Various

“ The old man could not be moved. "It is well enough for you," he said; "you are a strong swimmer, Jean-Paul, but for me, to capsize is death. When one is old one hugs the fireside."
"Oh, it must be dreadful to be old," thought the boy; "one fears everything!" Then he remembered that it was the day for his trip to St. Julian with the parcel of stockings that his grandmother had knitted for sale, and he hurried back to the cabin, while the storm gathered faster and the wind swept along the hard flint roads. ”

“ Jean-Paul felt La Belle Hélène move restlessly in the right pocket of his coat. "Poor little thing, she is hungry too! I will not eat alone," he said, and drew the rabbit out of his pocket, and put her on his knee, gently stroking her while she nibbled a few crumbs of bread. Just then who can say what strange spirit awoke in La Belle Hélène, or what familiar wood call may have reached her ear, for she gave a violent start, and sprang from the knee of Jean-Paul, made one swift bound, pushed her lithe body through the thick hedge, and was off into the dark woods of the château ”

“ In all these years I have not been able to determine our locality nor our distance from any known place, nor have we been visited by any human being beside thyself since coming to the valley. On account of the marvellous coloring of the desolate region surrounding us I have called it the Painted Desert, though I am not certain that the name originated with me, for I have a dim memory of hearing it before. I cannot satisfy myself, however, as to whether the Moqui towns lie to the east or the west of us. I am of the former opinion, but Nanahe, for some reason, inclines to the latter. ”

“ These shops, however, were not designed for able-bodied Jack, I believe, but for his officer.
It was a fine lookout from the Hard upon the harbor, which was crammed full of ships—ships fitting, ships just come home, harbor-ships, hulks, store-ships, tugs, tenders, and small steamers. As yet the man-o'-war was a wooden ship. She carried 120 guns and a thousand men; mostly she sailed, and in the art of sailing she had no equal. As a boy I thought, and still think, that there is no work of man's craft and ingenuity more wonderful, more beautiful, than a great three-decker in full sail. ”

“ Jean-Paul adored animals, and having a heart in proportion as big as his strong body, he hated cowardly abuse. His first impulse was to strike Pierre a ringing blow, seize the rabbit, and rush off with it. He chose another course. "Is it really yours, the rabbit?" he said, very fast and in a low tone, to the little boy who stood by his side watching the fun with big eyes.
"Yes, really mine. I am to have a sou."
"Will you sell him for ten?"
The boy gasped. Ten sous! He had never in his ragged existence owned ten sous.
"Quick," said Jean-Paul, rattling the money before his eyes. ”

“ The lonely streets were wrapped in the pallid shine which silhouetted the log houses and the trees in ghostly shadows, and had it not been for the occasional howl of a distant wolf or the snarl of an Indian dog, he might have fancied himself the only waking creature. ”

“ For example, you will see many a boy in some discussion among his friends talking all the time, demanding the attention of others, insisting on his views, losing his temper over a game of marbles and declining to play longer, or making himself conspicuous in a hundred other ways. He may be a very good chap, full of push and vigor, and so sure of his own views that in his heart he cannot conceive of any other person really having a different view of the subject. That is an estimable character for a healthy boy to have. Confidence in one's own ideas often carries one over many a bad place. ”

“ Most young amateurs have an idea that it requires a great deal of skill to make lantern slides, but any one who can make a good negative can soon learn how to make a good lantern slide. The simplest way is by contact-printing. Select a negative free from spots, scratches, or pinholes. It must have fine detail in the shadows, and no harsh contrasts of light and shade. The regulation size of a lantern slide is 31⁄2 by 4, so choose a negative which will still make a good picture if all but the portion included in these dimensions is blocked out. ”

“ But Ma-za-ri-ta, who had listened with shifting emotions chasing over her face, vainly striving to pierce the meaning of the words, now threw her arms about the neck of the chief, and spoke rapidly in the Seneca tongue. The Indian's stern aspect melted and took on its more wonted expression, in which there was something almost benignant.
"Go without harm even while it is night," he said, "lest the Senecas discover all, and sore mischief befall." ”

“ The idea of any man's holding his fishing-tackle at a valuation of eighteen dollars a day was preposterous enough; that he should object to its being brought back wet and muddy was surprising; but the phrase "'specially old Spavinshanks" was absolutely past comprehension.
Jack laughed, however, in spite of his mystification, and said, "Who was old Spavinshanks? The worm?"
"Not a bit of it," returned Sandboys. "Old Spavinshanks was that old gray horse Mr. Bingle paid ten dollars for thirty years ago, and has been earning fifteen dollars a day out of every summer every year since. ”

“ Do the sailors put tongue in cheek and mock him when he is gone? Not a bit of it. The child is their officer; he represents authority. It is not the boy who commands men—it is the Captain. The faces of the men, if you look at them, are not quite like the faces of their grandsons who at present man the navy. ”

“ To throw the rings is a delightful sport; one can never have too many jack-knives. The knives are stuck by the blades in rows on an inclined board. Then you buy five rings for five sous. You take aim, try to encircle a knife with a ring, and if you succeed the prize is yours. Jean-Paul was an expert, and had his eyes on three "rippers," as he called them in his French slang. The little man who kept the booth knew him, and nodded to him, and held out the rings, when a loud burst of laughter from a group of boys at his right hand made Jean-Paul look toward them. ”

“ In the reel, in which the fair sex took a share, beauty more than skill—looks, rather than merit—provoked admiration. Poor Jack! Poor fair sex! Was it possible for any human creatures to look more deliriously happy?
I have said that the watermen also lived in those back streets; I believe, however, that the watermen lived apart from the sailors; the most of them had been sailors—they were all full of yarns—they were all heroes of the old war; their sons were sailors; but they themselves were married men with families. ”

“ Parties are so hackneyed nowadays—the same old things given over and over.' So when the good fairy whispered, I tripped away to mamma, book in hand, as fast as my feet would take me. And then such a scene of excitement as I made! Mamma begged of me to sit down and talk understandingly if I could. For her part, she didn't know what I was trying to get at. And I don't wonder, for she never had heard me mention The Essays of Elia before in all my life. I think poor mamma thought I had gone quite mad. Oh, grandma, such fun!" and Maud laughed heartily over the remembrance of it. ”

“ A little brown rabbit, trembling with fright, its eyes wild and startled, cowered in the centre of a chalk circle which the boys had drawn around him.
"Look, Jean-Paul!" said a little boy, plucking his sleeve. "They are laying wagers as to how far the rabbit will [Pg 502] jump when Pierre pokes him with his stick. It is my rabbit, Jean-Paul, and they are to give me a sou for the sport."
Jean-Paul said nothing. He looked at Pierre, who was a big brutal fellow with a coarse face. He was cabin-boy on one of the ships that sail between Havre and New York, and he had come home for a holiday. ”

“ It is a very familiar incident in the course of business men's meetings and of boys' meetings for one to propose something, the others to agree to it, and then for one quiet man to express his contrary views, and bring the assembled company over to the opposite side of the question. This reversal of opinion is caused by the fact that one man, who has been reserved until all the others have finished, has now by the force of his quiet confidence turned the whole tide the other way. ”

“ There could not be a greater mistake; because, while an over-display of politeness is a sign of hypocrisy, natural courtesy will never permit boy or man to behave in any way except in the thoughtful, quiet, refined way which belongs to good manners. A rough, honest chap is better than a slippery, well-mannered, dishonest one, to be sure. ”

“ According to the New York Press, when John C. Reid was managing editor of the Times he had an office-boy whose nerve and cheek were colossal. Greatness never embarrassed him, for he was no respecter of persons. One day he entertained in the reception-room a waiting visitor, whose patronizing way nettled him. All kinds of questions concerning his life and occupation were fired at him, and finally he was asked how much he earned a week. His reply was, "Fifty dollars," which caused the interrogator to whistle. ”

“ How much misery, how much brutality, how much despair had their permanent home on those terrible yellow ships called convict-hulks? The men were taken ashore every day to work—their work, the heaviest and the most disagreeable, lay chiefly in the Dock-yard; they worked under warders armed with guns, shotted and bayonetted. Many a time have I gone into the yard, a penny quid or screw of tobacco secreted in my pocket. One would get as near as one dared to one of the gang without raising suspicions. ”

“ There is no reason, therefore, why the average young man in school or college or business, in his daily occupation, or when he comes in contact with women or men, girls or boys, should not make it a point to be reserved, self-contained, tolerant, and observant of the little rules which every one knows by heart, and which go to make his company and companionship valuable to others. ”