AT A WINDOW SILL

THE RIVER OF LIGHT

OF HER GLORIOUS MADNESS

IN AN AUCTION ROOM

EPITAPH FOR A POET WHO WROTE NO POETRY

SONNET BY A GEOMETER

TO A VAUDEVILLE TERRIER SEEN ON A LEASH, IN THE PARK

TO AN OLD FRIEND

TO A BURLESQUE SOUBRETTE

THOUGHTS WHILE PACKING A TRUNK

STREETS

TO THE ONLY BEGETTER

PEDOMETER

HOSTAGES

ARS DURA

O. HENRY—APOTHECARY

FOR THE CENTENARY OF KEATS'S SONNET

TWO O'CLOCK

THE COMMERCIAL TRAVELLER

THE WEDDED LOVER

TO YOU, REMEMBERING THE PAST

CHARLES AND MARY

TO A GRANDMOTHER

DIARISTS

THE LAST SONNET

THE SAVAGE

ST. PAUL'S AND WOOLWORTH

ADVICE TO A CITY

THE TELEPHONE DIRECTORY

GREEN ESCAPE

VESPER SONG FOR COMMUTERS

THE ICE WAGON

AT A MOVIE THEATRE

SONNETS IN A LODGING HOUSE

THE MAN WITH THE HOE (PRESS)

DO YOU EVER FEEL LIKE GOD?

RAPID TRANSIT

CAUGHT IN THE UNDERTOW

TO HIS BROWN-EYED MISTRESS

PEACE

SONG, IN DEPRECATION OF PULCHRITUDE

MOUNTED POLICE

TO HIS MISTRESS, DEPLORING THAT HE IS NOT AN ELIZABETHAN GALAXY

THE INTRUDER

TIT FOR TAT

SONG FOR A LITTLE HOUSE

THE PLUMPUPPETS

DANDY DANDELION

THE HIGH CHAIR

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

AUTUMN COLORS

THE LAST CRICKET

TO LOUISE

CHRISTMAS EVE

EPITAPH ON THE PROOFREADER OF THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA

THE MUSIC BOX

TO LUATH

THOUGHTS ON REACHING LAND

A SYMPOSIUM

TO A TELEPHONE OPERATOR WHO HAS A BAD COLD

NURSERY RHYMES FOR THE TENDER-HEARTED

THE TWINS

A PRINTER'S MADRIGAL

THE POET ON THE HEARTH

O PRAISE ME NOT THE COUNTRY

A STONE IN ST. PAUL'S GRAVEYARD

THE MADONNA OF THE CURB

THE ISLAND

SUNDAY NIGHT

ENGLAND, JULY 1913

CASUALTY

A GRUB STREET RECESSIONAL

PRELIMINARY INSTRUCTIONS FOR A FUNERAL SERVICE: BEING A POEM IN FOUR STANZAS

TO THE LITTLE HOUSE

Table of Contents

D

ear

little house, dear shabby street,

Dear books and beds and food to eat!

How feeble words are to express

The facets of your tenderness.

How white the sun comes through the pane!

In tinkling music drips the rain!

How burning bright the furnace glows!

What paths to shovel when it snows!

O dearly loved Long Island trains!

O well remembered joys and pains....

How near the housetops Beauty leans

Along that little street in Queens!

Let these poor rhymes abide for proof

Joy dwells beneath a humble roof;

Heaven is not built of country seats

But little queer suburban streets!

March, 1917.

---

A GRACE BEFORE WRITING

Table of Contents

T

his

is a sacrament, I think!

Holding the bottle toward the light,

As blue as lupin gleams the ink;

May Truth be with me as I write!

That small dark cistern may afford

Reunion with some vanished friend,—

And with this ink I have just poured

May none but honest words be penned!

---

DEDICATION FOR A FIREPLACE

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T

his

hearth was built for thy delight,

For thee the logs were sawn,

For thee the largest chair, at night,

Is to the chimney drawn.

For thee, dear lass, the match was lit

To yield the ruddy blaze—

May Jack Frost give us joy of it

For many, many days

---

TAKING TITLE

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T

o

make this house my very own

Could not be done by law alone.

Though covenant and deed convey

Absolute fee, as lawyers say,

There are domestic rites beside

By which this house is sanctified.

By kindled fire upon the hearth,

By planted pansies in the garth,

By food, and by the quiet rest

Of those brown eyes that I love best,

And by a friend's bright gift of wine,

I dedicate this house of mine.

When all but I are soft abed

I trail about my quiet stead

A wreath of blue tobacco smoke

(A charm that evil never broke)

And bring my ritual to an end

By giving shelter to a friend.

These done, O dwelling, you become

Not just a house, but truly Home!

And by a friend's bright gift of wine,

And by a friend's bright gift of wine,

I dedicate this house of mine

---

THE SECRET

Table of Contents

I

t

was the House of Quietness

To which I