Adam Bede [antikvár]

ADAM BEDB. BOOK FIRST, CHAPTER I. The Workshop. WlTH a single drop of ink for a mirror, the Egyptian aorcerer undertakes to reveal to any chance comer far-reaching visions of the past. This is what I undertake to do for you, reader. With this drop of ink at the end of my pen, I will show you the roomy workshop of Mr. Jonathan Bürge, carpenter and builder in the village of Hayslope, as it appeared on the eighteenth of June, in the year of our Lord 1799. The afternoon sun was warm on the five workmen there, busy upon doors and window-frames and wainscoting. A scent of pine-wood from a tent-like pile of planks outside the open door mingled itself with the scent of the elder-bushes which were spreading their summer snow close to the open v/indow opposite; the slanting sunbeams shone through the transparent shavings that flew before the steady pláne, and lit ttp the fine grain of the oak panelling which stood propped against the wall. On a heap of those soft shavings a rough gray shepherd-dog had made himself a pleasant bed, and was lying with his nose between his fore-paws, occasionally wrinkling his brows to cast a glancé at the tallest of the five workmen, who was carving a shield in the centre of a wooden mantel-piece. It was to this workman that the strong baritoné belonged which was heard above the sound of pláne and hammer, singing— •• Awake, my soul, and with the sun Thy daily st.age of duty run; Shake off dull sloth-" Here somé measurement was to be taken which required more concentrated attention, and the sonoroas voice subsided 1