And so long as he could maintain his gravity very solemnly and greet people without being required to say much, it was not too painful for him.
Singing was indulged in at times, a little dancing on occasion, and there was considerably more "company to dinner," informally, than there had been previously.
And here it was, during the first year of the new life in this house, that Frank met a certain Mrs.Semple, who interested him greatly.

Her husband had a pretentious shoe store on Chestnut Street, near Third, and was planning to open a second one farther out on the same street.
The occasion of the meeting was an evening call on the part of the Semples, Mr.Semple being desirous of talking with Henry Cowperwood concerning a new transportation feature which was then entering the world--namely, street-cars.

A tentative line, incorporated by the North Pennsylvania Railway Company, had been put into operation on a mile and a half of tracks extending from Willow Street along Front to Germantown Road, and thence by various streets to what was then known as the Cohocksink Depot; and it was thought that in time this mode of locomotion might drive out the hundreds of omnibuses which now crowded and made impassable the downtown streets.

Young Cowperwood had been greatly interested from the start.

Railway transportation, as a whole, interested him, anyway, but this particular phase was most fascinating.
It was already creating widespread discussion, and he, with others, had gone to see it.