Oliver Optic

“ Richard was so mortified and confused by these taunts that he wished the earth might open and hide him from the exulting gaze of his assailants. His blood boiled with shame and indignation, and more than ever before he realized that "the way of the transgressor is hard." His first impulse was to rush upon his dastardly foes, and crush them beneath the weight of his strong arm.
Most of the boys looked at each other with astonishment, wondering what could be meant by "watermelons," and walking in his sleep. ”

“ If there had been any use in fighting, I would have fought as big as you did."
"I like to see a fellow stand by another when he gets into a scrape," whined Richard.
"Do you mean to say I didn't stand by you? Did I run away from you?" demanded Sandy, indignantly.
"You couldn't run away. The man held you fast, or you would have done so."
"It's very easy for you to talk. I did all I could to make you act like a reasonable fellow; but you were bound to be a fool, and you got all you bargained for." ”

“ Richard, like thousands of others, finds his strongest and most dangerous foe within his own heart; and the conquest he achieves is not a triumph of mind over matter, of force over force, but of principle over passion, of the good angels in the heart over the invading legion of evil ones. ”

“ My father always told me never to take an insult, but he would thrash me for telling a lie."
"Well, Bailey, I believe you are right. I think it is mean to tell a lie; but how shall I manage it?"
"Face the music. A fellow who can stand such a pounding as you have had, wouldn't mind being punished."
"I don't like to be punished."
"I don't know as the colonel would punish you. If a fellow gets up a fight, he has to take it; but if he only defends himself, he says he does no more than his duty." ”

“ Now, Grant, I am afraid you have come here with an intention to resist our wholesome regulations. If so, you must learn the meaning of "right about, face"—in its moral application, I mean. Your father has told me all about you, and given me explicit instructions to make a man of you. I understand your case perfectly. If you are disposed to observe the rules of the Institute, we shall treat you like a gentleman. The future is before you, young man, and you must choose for yourself."
"I intend to obey the rules, sir," said Richard, rather crest-fallen after what had happened. ”

“ As we use fictitious names, our sympathizing readers will not be able to recognize Colonel Richard Grant, commanding a brigade in the Army of the Potomac, at the present time; but, true to his country in her hour of peril, he has served with that gallant band of brave men from the commencement of the war.
If my young friends would conquer others; if they would be chosen of men to reign in the hearts of their fellow-beings, and thus guide the destinies of men and nations; if they would be chosen of God to do his work in earth and heaven,—they must first conquer themselves. ”

“ His "about face," therefore, was unexceptionable.
"Very well, Grant," said the drill master, in a satirical tone, and with a patronizing air.
"Your praise and your censure are all the same to me. Spare me both, if you please," replied Richard, with a dignity becoming the male heir of Woodville.
"No impudence, you puppy!" growled Nevers, his cheek flushed with anger. "If Gault wasn't here, I'd boot you."
"I will make an opportunity for you when he is not present. Do your duty like a decent fellow, if you can," answered Richard. ”

“ We will get up a regular mutiny," said Nevers. "If we can get a hundred fellows to go with us, we shall make the old man cave in."
"Good, Nevers! Let all the fellows that will join meet under the big oak by the river, at five o'clock, or as soon as we get out of school. Let each fellow talk it round in a quiet way, but don't let the teachers hear a word."
"Will you be there, Grant?" asked Nevers.
"I don't know. I will see."
"Don't know?" said Nevers. "Don't you see all the fellows are in for it?"
"I will think of it," replied Richard, as he walked away. ”

“ Batterman, he roundly reproached him for his pusillanimous demeanor.
"I don't want to call you any hard names, Dick, but in my humble opinion, you were a downright fool," replied Sandy. "It's no sort of use to pound a stone wall with your naked fist. You don't hurt the wall any."
"I like to see a fellow show some spirit," growled Richard. "I thought you had some spunk; but you caved in, and took your flogging as meekly as though you had been one of the saints in Fox's Book of Martyrs." ”

“ I'll die first!" gasped Richard, whose rage had now reached the boiling point, and there was no more reason in him than in a mad dog.
"He's a hard one," suggested Bates.
"But he shall come to it, or I'll break every bone in his body," answered the farmer.
Richard, insane with passion, and choking with rage as well as from the discipline of Mr. Batterman, commenced a tremendous struggle for freedom and self-preservation. He sprang towards his captor in an ineffectual attempt to hit him, or to scratch out his eyes with his finger nails. ”

“ Nevers disdained to follow the example of his rival in removing his flags, saying that he could beat him with his colors flying. Nevers prided himself upon his skill in handling a boat, and he felt that the opportunity had come which would enable him to triumph over the hated usurper, as he considered Richard. He knew how much glory and honor would be awarded to the conqueror in this race, and that if he could beat his rival, scores of those fair-weather friends, who always attach themselves to a rising man, would leave him. ”

“ Gault succeeded in effecting a landing without disturbing the mutineers.
"Now, sir, we must lie down and crawl upon the ground till we get within hearing distance of them," whispered Richard.
"I will follow you, Grant," replied the instructor.
"We must move very slowly."
"There is plenty of time."
Richard led the way, crawling like a snake upon the grass, so slowly and so cautiously that not a particle of noise seemed to be made. Near the centre of the island there was a clump of trees, which had been dignified by the title of a grove. ”

“ The licking won't do him any good if he don't know what it is for," replied Dobbin.
"Grant," said Kennedy, with the solemnity of a judge, "you have ruined the best fellow in Company D."
"He ruined himself," replied Richard.
"No, he didn't. Of what you did in fair fight in the grove, we haven't a word to say. But you have prejudiced the colonel against him, and caused him to be deprived of his warrant, which will prevent him from obtaining his commission at the next election. You set yourself up as a leader among the fellows before you had been a week in the school. ”

“ But they helped the combatants to clothe themselves, and used every effort in their power to conceal the fact that a fight had taken place.
"A drawn battle," said one of the students.
"Grant," said Nevers, "I am far from being satisfied. At five o'clock, if you are ready, we will finish this business."
"With all my heart," replied Richard, wiping the blood from his nose.
"I hope you will do so," said the bully, earnestly.
"You hope I will! Do you suppose I will not? I am willing to be put under bonds to appeal at the time named, Nevers. If any body backs out, I shall not be the one." ”

“ I don't want to burn them any more than you do."
"But the noise will wake the farmer and his man."
"No, it won't. I have thought a great deal about the animals, and it goes right against my grain to hurt them, especially the horses."
"I don't want to burn the barn, any way."
"You are a coward and a fool, Sandy."
"It's easy enough for you to say so, when you know your father has money enough to buy up Old Batterbones, if we get into any scrape."
"Come, no more whining, Sandy; I'm going to get the horses and oxen out, and then I'm going to burn the barn." ”

“ Richard was filled with dismay at this recital of the events of the night. The mysterious boat he had twice seen was the only explanation of the minuteness of Mr. Presby's details that suggested itself to his mind.
"You talked quite rationally in your sleep, which is a new development in somnambulism. But, after all," continued the devotee of science, "the phenomena of last night were not near so remarkable as those of the former occasion. By the way, my dear boy, do sleep-walkers have any particular fondness for watermelons?" ”

“ Batterman flogged me. He had no business to do that."
"And so you would burn his barn?"
"I didn't burn it."
"It would have burned to the ground, if Mr. Presby and Ben had not put the fire out. I have let my friend expose you in his own way, because the trouble he has taken reveals to me your true character. You are worse than your dissolute companions. Richard, you have become a villain!"
Mr. Grant rose from his chair and walked away to hide the tears which this sad revelation of his son's character drew from his eyes.
"He is not so bad as he might be," interposed Mr. Presby. ”

“ We can drive out any fellow who makes himself obnoxious. We mean to be fair, and we are willing that any fellow who works his way up should have all the honors he wins. But do you suppose we fellows, who have been here two or three years, and who have worked ourselves up, are going to step one side for a fellow who has been here only a week or two?"
"Who asks you to step aside?" demanded Richard, indignantly, for this show of fair play had touched him in a tender spot, and in spite of himself he began to be interested in the argument. ”

“ But Richard did not lose his self-possession, and hastily threw off his clothes. Placing himself at the open window, he joined in the cry which Mr. Presby still continued, and hallooed as lustily as his neighbor in the adjoining room. The house was in a complete uproar, and presently he heard the voices of his father and uncle Obed at his door.
"Richard," said Mr. Grant.
"Sir," replied the young scapegrace.
"Open the door."
"They are not in here, father; they are out doors. One of them just jumped off the conservatory,—at least, I think he did."
"Did you see them?" asked uncle Obed. ”

“ You intend to climb up yourself by pushing others down. We won't submit to it."
"What are you going to do?" coolly asked the prisoner.
"We are going to thrash you, as you deserve."
"You are brave fellows!" sneered Richard. "What you are afraid to do in the daylight, with fair play, you do by stealth and trickery in the night. You are a set of cowards, and if you will untie my hands I will whip the whole of you."
"That is very fine talk, Grant," said Kennedy, "but it don't amount to any thing."
"No talk is necessary to prove your cowardly meanness. Go on, and do your best. ”

“ It seemed absolutely impossible for him to submit to the farmer's terrible remedy, but there was no way to avoid it. He had offered to compromise, but nothing would satisfy his relentless captor. The punishment was to be inflicted in the spirit of revenge rather than from a sense of duty, which made it all the more intolerable to think of. He was not to be whipped for his own or the public good, but to satisfy the malice and revenge of "Old Batterbones." ”

“ He applied the principles he laid down to the case before him so clearly, that Richard lost much of his admiration of the "noble art of self-defence"—as pugilists stupidly style the act of fighting, to ascertain who is the better man.
Lest our boy friends should not fully understand us, we must add, that the colonel's views are ours. A boy ought to fight in self-defence; never to find out which is "the better man." He should use no more violence than is necessary to defend himself. ”

“ I'm not to be taken in by any such bait," replied Richard, who was disposed to laugh at the ridiculous association that had taken upon itself the duty of regulating the affairs of the Tunbrook Institute.
"You may sneer as much as you please. Every fellow in the school knows there is such a society, but no one but members can tell who belong to it. We mean to have fair play in this institution, and we have never yet failed in getting it."
"Come, Kennedy, you will talk all night," said Dobbin. "You can't do any thing with him." ”

“ But Richard was fond of exciting adventures, and it was simply the love of fun which had prompted him to visit the garden of Mr. Batterman. I hope none of my young friends will think this even palliated his offence. If he did not have the motive which actuates the common thief, he was certainly more to blame than if he had needed or wanted the product of his theft. Stealing for fun cannot be any better than stealing from the love of gain, or to provide for one's necessities.
Richard Grant is the hero of this volume ”