Amos Kilbright

Amos Kilbright; His Adscititious
Experiences

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Amos Kilbright; His Adscititious
Experiences,
by Frank R. Stockton
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Amos Kilbright; His Adscititious Experiences
Author: Frank R. Stockton
Release Date: September 26, 2004 [eBook #13531]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMOS
KILBRIGHT; HIS ADSCITITIOUS EXPERIENCES***
E-text prepared by Steven desJardins and Project Gutenberg
Distributed Proofreaders

AMOS KILBRIGHT; HIS ADSCITITIOUS EXPERIENCES
With Other Stories
by
FRANK R. STOCKTON
1888

CONTENTS.
AMOS KILBRIGHT: HIS ADSCITITIOUS EXPERIENCES
THE REVERSIBLE LANDSCAPE

DUSKY PHILOSOPHY--IN TWO EXPOSITIONS: FIRST
EXPOSITION: A STORY OF SEVEN DEVILS SECOND
EXPOSITION: GRANDISON'S QUANDARY
PLAIN FISHING

AMOS KILBRIGHT: HIS ADSCITITIOUS EXPERIENCES.
[This story is told by Mr. Richard Colesworthy, an attorney-at-law, in a
large town in one of our Eastern States. The fact that Mr. Colesworthy
is a practical man, and but little given, outside of his profession, to
speculative theorizing, adds a weight to his statements which they
might not otherwise possess.]
In the practice of my profession I am in the habit of meeting with all
sorts and conditions of men, women, and even children. But I do not
know that I ever encountered anyone who excited in me a greater
interest than the man about whom I am going to tell you.
I was busily engaged one morning in my office, which is on the ground
floor of my dwelling and opens upon the street, when, after a
preliminary knock, a young man entered and asked leave to speak with
me. He was tall and well made, plainly but decently dressed, and with a
fresh, healthy color on his smoothly shaven face. There was something
in his air, a sort of respectful awkwardness, which was not without a
suggestion of good breeding, and in his countenance there was an
annoyed or troubled expression which did not sit well upon it. I asked
him to take a chair, and as he did so the thought came to me that I
should like to be of service to him. Of course I desire to aid and benefit
all my clients, but there are some persons whose appearance excites in
one an instinctive sympathy, and toward whom there arise at first sight
sentiments of kindliness. The man had said almost nothing; it was
simply his manner that had impressed me. I mention these points
because generally I do not take an interest in persons until I know a
good deal about them.
"What can I do for you?" I asked.
The man did not immediately answer, but began searching for
something in one of the pockets of his coat. The little awkwardness
which I had first noticed, now became more apparent. He appeared to
be looking for his pockets rather than for what might be in one of them.
He was conscious of his ungainliness and reddened a little as he

fumbled on the inside and outside of his coat.
"I pray you pardon me," he said, "but I will bring before you instantly
the matter of my business."
And so saying, he got his hand into a breast pocket and drew out a little
packet. There was a certain intonation of his voice which, at first made
me think that he was not an American, but in that intonation there was
really nothing foreign. He was certainly a stranger, he might be from
the backwoods, and both his manner and speech appeared odd to me;
but soon I had no doubt about his being my countryman. In fact, there
was something in his general appearance which seemed to me to be
distinctively American.
"I came to you, sir," he said, "to ask if you would have the goodness to
purchase one or more of these tickets?" And he held out to me a card
entitling one person to admission to a séance to be given by a party of
spiritualists in one of the public buildings of the town.
A feeling of anger arose within me. I was chagrined to think that I had
begun to interest myself in a person who merely came to interrupt me
in my business by trying to sell me tickets to a spiritualistic exhibition.
My instant impulse was to turn from the man and let him see that I was
offended by his intrusion, but my reason told me that he had done
nothing that called for resentment. If I had expected something more
important from him, that was my affair. He had not pretended to have
any other business than