From Place to Place

Irvin S. CobbJan 2016

3.7

Word count: 110K words
Chapters: 10

Summary

From Place to Place introduces the man at the center of the narrative. At the time of writing, he is an elderly man, getting well along toward sixty-five. He is tall and slightly stooped, with long arms and big, gnarled, competent-looking hands. Those hands smell of yellow laundry soap, and his fingers bear huge, tarnished nails. Through this careful physical portrait, the author sketches a figure of age and laborious habit, drawing the reader into a story told with close attention to the details of a life.

Editor's review

This opening sketches a man nearing sixty-five in almost documentary strokes: tall, slightly stooped, long-armed, with large capable hands that smell of yellow soap and have worn nails. Cobb does not rush into plot; he builds the character through smell, posture, and the details of the hands, so the reader first sees a man who has labored all his life. This method shows the author's eye as a newspaper columnist: by entering through everyday objects and bodily traces, he gives the character a past. The pace is unhurried, suitable for close study of character description and for sensing the texture of ordinary American life in the early twentieth century. For writers, it is a passage to ponder repeatedly as a model of plain description; for general readers, it is a narrow door into the lives of ordinary people in an older time.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Writers learning character description and plain descriptive technique
Literary readers who enjoy slow-paced character sketches
Readers interested in early twentieth-century American everyday life
Teachers or students needing short model texts for classroom analysis

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking strong plot and fast-moving stories
Readers wanting a complete long narrative rather than a descriptive fragment
Readers with little interest in details of life in an older era

Reading tips

Read through once for the overall impression of the character, then revisit the wording of the hand and smell descriptions.
Use it as a model for character-writing practice and try imitating its entry through details.
While reading, notice the distance between narrator and character and the restrained tone.
Compare it with other short character sketches to observe differences in plain description.

Copyright information
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX

FAQ

Does this passage have a complete story?

Judging from the available information, it reads more like the opening of a character sketch, focusing on details of an old man's appearance and traces of his life rather than developing a complex plot. Readers should appreciate it as a fragment of character description rather than expect a complete story.

Why devote so much space to hands and smell?

Hands and smell are the details that best reveal a person's labor and way of life. With the smell of yellow soap, worn nails, and large capable hands, the author suggests long physical labor, which is more vivid than directly stating the man's occupation and makes the character more memorable.

Is it suitable for writing practice?

Yes. The passage demonstrates how to enter a character through concrete details such as posture, hands, and smell rather than abstract summary. Writers can imitate its order of observation and restrained tone to practice making a character come alive with few details.

Comments

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About the author

Irvin S. Cobb Author · American · 1876–1944

Irvin S. Cobb (1876–1944) was an American writer, humorist, and journalist, born in Paducah, Kentucky, and died in New York. A highly paid reporter for the New York World, he wrote more than sixty books and was known for his Kentucky regional humor and the "Judge Priest" series. His piece "Speaking of Operations" sold over 500,000 copies, showing how much readers of his time enjoyed his humorous style. Two of his works are included here, "Speaking of Operations" and "From Place to Place," commonly classified as inspirational growth. His writing often drew on everyday experience and local color, conveying observations on life through light, humorous narration, and he had a certain influence on twentieth-century American popular literature.