Funk

“ He thought that would be the best way, because that would help to break the first shock of the news, and then it would be easier to endure the rest.
The only other thing that troubled Rothfuss was how he might stop Funk's evil tongue. He felt sure that with the exception of Funk, others would be as much grieved as we were.
That was the trouble. The news would enlist the attention of the busy world, those who pitied as well as those who rejoiced in the sufferings of others.
But what matters the world: it can neither help nor hinder our griefs. ”

“ He knows you'll be there tonight?"
"Hoddeston told him, if there were any further trouble, I'd sleep there from tonight on, to protect his painting."
"Excellent!" Funk rubbed his hands together and blew a cloud of thick smoke from the cigarette in one corner of his mouth. "And was there any?"
"Yes. Last night the two canvases I'd left were demolished."
"Good! He'll be expecting you to sleep there tonight. Let's have supper. Then I'll run into town and fetch Miss Carradorne. She insists upon coming out; the time was too brief to prepare me to handle the situation single-handed." ”

“ I am old enough to know something of human wickedness, but I admit that I am, even to this day, frequently surprised by the shape that human meanness will sometimes take.
At a side table was seated Funk's special satellite--the baker Lerz, of Hollerberg. He was accompanied by his wife, and both looked about them with an air of serene contentment. The baker was a sensual, self-complacent man, who had a habit of smiling and moving his lips, as if he were smacking them at the thoughts of a feast he had just been enjoying. ”

“ Their only duty was to "wait and see." It was not cold, and they had their rations. The Subaltern dug, and slept, and ate, and then dug again, and thus the day passed. Indeed, he even began to write a long letter home in his notebook, but he lost the pages almost as soon as they were written.
They were shelled twice during the day, but all one had to do was to lie comfortably in one's "funk hole" and wait for the "hate" to die down. After many experiences in the open, without a particle of cover, being shelled in deep holes had few terrors. ”

“ You know you said I might see him sometime!”
“That’s a grand idea,” chimed in Chippie. “We’ll ask him to come down to the next meeting! What do you think, Dick?”
“Well, he could come down any time after working hours,” said Dick reflectively. “But I tell you what I’d better do. I think I’d better tell him all about the baseball game and what I did first.”
“Yes, sir!” replied Bill earnestly, “and tell him about my funk and all. The more he knows about us the better. What do you say, Tom?”
“I say the same thing,” said Tom. ”

“ But remember all depends on your prompt attention to your music."
"It's lonesome in the parlor, ma."
"Your aunt is there sewing, and she will help you count the time."
Frank went through the hall slowly, as if to an unpleasant task; for every day he grew more neglectful of his practice, and gave greater offence to his teacher. The piano was already open; so, after spending four or five minutes in finding the place in his book and pushing the music-stool back and forth, he took his seat. ”

“ Frank looked at her as she said this, and for the first time saw the proud elation her features assumed when excited by a theme of vanity.
“You are greatly changed, dearest Kate,” said he, thoughtfully.
“Is it for the worse, Frank?” said she, half coquettishly.
“Oh! as to beauty, you are a thousand times handsomer,” cried the boy, with enthusiasm. “I know not how, but every expression seems heightened, every feature more elevated; your air and gesture, your very voice, that once I thought was music itself, is far sweeter and softer.” ”

“ Ten minutes later they emerged into the blessed air that, though still smoke-filled, above the fire-swept flats was still breathable. With blackened face and singed hair and eyebrows, Frank felt the difference, although his eyes were still closed and giving him agony. He inhaled it in great breaths of delight, saturating his lungs in its comparative freshness. Finally, when he could open his eyes, he looked back for the others.
They lay on the floor senseless, smoke-blackened, without motion. ”

“ Ere long you will be a man."
"I think I have gained something," replied Frank. "I am at the head of my class in school. I am three inches taller, I am stronger, and I know a great deal more than I did last year."
"Is that all you have gained? Have you cured any of your faults? Can you command your temper any better? Are you any more disinterested? Are you more careful about the truth—in short, are you a better boy?"
"I cannot say, Mother; you know about that better than I."
"You expect a New Year's gift to-morrow, I presume, Frank." ”

“ Frank examined the writing carefully.
‘He was the son of the house and a young aristocrat who had never done a stroke of work before in his life,’ said he.
The matron was surprised.
‘What makes you say that, sir?’
‘What would a workman do with such a name as John Harbel Knowles, or with a diamond ring for that matter? And who would dare to disfigure a window so, if he were not of the family? And why should he be so proud of his work, unless work was a new and wondrous thing to him. To paint part of the windows also sounds like the amateur and not the workman. ”

“ He is a real musician, you know, and the music he makes comes out of his soul.
When it was all over and he and Mrs. Burns were gone, my tray came in. This is a frightful confession, but I am not a real musician; I merely love good music with some sort of understanding of what it means to those who really care, as Franz does. To me, after all the emotion, my tray looked like a sort of solid rock that I could cling to. And I had a piece of wonderful beefsteak—ah, now you are laughing! ”

“ One day, when Frank and John were going to school, they saw an old man with a flute.
"Will you please play a tune for us, sir?" said Frank.
"Yes, boys, I will play for you. Are you fond of music?" "Yes, sir, we like music. You used to play your flute when I went with mamma' to see you." ”

“ Frank, that settles it; doesn’t it? The girl is there, we know that now; don’t we?”
For answer Frank clutched his chum’s groping hand, and squeezed it.
“And we keep right along in the game, waitin’ to hear from Mr. Elverson; don’t we, Frank?”
“That’s what we do; and I’m hoping that it comes out just as you’re expecting, Lanky, because you sure have got yourself keyed up to top-notch speed right now. But perhaps we’d better be getting back to town. If we hurried, we might reach there by eight, and lend a hand at that anthem in the choir.” ”

“ Many and manifold are the uses of the fan. What device, for example, could better display the beauty of a rounded arm, or the ivory whiteness of tapered fingers? Such an instrument provides graceful and often much-needed employment to those same delicate fingers; it supplies that necessary sense of completeness to the tout ensemble of the picture. And the comedy actress, desiring some trifle to emphasise a movement, to give point and expression to some particular action—what more effective instrument than a fan, the use of which, on the stage, has almost been elevated into a fine art! ”

“ Feeling in a distinctly blue mood I moved my tongue to the other side of my mouth and shoved on my tooth radio. I rolled the tongue over the bottom of the tooth until I got a program with some blues music. Just the way I felt. The blues. I sat in the front seat of my Thunderflash and listened to the music echoing against my tonsils.
After the song came the inevitable commercial. Only this was a new one. The announcer said:
"Here's some big, big, big news from Grinning Gregory, your largest volume dealer in lifetime cars. ”

“ He repaired to the cottage and called Frank. Frank appeared; he also wore corduroys and other suitable habiliments. "Very good, Frank, very good. You're really an intelligent man. If a young lady calls, you're an idiot."
"I—I beg your Grace's pardon?"
"If a young lady calls, you're to appear to be an idiot." The Duke, as he spoke, smiled over the reflection that his order to Frank embodied nothing very unusual.
"Very good, your Grace! What's Monsieur Alphonse to be?" ”

“ We are speaking here of vocal music; but the parts in an instrumental fugue are mostly treated pretty much as if they were voice parts. For the purposes of fugal answer, we group the voices in pairs, the higher pair being the treble and tenor, and the lower the alto and bass. If the student remembers the directions for transposing a given subject which are given in Counterpoint, he will be aware that a subject given in the treble must be transposed a fourth or fifth lower for the alto, an octave lower for the tenor, and an eleventh or twelfth lower for the bass. ”

“ Le Frank had his chance of speaking, and showed himself to be a gentleman with a happily balanced character—a musician, with an eye to business. Using gratitude to Mr. Gallilee as a means of persuasion, he gently pushed the interests of a friend who was giving a concert next week. “We poor artists have our faults, my dear sir; but we are all earnest in helping each other. My friend sang for nothing at my concert. ”

“ Our next question is, By which voice of the other pair (supposing the fugue to be for four voices) should the answer be given? If, for instance, the treble leads with the subject, should the alto or the bass have the answer? It is seldom difficult to decide this point, if we remember that it is generally best for the last entry in the exposition to be in an outer, rather than in a middle voice. The reason for this is that it is easier to distinguish the subject or answer when it is in an outer part, especially in fugues with four or five voices. ”

“ When he laughs, Frank says that he looks like some jolly old clean-shaven toothless friar—so chubby and good-humoured. He takes the greatest interest in everything in the room, watches the nurse moving about, looks out of the window, and examines my hair and my dress very critically. He loves to see untidy hair and a bright tie, or a brooch will often catch his eye, and make him smile. ”

“ You are not—nor Monsieur Alphonse.”
“Very good, your Grace,” Frank answered. “Your Grace will answer the door yourself?”
The Duke had overlooked the point. He did not feel that he could answer a door at all plausibly.
“Leave it on the jar,” he commanded, in a happy inspiration.
But when he was left alone his brow clouded a little. “Suppose the mother comes!” he thought. His face cleared. “She shall see Alphonse and Frank. And I will see Miss Angela.” He lit his cigar with a composed cheerfulness. “It is impossible,” he said meditatively, “to deny the interest of a sociological experiment. ”

“ Frank, Frank!' she seemed to say, 'would that I had forsaken all and fled to Italy with you. There, the creations of your taste and genius would have afforded a solace. Here they are but torments.'
'You shall go to Italy, Evelyn, and have your fill of Frank's society,' said I in my imaginary comment. 'But not yet; the time has not yet come.'
Having permitted her to learn the disappointment derived from the works of art associated with Frank's memory, I now brought into action a scheme for teaching her the pleasure which I could afford. ”

“ A wire extended from the upright stick of the kite, and this was connected with the cord, which when wet acted as a good conductor. The part of the cord held in his hand was of silk, and between this and the wet hempen cord a key was inserted and connected with a Leyden jar. How successful the experiment proved to be, all the world knows. Somehow all the important events of Franklin's life are dramatic and picturesque, and this scene, especially, of the philosopher in the storm drawing down the very thunderbolts of heaven has always had a fascination for the popular mind. ”

“ There was a grand piano in the drawing-room, and Frank and Cecilia became more musical than ever, and Waltham Lodge was the headquarters of a little amateur orchestra which practised Mozart and Haydn, and gave local concerts. A twelvemonth after the marriage a son was born and Frank’s father increased Frank’s share in the business. Mr Palmer had long ceased to take any interest in the Hopgoods. He considered that Madge had treated Frank shamefully in jilting him, but was convinced that he was fortunate in his escape. ”

“ Frank's charming receptacle for my own heaving instrument was of that pleasing elasticity that I should not have discovered it had ever once been invaded by a larger weapon than my own, and the voluptuous sensations it produced upon my burning member as, excited to the highest pitch and swollen to the utmost extension, the fiery dart was plunged in and out of the burning furnace, were most exquisite. ”

“ Frank turned as bucolically as he could.
"I say, sir—can you direct this lady and myself to a lodging?"
Frank had tried to cultivate a low and characterless kind of voice, as of a servant or a groom out of work. ”

“ The 'still, small Voice' had been drowned in the clash of arms and in the almost worse clamour of a thousand different sects. Now that, after his own long search in loneliness and darkness, George Fox had at length found the Voice speaking to him unmistakably in the depths of his own heart, the whole object of his life was to persuade others to listen also to 'the true Teacher that is within,' and to convince them that He was always waiting to speak not only in their hearts, but also through their lives. ”