Armageddon; A Tale of Love, War, and Invention (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1898 edition. Excerpt: ... chapter xiii. the christening. I have had a moderately well rounded out experience among what constitutes the rest of humanity; I ought to possess some degree of judgment regarding the comparative good or bad fortune of a human being at any particular time, and my estimate I hold correct when I say that I never passed a happier late spring and early summer than I did with Appleton in that crazy old building a few miles from the suburbs of Chicago, even at this time when we were working so feverishly to an end. We didn't sleep very well; there wasn't any bath and I was uncomfortable and expressed my opinions volubly in the morning. We had water enough, though, and towels enough and so I could slap and scrub myself at sunrise and feel as if I were something like a remote acquaintance of a gentleman for the rest of the day. After our early breakfast we would sit together and scheme, and in our scheming developed the venture of which I am telling, but the hard planning and work exhausted us, exhausted even Appleton. We worked each day until the cheap clock beside us said that it was after ten o'clock in the morning--I believe that we did most of our real thinking work before ten o'clock for we were both convinced that men think most cleanly and clearly in the morning--but at night we were experimenting in our air-machine until late, and that was good work too. It's odd how little things blend with big things. A bluebird had a nest in an old oak stump, possibly twenty rods from the building in which we were working. There's hardly any bird that I love more than the bluebird. There is such a joyousness about the little fellow, and he comes here so early in the spring when there is sometimes ice on the very grass spear he carries in the making...