Cover of The Confessions of Artemas Quibble

The Confessions of Artemas Quibble

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  • 3 hours to read
  • 9 chapters
  • Reading level: 8th & 9th grade

"The Confessions of Artemas Quibble" by Arthur Cheney Train is a fictional narrative written in the early 20th century. The story revolves around the character Artemas Quibble, a struggling lawyer navigating the tricky waters of the New York criminal court system. It is likely to explore themes of ambition, morality, and the legal profession's often unscrupulous practices through Quibble’s experiences and reflections on his career. At the start of the novel, we meet Artemas Quibble, who recounts his humble origins as the son of a poor but honest Baptist minister. After losing his parents at a young age, he reluctantly embarks on a journey into the world of law, initially motivated by financial gain and a desire to escape poverty. As he enters law school at Harvard, he becomes increasingly drawn into a life of extravagant spending and reckless behavior. With mounting debts and a reputation as a socialite, he devises various schemes to secure his future, leading him to the bustling streets of New York City, where he encounters both the charm and the pitfalls of a career in criminal law. The opening chapters set the tone for a satirical yet reflective examination of Quibble's life, highlighting the absurdities of the legal system and the lengths to which individuals will go to seek success.

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  • New York (N.Y.)
  • Legal stories
  • Attorney and client

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Chapter I

I was born in the town in Lynn, Massachusetts, upon the twenty- second day of February, in the year 1855. Unlike most writers of similar memoirs, I shall cast no aspersions upon the indigent by stating that my parents were poor but honest. They were poor and honest, as indeed, so far as I have been able to ascertain, have been all the Quibbles since the founder of the family came over on the good ship Susan and Ellen in 1635, and, after marrying a lady's maid who had been his fellow passenger, settled in the township of Weston, built a mill, and divided his time equally between selling rum to the Indians and rearing a numerous progeny.

My father, the Reverend Ezra Quibble, was, to be sure, poor enough. The salary that he received as pastor of his church was meagre to the degree of necessitating my wearing his over-worn and discarded clerical vestments, which to some extent may account for my otherwise inexplicable distaste for things ecclesiastical. My mother was poor, after wedlock, owing to the eccentricity of a parent who was so inexorably opposed to religion that he cut her off with a shilling upon her marriage to my father. Before this she had had and done what she chose, as was fitting for a daughter of a substantial citizen who had made a fortune in shoe leather.

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Contents

  1. Chapter I
  2. Chapter II
  3. Chapter III
  4. Chapter IV
  5. Chapter V
  6. Chapter VI
  7. Chapter VII
  8. Chapter VIII
  9. Chapter IX

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About this edition

This free edition of The Confessions of Artemas Quibble by Arthur Cheney Train comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #20451, released 2007-01-26. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Humour, Novels, American Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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