Oliver Onions

Name: Back o' the Moon, and Other Stories — Back o' the Moon: Chapter 4
Author: Oliver Onions

Back o' the Moon, and Other Stories… (1906)

Summary

“Back o' the Moon, and Other Stories — Back o' the Moon: Chapter 4”, published in 1906, is a work by Oliver Onions. It explores elements such as Ellah, Monjoy and bellows.

Quotes from Back o' the Moon, and Other Stories… (Oliver Onions)

Oliver Onions, Back o' the Moon, and Other Stories… (1906)

“ Ellah, the trumpet at his ear, chewed at his lip and whimpered:
“You know I ha' my iggs—you ought to pity me, same as others; the sight of my own blood's like a flame i' my brain——”
“Pity you!” Monjoy said contemptuously; “you'd have more pity from me if your iggs didn't always suit your own ends so pat. I know your head-knocking on walls; how much of it do you do when there's nobody watching you? It goes down with women and fools that Ellah's iggs must be humoured, but in two words, Ellah, my man, you're a lazy devil, and if you can contrive it to live without working you will. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Oliver Onions, Back o' the Moon, and Other Stories… (1906)

“ He shook Ellah, who opened his eyes sluggishly, and Monjoy's voice wheezed as he handed him his trumpet and bade him draw near the candle.
Ranged along the end of the bench were six test-rings. In the little hollow that had been scraped in the bone of each a bead of grey metal lay. The smallest was no more than a sparrow-pellet; two of them would weigh perhaps a couple of pennyweights each; but one dull globule could hardly have drawn on a balance less than half an ounce, while another was only a grain or two smaller. Monjoy's hand was tapping with a regular movement on the first of the rings. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Oliver Onions, Back o' the Moon, and Other Stories… (1906)

“ He made signs for Ellah to take a turn at the bellows. He began to busy himself at his bench, now grinding small stones with the pestle and mortar muffled in a cloth, now seeing to other matters. The garret became bright as the bellows roared, and unbearably hot, and Ellah dropped the bellows and made for the door, through the chink of which a little air entered. By and by, into the test-ring in the glowing furnace Monjoy introduced one of the little leaden cubes, and plied the bellows more gently. He paid no heed when Ellah stooped over him, and presently Ellah returned to the door again. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Oliver Onions, Back o' the Moon, and Other Stories… (1906)

“ When Ellah gave a grunt of thanks for the ear-trumpet, Monjoy laughed and said:
“We'll have a finer one than that when the hazels push on a bit.”
The spring was in truth coming nicely forward, and the gardens and closes of Horwick were budding with plum and cherry and pear. The pear-tree in front of Cope's house had begun to hide the dormers, and a sprinkling of petals lay on the grass-grown cobbles below. In yards, cloth dried on the tenter-hooks; weavers broke their work at midday to lean over walls and watch the fattening of their neighbours' pigs or the fluffy cletches of chickens ”

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Source: Wikisource

Oliver Onions, Back o' the Moon, and Other Stories… (1906)

“ His deafness had long isolated him from most society; and he went once in a while into violent “iggs” or unreasonable moods.
There were winks and glances when Cicely Eastwood came to be in Horwick with Sally Northrop. Now, instead of Monjoy's trudges to Wadsworth in order (as they said) to “wind Jim Eastwood's clock up,” the boot was on the other leg, and Ellah must come to the “Cross Pipes.” It was thought, too, that James Eastwood had taken to heart the parson's parable of the fighting dogs, and that Monjoy would be like to be served before Ellah. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Oliver Onions, Back o' the Moon, and Other Stories… (1906)

“ One of the first signs of this intimacy was that Monjoy fashioned for Ellah an ear-trumpet of brass. Apart from his trade of engraving, he had some skill in the related crafts of metal-work, and none knew much of how he occupied himself of a night in the garret chamber of Matthew Moon's warehouse up the Fullergate. The low houghing of a pair of bellows could sometimes be heard, and the grinding of a pestle and mortar ”

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Source: Wikisource

Oliver Onions, Back o' the Moon, and Other Stories… (1906)

“ Monjoy dragged it to the door and set the angle-hooks over the heavy bar, making it apparent that he himself could under no circumstances leave the garret without first clearing away the table and all that might lie on it. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Oliver Onions, Back o' the Moon, and Other Stories… (1906)

“ They're nothing—not one in a hundred, you understand.... But this, that's three and more in the hundred, is what we picked up to-day—three in the hundred, with all the lead consumed too—you scratched your feet a bit getting this.... ”

Oliver Onions

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Quotes from Back o' the Moon, and Other Stories… (Oliver Onions)

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