Thirty Strange Stories

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, New Age, History, Fiction & Literature
Cover of the book Thirty Strange Stories by Herbert George Wells, Library of Alexandria
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Herbert George Wells ISBN: 9781465628992
Publisher: Library of Alexandria Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Herbert George Wells
ISBN: 9781465628992
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint:
Language: English

The buying of orchids always has in it a certain speculative flavour. You have before you the brown shrivelled lump of tissue, and for the rest you must trust your judgment, or the auctioneer, or your good-luck, as your taste may incline. The plant may be moribund or dead, or it may be just a respectable purchase, fair value for your money, or perhaps—for the thing has happened again and again—there slowly unfolds before the delighted eyes of the happy purchaser, day after day, some new variety, some novel richness, a strange twist of the labellum, or some subtler colouration or unexpected mimicry. Pride, beauty, and profit blossom together on one delicate green spike, and, it may be, even immortality. For the new miracle of Nature may stand in need of a new specific name, and what so convenient as that of its discoverer? “Johnsmithia”! There have been worse names. It was perhaps the hope of some such happy discovery that made Winter-Wedderburn such a frequent attendant at these sales—that hope, and also, maybe, the fact that he had nothing else of the slightest interest to do in the world. He was a shy, lonely, rather ineffectual man, provided with just enough income to keep off the spur of necessity, and not enough nervous energy to make him seek any exacting employments. He might have collected stamps or coins, or translated Horace, or bound books, or invented new species of diatoms. But, as it happened, he grew orchids, and had one ambitious little hothouse.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The buying of orchids always has in it a certain speculative flavour. You have before you the brown shrivelled lump of tissue, and for the rest you must trust your judgment, or the auctioneer, or your good-luck, as your taste may incline. The plant may be moribund or dead, or it may be just a respectable purchase, fair value for your money, or perhaps—for the thing has happened again and again—there slowly unfolds before the delighted eyes of the happy purchaser, day after day, some new variety, some novel richness, a strange twist of the labellum, or some subtler colouration or unexpected mimicry. Pride, beauty, and profit blossom together on one delicate green spike, and, it may be, even immortality. For the new miracle of Nature may stand in need of a new specific name, and what so convenient as that of its discoverer? “Johnsmithia”! There have been worse names. It was perhaps the hope of some such happy discovery that made Winter-Wedderburn such a frequent attendant at these sales—that hope, and also, maybe, the fact that he had nothing else of the slightest interest to do in the world. He was a shy, lonely, rather ineffectual man, provided with just enough income to keep off the spur of necessity, and not enough nervous energy to make him seek any exacting employments. He might have collected stamps or coins, or translated Horace, or bound books, or invented new species of diatoms. But, as it happened, he grew orchids, and had one ambitious little hothouse.

More books from Library of Alexandria

Cover of the book Antarctic Penguins: A Study of Their Social Habits by Herbert George Wells
Cover of the book Thoth: A Romance by Herbert George Wells
Cover of the book Novelas de Voltaire — Tomo Primero by Herbert George Wells
Cover of the book Egmont by Herbert George Wells
Cover of the book The Cid Campeador: A Historical Romance by Herbert George Wells
Cover of the book Also Sprach Zarathustra by Herbert George Wells
Cover of the book The Battle of the Press as Told in the Story of the Life of Richard Carlile by His Daughter, Theophila Carlile Campbell by Herbert George Wells
Cover of the book Christmas Entertainments by Herbert George Wells
Cover of the book Benjamin Franklin by Herbert George Wells
Cover of the book Tieck's Essay on the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery by Herbert George Wells
Cover of the book A Day With William Shakespeare by Herbert George Wells
Cover of the book Of The Epidemics by Herbert George Wells
Cover of the book The Holy Earth by Herbert George Wells
Cover of the book Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul by Herbert George Wells
Cover of the book Aventures Merveilleuses Mais Authentiques du Capitaine Corcoran (Complete) by Herbert George Wells
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy