Missing text from scan -- word-puzzle challenge

[GrannyGrump]

Not the fault of the OCR engine this time.

A label pasted on the book page covers several letters along the left margin. I have extrapolated most, but the last line defeats me. Due to margin width, there can't be more than two or three characters missing, but I cannot figure out that word. I *think* the partial character is a "d", though it may be "l" (lower-case L), but neither jump-starts my comprehension...

“I tell you, Dick, this is a good one and just
hits the mark exactly, verses and all. Listen!”

Dick was stirring the fire and throwing in a
stick of wood.

Wait a minute, Joe,” he said. Then shut-
ting the stove door and pulling the draught
open. “Now.”

He threw himself into a rocking-chair by the
table, and the boy on the other side, holding up
____aming picture, began to read.

#######
EDIT TO ADD: This is apparently the only existing scan on the planet. I tried advanced Google book search, and this is the only example they gave me. (Digitization by Google, available at Hathitrust. Name of the book: The Beacon Prize Medals and Other Stories.
########

The attached pdf extract will give a little context.
Any cross-word fans out there want to take a swing?

(And I am going to feel so silly when somebody points it out!)

[Toxaris]

*nevermind*

[HarryT]

My only thought is it could be "a flaming picture" (or perhaps "the flaming picture"), with the broken character an "fl" ligature. With "flaming" here being used in the sense of passionate.

[GrannyGrump]

@Harry -- it's a thought.

I had considered blaming, although that doesn't sound quite right either.

I can't find any word that would fill in "a {space}{missing}daming", even if I still think that partial character is a "d". There ain't no such word, dame it!

This is a book for young teens, so neither one seems quite right. Maybe Mr. Paine invented a word all his very own.

[HarryT]

I really can't think of anything except "flaming" that it could be! As you say, there are very few words that fit the letter pattern. Given that they appear to be talking about Valentine's cards, "flaming picture" would seem to fit the context.

My Chambers dictionary gives "Love or its object" as one of the meanings of "flaming". That's probably the sense in which the word is being used here.

[GrannyGrump]

I think I will use [flaming ?] in brackets with a question mark.

Curses on Otto Breiting of Pennsylvania, whoever he may have been! {book vandalizer! heathen! scum of the earth! navel lint!}

[HarryT]

Sounds like a good solution.

[Toxaris]

What you can do is checking the text for another occurence of the fl ligature to see if that matches the portion that can be seen. I think Harry is right here.

[GrannyGrump]

Tox, I thank you for the tip. I believe you are correct in seconding Harry's suggestion. Attached pic shows result of erasing part of the character.

Flaming it shall be!

[HarryT]

That looks conclusive!

[WT Sharpe]

There are several partial words in that scan that could be misleading. Like you, I could only find the Google scan, but if this is keeping you up nights (I know how these things can get under one's skin), there is a used hardcover edition at Amazon for $5.90.

The Beacon Prize Medals and Other Stories by Albert Bigelow Paine

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by GrannyGrump

A label pasted on the book page covers several letters along the left margin. I have extrapolated most, but the last line defeats me. Due to margin width, there can't be more than two or three characters missing, but I cannot figure out that word.

I hate when this happens. An otherwise perfectly good scan gets ruined by a page or two with bad margins.

Originally Posted by HarryT

I really can't think of anything except "flaming" that it could be! As you say, there are very few words that fit the letter pattern. Given that they appear to be talking about Valentine's cards, "flaming picture" would seem to fit the context.

I agree with "a flaming".

I went looking through a word list for the "aming" pattern. There were 33 words returned:

• beaming
• blaming
• coaming
• creaming
• daydreaming
• defaming
• diagraming
• dreaming
• flaming
• foaming
• framing
• gaming
• gleaming
• gloaming
• inflaming
• laming
• mainstreaming
• misnaming
• naming
• nicknaming
• programing
• reaming
• renaming
• reprograming
• roaming
• salaaming
• screaming
• seaming
• shaming
• steaming
• streaming
• taming
• teaming

Only a handful of these make sense (and fit the length of the missing characters):

• beaming
• defaming
• flaming
• shaming

I can only see "flaming" as matching that "d" looking shape (definitely think that is the "fl" ligature).

Originally Posted by GrannyGrump

I can't find any word that would fill in "a {space}{missing}daming", even if I still think that partial character is a "d". There ain't no such word, dame it!

As a worst case scenario, it could really be a typo that just so happened to be right at that exact section of the book. Maybe they misspelled "damning" as "daming".

Originally Posted by GrannyGrump

Curses on Otto Breiting of Pennsylvania, whoever he may have been! {book vandalizer! heathen! scum of the earth! navel lint!}

Yep, that is what I think every time I see markings/underlinings/destruction in the scans. Causes lots of trouble for me when I am trying to OCR the book!