Name: By Reef and Palm — The Methodical Mr. Burr of Majuru
Author: Louis Becke

Quotes from By Reef and Palm — The Methodical Mr… (Louis Becke)

Louis Becke, By Reef and Palm — The Methodical Mr… (1916)

“ So I’m a-goin’ to take her and chance it.”
“Ned,” I said, “you know your own affairs and these people better than I do. Yet are you really going to pin your faith on a Marshall Island girl? You are not like any of us traders. You see, we know what to expect sometimes, and our morals are a lot worse than those of the natives. And it doesn’t harrow our feelings much if any one of us has to divorce a wife and get another; it only means a lot of new dresses and some guzzling, drinking, and speechifying, and some bother in teaching the new wife how to make bread. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Louis Becke, By Reef and Palm — The Methodical Mr… (1916)

“ Since Ned’s wife had died, ten years previously, the women, backed by the chiefs, had made most decided, but withal diplomatic, assaults upon his celibacy. The old men of his village had respectfully and repeatedly reminded him that his state of singleness was a direct slight to themselves as leading men. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Louis Becke, By Reef and Palm — The Methodical Mr… (1916)

“ Ned lived thirty miles from my place, on a little island at the entrance to the lagoon. He was a prosperous man, and only drank under the pressure of the monotony caused by the non-arrival of a ship to buy his produce. He would then close his store, and, aided by a number of friendly male natives, start on a case of gin. But never a woman went into Ned’s house, though many visited the store, where Ned bought their produce, paid for it in trade or cash, and sent them off, after treating them on a strictly business basis. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Louis Becke, By Reef and Palm — The Methodical Mr… (1916)

“ I was thinking what would be the best thing to say, and could only manage “It’s a bad business, Ned.”
“Bad! That’s where you’re wrong,” and, rising, Ned brushed the sand off the legs of his pyjamas. “It’s just about the luckiest thing as could ha’ happened. Ye see, it’s given Le-jennabon a good idea of what may happen to her if she ain’t mighty correct. An’ it’s riz me a lot in the esteem of the people generally as a man who hez business principles.” ”

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Source: Wikisource

Louis Becke, By Reef and Palm — The Methodical Mr… (1916)

“ They had plenty of money. There were about a hundred natives belonging to them. The younger man was chief of Likieb—a flash buck. The first day he saw Le-jennabon he had a lot too much to say to her. I watched him. Next morning my toddy-cutter came and told me that the flash young chief from Likieb had stuck him up and drank my toddy, and had said something about my wife—you know how they talk in parables when they mean mischief. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Louis Becke, By Reef and Palm — The Methodical Mr… (1916)

“ She was rather young then, any way, but I’ve been over to Arhnu several times, and I’ve had spies out, and damn me if I ever could hear a whisper against her. I’m told for sure that her father and uncles would ha’e killed any one that came after her. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Louis Becke, By Reef and Palm — The Methodical Mr… (1916)

“ Think of it twice, Ned, before you marry her.”
•⁠•⁠•⁠•⁠•⁠•
The girl was a beauty. There are many like her in that far-away cluster of coral atolls. That she was a chief’s child it was easy to see; the abject manner in which the commoner natives always behaved themselves in her presence showed their respect for Le-jennabon. Of course we all got very jolly. There were half a dozen of us traders there, and we were, for a wonder, all on friendly terms. Le-jennabon sat on a fine mat in the big room, and in a sweetly dignified manner received the wedding-gifts. ”

Louis Becke

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Quotes from By Reef and Palm — The Methodical Mr… (Louis Becke)

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Louis Becke

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Quotes from By Reef and Palm — The Methodical Mr… (Louis Becke)

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