Farr

“ Farr was personally very popular, unselfish, and devoted to his work. At home and in society he was a most lovable character, of simple tastes, delighting in giving pleasure to children. ‘None who knew him really well,’ says Mr. ”

“ But, in spite of this grim evidence, Farr was not afraid. He was ready to face death itself, if need be, to gain the goal that would prostrate the world at his feet. He was ready to face death, but he had taken every precaution against it. For instance, in selecting a likely landing place, he had shunned the area in which the life secret was reputed to be, for his instruments had detected some sort of force-field above the region. ”

“ In an instant the scene was clear before her—the long stretch of lawn beyond the shrubbery, bright in the silver moonlight, the sound of voices from the parsonage, breaking softly upon the evening stillness, through which Farr and she walked slowly side by side. Then she had spoken of Miss Stuart, and he had certainly disclaimed any acquaintance with her. ”

“ Dunstan's, Dec. 21st, 1657, among the presentments of nuisances were the following:—"We 15 present James Farr, barber, for making and selling of a drink called coffee, whereby in making the same he annoyeth his neighbours by evill smells; and for keeping of fire for the most part night and day, whereby his chimney and chamber hath been set on fire, to the great danger and affrightment of his neighbours." However, Farr was not ousted; he probably promised reform, or amended the alleged annoyance: he remained at the Rainbow, and rose to be a person of eminence and repute in the parish. ”

“ I'll have no disobedient daughter in my house. I've had a talk to Farry about it. Thou first will not have him for a husband at my bidding; now thou art taking up with this pestilent preacher Bunyan——"
"But, father, thou didst take me thyself to hear him, and said he was a godly man. It is Farry's evil tongue that hath wrought this change in thee. Prithee, pardon my boldness, but I dare not promise what is against my conscience!"
"It is against thy conscience to obey thy father, girl?" raved the angry farmer. "A pretty conscience in all sooth. ”

“ It is Etienne Provancher.”
Several men laughed when Farr pushed the old man into view. There was a murmured chorus of “Pickaroon.”
“It's for the children—the poor folks—for the memory of our little girl,” hissed Farr in the old man's ear. “Will you go to your bed to-night—the night of the day we buried her—knowing that—you are a coward? These are only men. We must tell them so that they will know. Speak! Tell them!” He set his firm clutch around the trembling old Frenchman's arm and held him out where all could see. ”

“ Farrer peered through the plants which formed a welcome screen to the window and listened with some uneasiness. He was waiting for the firm, springy step that should herald the approach of ex-Sergeant-Major Ward. A squeeze of Miss Ward's hand renewed his courage.
“Perhaps I had better light the lamp,” said the girl, after a long pause. “I wonder where mother's got to?”
“She's on my side, at any rate,” said Mr. Farrer.
“Poor mother!” said the girl. “She daren't call her soul her own. I expect she's sitting in her bedroom with the door shut. She hates unpleasantness. ”

“ Farrar was an eloquent preacher and, personally, a most attractive man, and Mrs. Farrar was perfectly lovely; but really, the sermons they had been having of late were unpardonable, and the one of to-day had simply capped the climax. Such things were so unjust to the people who were doing the work of the Church and bearing its financial burdens; so subversive of all accepted theories and customs; so well calculated to stir up discontent and jealousy, if not open antagonism, in the breasts of the envious and ignorant. ”

“ Farrell stood staring, mute and distracted, upon this piteous piece of poor humanity. Its contrast with the woman he had known and loved appalled him. His jaw fell open, his nails scored into his palms, his eyes bulged beneath his brows. The face rested, white and withered, among the frillings of her gown; unaccustomed lines picked out the cheeks; the mouth was drawn pitifully small and pinched with suffering. Even as he looked she seemed to his scared gaze to shrink and shrivel under pain. ”

“ He made a face like a bear troubled suddenly with symptoms of internal commotion! one who had eaten a bee-hive for the sake of the honey, and began to have inward misgivings that there must have been bees mixed up along with it. And Farren possesses the gift too—a most valuable one in playing to an English audience—of exhibiting the suffering without exciting the smallest sympathy! Whenever there is any thing the matter with him, you hope he’ll get worse with all your soul ”

“ However accustomed to “beating his way,” instead of going on foot, Farrell may have been, he was a good walker. Stretching far ahead was the level reach of the road-bed, with the converging lines of rails disappearing in the mist. Our muscles relaxed in the hot, unmoving air, until we struck the gait which becomes a mechanical swing with scarcely a sense of effort. Then Farrell was at his best. Snatches of strange song fell from him and remembered fragments of stage dialogue with little meaning and with no connection, but all expressing his care-free mood. ”

“ Others straggled in, singly, or by small groups, as darkness closed about, until we formed quite a respectable company. [Pg 105] It was rather a silent, weird procession, scarcely a word being spoken, and no sound heard, other than the dull reverberation of unshod hoofs on the soft turf. To me, glancing back from where I held position beside Farrell, they seemed like spectral figures, with no rattle of accoutrements, no glimmer of steel, no semblance of uniform. Yet my heart warmed to the knowledge that these were no holiday warriors, but grim fighting men. ”

“ Both Farrar and I were surprised to see Miss Trevor come out; she hooked back the cabin doors and surveyed the prostrate forms with amusement.
We asked her about those inside.
“Mrs. Cooke has really been very ill,” she said, “and Miss Thorn is doing all she can for her. My father and I were more fortunate. But you will both catch your deaths,” she exclaimed, noticing our condition. “Tell me where I can find your coats.”
I suppose it is natural for a man to enjoy being looked after in this way; it was certainly a new sensation to Farrar and myself. ”

“ O'Farrall, ask him on bended knee?"
Mrs. O'Farrall looked frightened, apoplectic, and confused. Blizzard lifted his heavy eyebrows, then a smile began to brighten his face.
"Mrs. O'Farrall," said he, "blessings on your old red face! For just this minute for the first time since I lost them, the fact that I have no knees to bend escaped me. Your religion teaches you that the Lord is good to the repentant sinner. Madam, he is!" And then he began to call in a loud voice:
"Rose--Rose, run down a minute. I clean forgot that I hadn't any legs." ”

“ At the eastern end of the town, and close to the railway, we came upon a brick-kiln. Farrell was perfectly familiar with his surroundings now, and we stopped for a drink. For some reason the water would not run in the faucet, so we went around to a barn-like building in the rear. Through a large, open doorway he entered, while I remained outside. Soon I heard him in conversation with someone, who proved to be the night-watchman, and, finding that Farrell was not likely to rejoin me soon, I also entered. ”

“ Farrell smiled and patted her hand.
"But you will come to-night, won't you?" she urged.
"Dear heart, of course I will," he said, smiling indulgently. "I'll come and have a long talk with you."
His wife sighed, in part, as it seemed, with satisfaction, and leaned her chin upon his hair.
"Life is very curious, isn't it, George?" she said meditatively, her eyes gazing in abstraction at the wall. "There are so many things we don't know. I never dreamed——"
Farrell patted her hand again, affectionately, reassuringly. ”

“ So that the situation, though an observed one—for how could the Farrell comings and goings, the Farrell courtesies and benefactions, possibly be hid?—was watched only by friendly and discreet eyes, thanks always to Hester. Most people liked William Farrell; even that stricter sect, who before the war had regarded him as a pleasure loving dilettante, and had been often scandalised by his careless levity in the matter of his duties as a landlord and county magnate. 'Bill Farrell' had never indeed evicted or dealt hardly with any mortal tenant. ”

“ Foe's answer was, "Very kind of you. As a fact, I have been subsisting on hard biscuit and weak whisky-and-water: though I'm an excellent sailor, as they say.... It's a diet that suits me when I'm working hard."
"Working?" exclaimed Farrell. ”

“ Renan in some late book speaks of his life as 'cette charmante promenade à travers la realité.' Farrell could have adopted much the same words about his own—until the war. The war had made him think a good deal, like Sarratt; though the thoughts of a much travelled, epicurean man of the world were naturally very different from those of the young soldier. At least 'the surge and thunder' of the struggle had developed in Farrell a new sensitiveness, a new unrest, as though youth had returned upon him. ”

“ His work as an editor and an anthologist, with many other activities, have tended to obscure Farrar the poet, and have certainly taken time and energy the poet could ill spare. But I know that much of the hardest work Mr. Farrar has done these past few years has been upon the verse in The Middle Twenties. The result ought to satisfy him, though probably it won’t; he is not easily pleased with his own work. But all the poems in The Middle Twenties keep to a high level and the volume has more than variety, it has positive and effective contrast. ”

“ On 16 July 1855 Farren, whose health had collapsed, took at the Haymarket his leave of the public in a scene from the ‘Clandestine Marriage,’ which formed part of a programme for his benefit, in which appear the names of the principal English actors. On 24 Sept. 1861 he died at his house, 23 Brompton Square. Farren in his later years was the best representative of the present century of old men. ”

“ Miss Farrar is a handsome, gifted, and very earnest young girl, and if she has common sense as well as native talent, she will say that little nightly prayer, turn a deaf ear to the adulation of foolish friends, and attend strictly to practicing her scales. ”

“ Farrer. “I'm sorry if I was rude. I came on purpose to see you to-night. Bertha—Miss Ward, I mean—told me your ideas, but I couldn't believe her. I said you'd got more common sense than to object to a man just because he wasn't a soldier.”
“I want a man for a son-in-law,” said the other. “I don't say he's got to be a soldier.”
“Just so,” said Mr. Farrer. “You're a man, ain't you? Well, I'll do anything that you'll do.”
“Pph!” said the sergeant-major. “I've done my little lot. I've been in action four times, and wounded in three places. ”

“ Mr Farrell is not half so obstinate as he pretends, and however annoyed he may be to-day he can’t help softening when he remembers that they have put all their own pleasures and self-interests on one side to return to work and worry for their mother’s sake. ”

“ I scarcely looked human. In sudden burst of anger I reached out and gripped the mirror, jerking it savagely. Then I sprang back. Slowly, with a faint click of the mechanism, the mantel-place was swinging open.
[Pg 375] CHAPTER XXXVIIA CONFESSION OF LOVE
I could scarcely believe my eyes as the mantel swung slowly outward, revealing the black hole beyond. I glanced about helplessly, and sprang to the door of the room to call back Farrell. He was not in the upper hall, but as my eyes swept its length I remembered a half-burned candle in the chamber opposite. ”

“ I know more than you, and I hope."
"Yes, yes," cried Farrell impatiently. "But, my God, doctor, "he burst forth, "will she die?"
The doctor glanced at him and then away. "It is possible," he said gravely.
Farrell leaned back against the handrail and mechanically watched him pass the length of the hall and let himself out. Some one touched his arm, and he looked up.
"Come, sir, come," said the nurse. "You musn't give way. Nothing has happened. She is very weak, but I've seen weaker folk pull through."
He descended the stairs and entered the drawing-room. The room looked vacant ”

“ A HISTORY OF ENGLAND FROM EARLY TIMES
By DAVID HUME
With Continuations by Tobias Smollett, E. Farr and E. H. Nolan AN ON-LINE INDEX
Edited by David Widger Project Gutenberg Editions
DOWNLOAD
Click on the DOWNLOAD button above if you would like to download this Index to your hard disk and save it there with all the volumes of the entire set. Following these DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS will allow the index file to link to all the volumes and chapters in the HTML files on your computer when you are off-line. ”

“ When the spring shall have come again, and the winter shall have passed—when the spring shall have come again, it is not through the windows of this mansion that the father of such a son, and the son of such a father, shall look upon those green hills on which the eyes of so many a captive have gazed so wistfully in vain ”

“ She arose from her knees with a radiant countenance.
"Daddy is not dead!" she murmured happily. "He knows! He will help me!"
CHAPTER XV. To be popular and also truthful is beyond the power of man.
Sister Maddon was busy bustling about the kitchen, giving directions to her maid for the lunch to be prepared for their new visitor, Mrs. Hadly.
"Now, Mary, make the table look just as cheery as you can. Put the flowers at both ends, and choose the doilies with the brightest colors."
"Me, too, mudder?" piped up the three-year-old urchin tugging at her skirts. ”