George Strong

“ said George, with a strong and bitter emphasis; "what country have I, but the grave,—and I wish to God that I was laid there!" ”

“ It does not aver that she had any separate property, nor does the proof show that she had any. The entire purchase-money of the lot obtained from Mattingly was paid with money borrowed from the Arlington Fire Insurance Company, for which George Seitz and his wife gave their notes, accompanied by a deed of trust of that lot, and of the one obtained from Kendall. For the payment of those notes, George Seitz is personally liable, and his wife is not. It is not averred or proved that she has paid out of her own means, or in any way, even one cent of that debt. ”

“ And so, as all the rights they assert are by virtue of a deed subsequently made by Williams (a deed hereafter to be noticed) , it is not easy to see how they can have any standing; or, if Williams was but another name for Jackson, and Waite's deed was made to Jackson under the name of Williams, then the note, though signed by the name George N. Williams, was Jackson's note, and the trust-deed signed by the same name would be construed as a declaration of trust for the security of the note, equivalent to a covenant to stand seised to uses for the holder. ”

“ George got out his banjo after supper, and wanted to play it, but Harris objected: he said he had got a headache, and did not feel strong enough to stand it. George thought the music might do him good—said music often soothed the nerves and took away a headache; and he twanged two or three notes, just to show Harris what it was like.
Harris said he would rather have the headache. ”

“ Her will commenced with a declaration of her intention 'thereby to execute all powers vested in (her) and enacted in any deed or deeds theretofore executed, particularly those powers created in her favor by two certain deeds settling and assuring the estate of her late brother, George Pollock, to (her) son, Thomas P. Devereux, dated some time in the month of July, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and thirty-nine, and executed by her late husband and herself.' This was followed by her testamentary dispositions. ”

“ We bring with us a large stock of that glorious fresh feeling which ever so slight a taste of bush-life gives, and some wonder why so few fishing men in England find their way to the splendid rivers and lakes of North America, and fish enough to live on for weeks (if they would but keep) for the especial gratification of those of our friends who care for such luxuries as trout. ”

“ First of all, we are in the perfect solitude of the bush, a silence which “may be felt,” its effect is not lessened by the sound, at intervals, of our own voices. Above us the magnificent forest trees are almost hiding the blue sky, and only allowing flecks of bright light, here and there, to penetrate to the mass of interlaced boughs, and shrubs, and foliage underneath. Before us is a stream, varying from ten to twenty yards in breadth, rushing down the slight slope here in rapids, with rocks rising in all directions above the water ”

“ There is, too, at the door of almost every alternate hut, a peculiarly black matron with some more or less gaudy cotton, wound, turban fashion, about her head, occupied (in addition to staring at us) in squalling at either pig or children, and in nursing an admirable likeness, on a small scale, of herself. ”

“ Our supper to-night, with our tea in tin mugs, bread, some butter from Jack’s, and the trout, is by no means to be despised. I am sure no one can appreciate trout properly who has not eaten them, cooked bush fashion, just after he has himself caught them. After supper comes the “calumet of peace,” half an hour’s talk, and then to bed, rolling ourselves up, just as we are, in our wrappers, and lying down on our spruce branches—feet to the blaze—with the lullaby of the stream and the fire, we soon drop off into sound sleep. ”

“ One or two farm-buildings, strongly resembling the hut, stand out against the dark foliage at the back. In front of the hut extends a gentle partly-cultivated slope—several acres of land have been “cleared”—some for years, evidently, others so lately that the blackened stumps of trees still appear gloomily above the luxuriant grass. Here and there a snake-fence winds over a ridge, and is hidden again in a hollow; close to the house a small stream rushes along over rocks to that lake, as large as our own Derwentwater, which washes the base of the slope I have spoken of. ”

“ Some ten minutes’ driving, up a hill or two, while lamps grow less and less frequent, and we are out of the town, rolling along a road which is as good as an ordinary English turnpike-road—passing every now and then through spots of perfect darkness, where clumps of firs overhang the road on each side, and new again looking over a broad spread of water stretching away from our feet, with a row of distant wooded slopes appearing more and more clearly as the moon slowly rises. ”

“ Strong in her own immense power of sympathy, she applied herself to the task of awakening and extending such sympathies in others. This she does by the creation of agreeable, interesting, and noble types, such as may put us out of conceit with what is mean and base. Goodness, as understood and portrayed by her, must recommend itself not only to the judgment but to the heart. She worked to popularise high sentiments, and to give shape and reality to vague ideas of human excellence. ”

“ The horse is unharnessed, and “led” across, and with much exertion, and putting of shoulders to the wheel, literally, we succeed in lifting the waggon over it. Nothing further stops us, till we come suddenly on an open space, which, pretty as it is, has a borrowed beauty from its contrast to the dark, almost impenetrable, shade we have been passing through lately. Just to the right of us is a low, substantial-looking, hut—built entirely of roughly sawn planks, with plastered clay to fill up the interstices between them. ”

“ A large fir, borne down, probably, by the weight of years, has fallen exactly across our road, with its dead branches sticking out to meet us like a natural chevaux de frise. We begin by a vigorous attack on the protruding branches, till we reduce the part which has to be crossed to a bare trunk, raised some three or four feet from the ground. ”

“ The road has been getting worse for some time, and I am paying more attention to the sky than to what is exactly underneath us, when bang! bang—with a quick jerk or two which makes one tremble for the springs, independently of almost throwing us out of the waggon—rouses us to a sense of our position. ”

“ Riding, then and there, was almost unheard of for ladies, a girl in a riding-habit regarded as simply a Cossack in petticoats, and Mademoiselle Dupin's delight in horse-exercise sufficed to stamp her as eccentric and strong-minded in the opinion of the country gentry and the towns-folk of La Châtre. ”

“ We must fix our camp before we eat, and here is the very place—in a “fork” made by a small stream—where several young firs growing in a sort of circle, make an apology for a roof with their branches. Now for half-an-hour’s work with our knives and axes to cut away the boughs, and to make a thick mattrass of small spruce branches for our bed, as well as to get logs for our fire. Out come thousands of fireflies as it grows darker, as if they mean to help us, but soon we shall have fire enough. ”

“ We proceed painfully along a road which is formed, in different places, in addition to its native soil, of planks, faggots, and sometimes of nothing less than trunks of trees, placed side by side with a small space between. We are getting accustomed to all these varieties of road, and have crossed the fifth rickety bridge (we count the bridges, for our hearts rejoice at the fishing prospect held out by the brooks below them) , when a fresh obstacle makes its unwelcome appearance. ”

“ I try what can be done with the blue veil I have provided myself with; but my unfeminine eyes are unable to penetrate successfully through its maziness, so I return in despair to the rocks, use my hands in keeping off the mosquitos, and wait patiently till we start for our evening’s fishing. At eight o’clock we leave off, having slaughtered, with two rods, nine and a-half dozen trout of all sizes, from three pounds and a-half downwards ”

“ Up the stream we go, wading, scrambling, slipping off rocks, catching flies and line in the boughs, which effectually prevent any but the most crafty kind of “cast;” but all this time catching trout, weighing from half a-pound to three times that weight, which we do not bother ourselves with carrying, but string together on thin sticks, and leave on rocks till we return again. ”

“ Those accustomed, like her, to shirk no responsibility, no burden, to invite others to lean on them, and to ask no support, if their fortitude gives way find the allowance, help and sympathy so easily accorded to their weaker fellow-creatures nowhere ready for them. The exclamation wrung from one of the characters in a later work of Madame Sand's may be but a faithful echo of the cry of her own nature in some moment of mental torment. "Let me be weak; I have been seeming to be strong for so long a time!" ”

“ The Durgans watched him through it all, sardonically.
And he would stand after breakfast at times in the light of the window at Lady Grove, a little apart, with two fingers of one hand stuck between his waistcoat-buttons and his chin sunken, thinking,—the most preposterous little fat man in the world. It made my aunt feel, she said, "like an old Field Marshal—knocks me into a cocked hat, George!" ”

“ Wearing the shackles of the slave, I had been mowing the corn under the fierce sun that beats down upon the American savannahs. Sickeningly, then, a wind of memory blew upon me and I was alive to my situation.
Nor was I forgetful of the plight in which the Honourable George would now find himself. He is as good as lost when not properly looked after. In the ordinary affairs of life he is a simple, trusting, incompetent duffer, if ever there was one. ”

“ Hence, after he had finished his supper, he showed a disposition to depart, telling them that he had a shack in the swamp.
Frank did not attempt to hinder him, for he saw that the man could not wholly get over his suspicion that there might be some trick back of this generous hospitality. George had evidently been educated in the belief that no one ever assisted a black man unless he had an ax to grind. ”

“ She stood in the door like some historical personage, probably the Sphinx, and repeated a guttural kind of incantation while George stretched his ears until they stood out more than usual in a struggle to understand.
"Rotten patois some of these people speak," he said. "I believe she has a room, though something's biting her. Likely enough Fritz went off with all her furniture; but I've already explained twenty times that that doesn't matter. Écoutez, Madame. We only want a room. Chambre-à-coucher. We can furnish it. We have three beds. ”

“ After the birth of George, his mother was sold to a negro trader, and he to a Virginian, who sent agents through the country to buy up young slaves to raise for the market. George was only about nineteen years of age, when he unfortunately became connected with the insurrection. Mr. Green, who owned George, was a comparatively good master, and prided himself on treating his slaves better than most men. This gentleman was also the owner of a girl who was perfectly white, with straight hair and prominent features. ”

“ However, he obtained a situation as porter in a large house in Manchester, where he worked during the day, and took private lessons at night. In this way he laboured for three years, and was then raised to the situation of a clerk. George was so white as easily to pass for a white man, and being somewhat ashamed of his African descent, he never once mentioned the fact of his having been a slave. He soon became a partner in the firm that employed him, and was now on the road to wealth. ”

“ It's not irreverent for me to say it, I hope—but God comes in on the off-chance, George. See? Don't you be too cocksure of anything, good or bad. That's what I make out of it. I could have sworn. Well, do you think I—particular as I am—would have touched those Union Pacifics with trust-money at all, if I hadn't thought it a thoroughly good thing—good without spot or blemish? . . . And it was bad!
"It's a lesson to me. You start in to get a hundred per cent. and you come out with that. It means, in a way, a reproof for Pride. I've thought of that, George—in the Night Watches. ”

“ The radiance of it, the brilliance of it, dazzled the eyes; the dimness, the misty dreaminess of it clouded the brain. She felt drugged, hypnotised out of realities, as she looked towards the dais where Sir George, the Star of his Order almost hidden by one of the huge tinsel garlands which had been thrown round the neck of the guests as they entered, sat in a gilt chair, his solitary figure outlined harshly, by reason of his dark political uniform, against the background of white-marble tracery. ”

“ Some two hours later, full into the tide of our afternoon shopping throng, there issued a spectacle that removed any lingering doubt of the unfortunate man’s plight. In the rather smart pony-trap of the Klondike woman, driven by the person herself, rode the Honourable George. Full in the startled gaze of many of our best people he advertised his defection from all that makes for a sanely governed stability in our social organism. He had gone flagrantly over to the Bohemian set. ”

“ No doubt it is true that as we brought nothing with us into the world, so it is certain we can carry nothing out of it. But there is as little doubt that we (not you and I, reader, who don't love money at all, but I at this present moment identify myself with those who do) like to retain our hold of what we have got as long as we can, and to increase it if it lies in our power. So, I daresay, Matthew Wilson was altogether under a mistake concerning George's too great sharpness. Nevertheless, George lay under the stigma. ”