Nearly Lost but Dearly Won

Nearly Lost but Dearly Won by Theodore P. Wilson is about the dirty Mr. Tankardew who lives in squalor despite his educated and pleasant disposition. Excerpt: «Certainly, Mr. Tankardew was not a pattern of cleanliness, either in his house or his person. Someone had said of him sarcastically, „that there was nothing clean in his house but his towels;“ and there was a great deal of truth in the remark. He seemed to dwell in an element of cobwebs; the atmosphere in which he lived, rather than breathed, was apparently a mixture of fog and dust. Everything he had on was faded—everything that he had about him was faded—the only dew that seemed to visit the jaded-looking shrubs in the approach to his dwelling was mildew. Dilapidation and dinginess went hand-in-hand everywhere: the railings around the house were dilapidated—some had lost their points, others came to an abrupt conclusion a few inches above the stone-work from which they sprang…»