“A Story of New York at the Present Time”: The Historico-Literary Contexts of Jack Engle

Abstract

she had a beautiful soul; and her coarse big features were lighted up with more sweetness, to me, than any Madonna of Italian masters. With the strength of a horse, Violet possessed the gentleness of a dove. How sweetly tasted the first food she prepared for me; how fresh and fragrant the homely clothes, I was given to put on that morning, after a bath in a big tub in the woodhouse; and how kindly the tone in which I was reminded of observances about the place, that day. For Violet was a critical housekeeper, and dirt was an abomination in her eyes.