LETTER, QUINCEY P. MORRIS TO HON. ARTHUR HOLMWOOD
25 May.
My dear Art,
We've told yarns by the campfire in the prairies, and dressed one another's wounds after trying a landing at the Marquesas, and drunk healths on the shore of Titicaca. There are more yarns to be told, and other wounds to be healed, and another health to be drunk. Won't you let this be at my campfire tomorrow night? I have no hesitation in asking you, as I know a certain lady is engaged to a certain dinner party, and that you are free. There will only be one other, our old pal at the Korea, Jack Seward. He's coming, too, and we both want to mingle our weeps over the wine cup, and to drink a health with all our hearts to the happiest man in all the wide world, who has won the noblest heart that God has made and best worth winning. We promise you a hearty welcome, and a loving greeting, and a health as true as your own right hand. We shall both swear to leave you at home if you drink too deep to a certain pair of eyes. Come!
Yours, as ever and always,
Quincey P. Morris
Wow! Three close friends who know each other so well that Morris happily tells Holmwood that he and Seward both tried to steal his girl!
I always wondered about "the Korea" and could find no reference to this construction anywhere. Sounds like a barbecue joint to me...
Posted by: Leslie S. Klinger | May 26, 2009 at 09:04 PM
Re "the Korea":
The use of the preposition "at" suggests to me that it's some sort of locale, such as a club or a bar, rather than the country. Leatherdale notes that the addition of the definite article before "Korea" (the country) was a common practice. Even so, one would be more inclined to say "in" rather than "at" when referring to a country (eg. "in the United Kingdom").
Posted by: Elizabeth Miller | May 28, 2009 at 07:41 AM
Wow! Three close friends who know each other so well that Morris happily tells Holmwood that he and Seward both tried to steal his girl!
I always wondered about "the Korea" and could find no reference to this construction anywhere. Sounds like a barbecue joint to me...
Posted by: Leslie S. Klinger
I've always taken it that Holmwood deliberatly invited his friends, all of marriageable age and financial stability, in order to test just how interested in him Lucy was.
This is, to my mind, an arranged marriage, and I suspect that Holmwood knew that.
Posted by: Jim Berk | June 04, 2009 at 04:03 PM
An arranged marriage... Interesting. Then whom do you suppose Lucy would have chosen had she followed her heart?
Posted by: Elizabeth Miller | June 05, 2009 at 07:46 AM