Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich
First editionFirst publication
1914
Literary form
Stories
Genres
Literary, satire
Writing language
English
Author's country
Canada
Length
Eight storiess, approx. 65,000 words
Notable lines and an excerpt
The Mausoleum Club stands on the quietest corner of the best residential street in the City. It is a Grecian building of white stone. About it are great elm trees with birds—the most expensive kind of birds—singing in the branches.
— First lines, Chapter I, "A Little Dinner with Mr. Lucullus Fyshe"
Down in the City itself, just below the residential street where the Mausoleum Club is situated, there stands overlooking Central Square the Grand Palaver Hotel. It is, in truth, at no great distance from the club, not half a minute in one's motor. In fact, one could almost walk it.
— First lines, Chapter II: "The Wizard of Finance"
Others came back with wonderful stories of Mr. Yahi-Bahi's occult powers, especially his marvellous gift of reading the future.
Mrs. Buncomhearst, who had just lost her third husband—by divorce—had received from Mr. Yahi-Bahi a glimpse into the future that was almost uncanny in its exactness. She had asked for a divination, and Mr. Yahi-Bahi had effected one by causing her to lay six ten-dollar pieces on the table arranged in the form of a mystic serpent. Over these he had bent and peered deeply, as if seeking to unravel their meaning, and finally he had given her the prophecy, "Many things are yet to happen before others begin."
"How does he do it?" asked everybody.
— Chapter IV, "The Yahi-Bahi Oriental Society of Mrs. Rasselyer-Brown"
"There is no doubt that we need, more than anything, the support of a clean, wholesome unbiased press that can't be bribed and is not subject to money influence. I think on the whole our best plan would be to buy up one of the city newspapers."
— Chapter VIII, "The Great Fight for Clean Government"
So the night waxed and waned till the slow day broke, dimming with its cheap prosaic glare the shaded beauty of the artificial light, and the people of the city—the best of them—drove home to their well-earned sleep; and the others—in the lower parts of the city—rose to their daily toil.
— Last line, Chapter VIII, "The Great Fight for Clean Government"
See also:
Buy the book:
Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich
Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town
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