The Tangled Threads

Excerpt:

…”The Folly of Wisdom“


Until his fiftieth year Jason Hartsorn knew nothing whatever about the positionof his liver, kidneys, lungs, heart, spleen, and stomach except that they must besomewhere inside of him; then he attended the auction of old DoctorHemenway's household effects and bid off for twenty-five cents a dilapidatedclothes basket, filled with books and pamphlets. Jason's education as to hisanatomy began almost at once then, for on the way home he fished out acoverless volume from the basket and became lost in awed wonder over apictured human form covered from scalp to the toes with scarlet, vine-liketracings."For the land's sake, Jason!" ejaculated Mrs. Hartsorn, as her husband camepuffing into the kitchen with his burden an hour later. "Now, what trash haveyou been buyin'?""'Trash'!" panted Jason, carefully setting the basket down. "I guess you won'tcall it no 'trash' when you see what 't is! It's books--learnin', Hitty. I beenreadin' one of 'em, too. Look a-here," and he pulled up his shirt sleeve andbared a brawny arm; "that's all full of teeny little pipes an' cords. Why, if Icould only skin it--""Jason!" screamed his wife, backing away."Pooh! 'T ain't nothin' to fret over," retorted Jason airily. "Besides, you've got'em too--ev'ry one has; see!" He finished by snatching up the book andspreading before her horrified eyes the pictured figure with its scarlet, vine-like…


About Author:

Eleanor Emily Hodgman Porter (December 19, 1868 – May 21, 1920) was an American novelist.

Porter mainly wrote children's literature, adventure stories and romance fiction. Her most famous novel is Pollyanna (1913), later followed by a sequel, Pollyanna Grows Up (1915). Her adult novels include The Turn of the Tide (1908), The Road to Understanding (1917), Oh Money! Money! (1918), Dawn (1919), Keith's Dark Tower (1919), Mary Marie (1920), and Sister Sue (1921); her short story collections include Across the Years (c. 1923), Money, Love and Kate (1923), Little Pardner (1926).