little william james henry all the way from his tiny new england hamlet , leaning out the window of that jostling taxi with his little mouth agape , as goggle-eyed as the most buffle-headed bumpkin fresh from the sticks , marveling with bald astonishment at the architectural triumphs of the avenue that dwarfed anything he had ever seen in the confines of the massachusetts countryside , taller than the tallest church steeple .