Word: level
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...months, truck farmers around Xochimilco had been pulling down the water level by digging artesian wells to feed their cauliflower and carrot patches. The municipality of Mexico City did nothing about it. As the waterline in the canals dipped under the one-foot mark (four feet is normal), the boatmen, led by Pacheco, tackled the problem themselves. Armed with picks & shovels, 1,000 of them with their wives and children started digging in the mucky canals. Thousands more joined them, all seeking new springs to feed Xochimilco...
...week's end, Xochimilco's water level had risen to 15 inches. The boats were out again, with fresh flowers spelling out their names, Juanita and Maria, Esmeralda and Flor. Old Pacheco, poling a load of tourists along a canal, waved airily to his son Tomas, who was passing in the canoa Laura. "We're not finished yet, are we?" he shouted...
...however, belonged to Zoe Else, a New York psychiatrist whose attractions were heightened by a familiarity with Bartlett's Familiar Quotations that was almost as inclusive as his own. In spite of verbal protestations of physical and emotional fireworks on both sides, their affair never climbed above the level of a quiz contest...
This strategy involves questions which the ordinary citizen considers far removed from the religious level, matters such as proper procedure for doctors, what you may see in the movies or read in the newspapers, or the nation's foreign policy...
Savagery Plus. Two Worlds and Their Ways is not Compton-Burnett's best; it does not, for instance, reach and hold the high and extraordinary level of its predecessor, Bullivant and the Lambs (TIME, July 19). It has many more tedious and barren stretches, but they are frequently relieved by Novelist Compton-Burnett's most characteristically brilliant qualities. There are flashes of darting spite ("I hope I am not disturbing you at your luncheon, Mrs. Cassidy." "Thank you, Miss James. It is so kind to cling to the hope") and devastating responses to thoughtless queries ("Why should...