Short Fiction by O. Henry

The Old Landmark

Words you’ll meet in this part (12)
feeble
Weak or lacking strength (physical or mental).
faltering
Hesitating or wavering in action or speech.
thriving
Growing or developing well; flourishing.
bustling
Full of energetic and noisy activity.
vain
Having an excessively high opinion of one's appearance or abilities (conceited).
bygone
Belonging to an earlier time; past.
cottage
A small, simple house, typically in a rural or semi-rural area.
stately
Having a dignified, impressive, or grand appearance.
mansion
A large, impressive house, often the residence of a wealthy or prominent person.
vacant
Empty or unoccupied (e.g., a vacant seat).
magnificent
Extremely beautiful or impressive.
dwellings
Houses or places where people live.

Short Fiction by O. Henry 12 new words

The Old Landmark

He was old and and his sands of life were nearly run out. He walked with steps along one of the most fashionable avenues in the city of Houston. He had left the city twenty years ago, when it was little more than a village, and now, weary of wandering through the world and filled with an unutterable longing to rest his eyes once more upon the scenes of his youth, he had come back to find a modern city covering the site of his former home. He sought in for some familiar object, some old time sight that would recall memories of days. All had changed. On the site where his father’s had stood, a reared its walls; the lot where he had played when a boy, was covered with modern buildings. lawns stretched on either hand, running back to palatial . Not one of the sights of his boyhood days was left.

Suddenly, with a glad cry, he rushed forward with renewed vigor. He saw before him, untouched by the hand of man and unchanged by time, an old familiar object around which he had played when a child. He reached out his arms and ran toward it with a deep sigh of satisfaction.

Later on they found him asleep, with a peaceful smile on his face, lying on the old garbage pile in the middle of the street, the sole relic of his boyhood’s recollections.

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