Gibbons

“ The Gibbons (except the Siamang) have no laryngeal sacs. The stomach closely resembles the human organ.
The Gibbons are very delicate, and rarely live long in confinement, even in their own country. They are in general highly intelligent, very gentle, and become most affectionate and engaging animals if kindly treated. They are, however, occasionally irascible and ill-tempered, especially when adult. ”

“ GIBBONS, EDWARD (1570?–1653?) , musical composer, supposed to have been son of William Gibbons, one of the ‘waits’ at Cambridge, was brother of Orlando [q. v.] and uncle of Christopher Gibbons [q. v.] He received the degree of Mus.B. at Cambridge, and on 7 July 1592 was incorporated in the same degree at Oxford. At midsummer in that year he became organist and master of the choristers at King's College, Cambridge, succeeding Thomas Hammond, who returned to the duties in 1599. ”

“ While others meanly asked whole months to slay,
I oft despatched the patient in a day.
He is described by a contemporary (Nichols, Lit. Illustr. ii. 801) as ‘pretty old Dr. Gibbons,’ and as taking his fees with alacrity. The Harveian oration of the year following his death (1729) ascribes to him erudition, honesty, candour, love of letters, piety, benevolence, and other Christian virtues. According to Wadd (Mems., Maxims, and Memoirs, p. 148) , the credit of making mahogany fashionable belongs to Gibbons. ”

“ When they descend to the ground—which they must often do in order to obtain water—they frequently walk in the upright posture, either with the hands crossed behind the neck, or with the knuckles resting on the ground. Their usual food consists of leaves and fruits. Gibbons may be divided into two groups, the one represented by the siamang, Hylobates (Symphalangus) syndactylus, of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, and the other by a number of closely allied species. ”

“ While it cannot be said that his works reproduce the consummate genius of Gibbons, they have great merit in themselves, and are sufficiently successful in their imitation to deceive the inexperienced eye. Rogers carried his devotion to the art of Gibbons far enough to devise a mode of preserving Gibbons's carvings from the ravages of worms and age. His method was completely successful, and among the carvings thus rescued from destruction may be noted those at Belton House, Grantham, at Melbury, at Chatsworth, and at Trinity College, Cambridge. ”

“ Marsten was silent, the colour rising in his face.
“Of course,” continued Gibbons, calmly, “you are not compelled to answer. I am merely asking what many of us have been thinking. You either know, or you do not. You have called this meeting, and I think you should have the courtesy to answer any question—any reasonable question—asked you. You say you want the support of the men, whose servant you are. That is a reasonable desire; but to bestow that confidence we must have full knowledge of our man. I ask for the second time, do you know why Sartwell discharged you?” ”

“ The gibbons (including the siamang) have tremendous voices, with numerous variations, and they love to use them. My acquaintance with them began in Borneo, in the dense and dark coastal forest that there forms their home. I remember their cries as vividly as if I had heard them again this morning. While feeding, or quietly enjoying the morning sun, the gray gibbon (Hylobates concolor) emits in leisurely succession a low staccato, whistle-like cry, like "Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!" which one can easily counterfeit by whistling. This is varied by another whistle cry of three notes, thus: "Who-ee-hoo! ”

“ GIBBON or GIBBONS, NICHOLAS, the elder (fl. 1600) , theological writer, matriculated as pensioner at Clare Hall, Cambridge, in June 1585. He proceeded B.A. in 1588–9, M.A. in 1592, and was incorporated at Oxford July 1592. He has been identified with the Nicholas Gibbon of Heckford, Dorsetshire, whose son of the same name, born at Poole in 1605, became rector of Corfe Castle [see Gibbon, Nicholas, the younger, (1605–1697) ] . ”

“ Pre-eminently qualified for arboreal habits, and displaying among the branches amazing activity, the Gibbons are not so awkward or embarrassed on a level surface as might be imagined. They walk erect, with a waddling or unsteady gait, but at a quick pace; the equilibrium of the body requiring to be kept up, either by touching the ground with the knuckles, first on one side then on the other, or by uplifting the arms so as to poise it. As with the Chimpanzee, the whole of the narrow, long sole of the foot is placed upon the ground at once and raised at once, without any elasticity of step. ”

“ The Chicago Tribune sought the most available newspaper man to send to London and write the story of England's costly mistakes for the profit of the American people. Gibbons was picked for the mission and arrangement was made for him to travel on the steamer by which the discredited Von Bernstorff was to return to Germany. ”

“ Gibbons retired with his captains to headquarters, where a consultation was held. There was a chance that Sartwell, during the first week, when it was supposed he was putting in new machinery, had also been building dormitories for his new men, and that he was going to keep them inside the gates, free from the influence of the Union.
This plan had not been foreseen by Gibbons, and he was unprepared for it.
“The men must come out sooner or later, and when they do we will have a talk with them,” said the secretary. ”

“ Fight the devil if you like, but never with fire. When Marsten had said to Gibbons, “Mr. Sart-well knows to a penny how much you have in the bank,” the secretary had answered grandly that Sart-well might see the books of the Union for all he cared, and much good might it do him. The fact that a man like Sartwell thought it worth his while to find out what the enemy was doing, did not suggest to Gibbons that it might not be a bad plan to have a look over Sartwell’s shoulders, and discover just how things were going in the privacy of the manager’s office. ”

“ So Gibbons quietly, with his eye, gathered up his trusty henchmen, who were scattered in different parts of the hall to give an appearance of unanimity to the shouting when the proper time came, and these men had now gradually edged to the front during the speaking. One or two had silently mounted the platform and held a whispered conference with the secretary, after which they and some others took their places behind the seated committee. When Sartwell was alluded to, Gibbons arose.
“Mr. Chairman,” he said, “I cannot allow——”
Braunt turned on him like a raging lion. ”

“ GIBBONS, ELLIS (fl. 1600) , musical composer, brother of Edward [q. v.] and Orlando Gibbons [q. v.] , is said to have been organist of Salisbury Cathedral at the end of the sixteenth century. The only compositions extant by him are two madrigals, ‘Long live fair Oriana’ and ‘Round about her Chariot,’ contained in ‘The Triumphs of Oriana,’ published 1603. ”

“ Yes, I am sorry for Marsten myself, but the lesson will do him a world of good. He is thoroughly unselfish, and Gibbons is as thoroughly selfish. The unselfish man almost invariably goes to the wall in this self-seeking world. Now let us get back, my girl. ”

“ He——”
“Ah, chuck it!” cried a disgusted man in front. “We don’t want no philosophy; we wants strike pay or master’s pay.”
“’Ear, ’ear!” rang through the hall; the interrupter quite evidently voicing the sentiment of the meeting. Gibbons stood for a second or two looking at them.
“Yes,” he cried, his voice like a trumpet call, “I will chuck it. This is not the time for philosophy, as our friend said; it is the time to act. When a man strips to fight, what does he expect?” ”

“ Gibbons; comparable, and for ought appears, equal to any thing of the antients; having had the honour (for so I account it) to be the first who recommended this great artist to his Majesty, Charles the II. I mention it on this occasion, with much satisfaction. With the twigs, they made baskets and cradles, and of the smoother side of the bark, tablets for writing; for the antient Philyra is but our Tilia; of which Munting affirms, he saw a book made of the inward bark, written about 1000 years since. ”

“ The trade he knew was already overcrowded with thousands of men, eager for the place he had been compelled to abandon. Even the street crossings were owned by impoverished wretches who earned what living they got by sweeping them. If he were presented with a crossing, he had not the money to buy a broom. Gibbons, fool though he might be, spoke the truth when he said a workingman was but a cog in a large wheel: the wheel might get a new cog, or a new set of cogs, but the cog separated from the wheel was as useless as a bit of old iron. ”

“ An American woman came to Ty Coz, my little summer cottage at Saint-Jean-du-Doigt in Finistère, to remonstrate with me.
"You must be crazy," she said in her most complimentary tone, "to take those three children back to Paris now. The Germans are certainly going to capture Paris, and if they don't do it right away, they'll bombard the city until it surrenders. My dear Mrs. Gibbons, surely you read the papers and you see what awful things the Germans are doing in Belgium. Paris has no chance against their big guns. And they will cut the railways. You will have no milk, no vegetables. ”

“ Occasionally a shell wheezed over through the soggy atmosphere, seeming to leave an unseen arc in the darkness above. It would terminate with a sullen thump in some spongy, water-soaked mound behind us. Then an answering missive of steel would whine away into the populated invisibility in front of us.
French comrades, in half English and half French, gushed their congratulations, and shook us by the hand. Some of us were even hugged and kissed on both cheeks. Our men took the places of French platoons that were sent back to rest billets. ”

“ Now Marsten is quite well aware of Gibbons’s supposed influence with me, and will likely commit the error of thinking I have some arrangement with the ex-secretary. In the heat of a discussion he may give voice to his belief, and that will be an error, for no man is so righteously indignant at such a charge as the virtuous individual who would have sold himself if he could. It’s going to be an interesting struggle, Edna. ”

“ In all that expanse of quiet night, there was not a single flicker of light, and at that time not a sound to indicate that unmentionable numbers of our men were facing one another in parallel ditches across the silent moor.
"See that clump of trees way out there?" said the lieutenant, directing our vision with his arm. "Now then, hold your hand at arm's length in front of you, straight along a line from your eyes along the left edge of your hand to that clump of trees. Now then, look right along the right edge of your hand and you will be looking at Richecourt. The Boche hold it. ”

“ It was resolved that they convene a meeting at once, not waiting for nightfall (hoping in this way to deprive Marsten of any credit that might accrue from the surrender) , and march the men in a body from the hall to the works, where the committee, with the exception of Gibbons, would precede them, to induce the manager to open the gates. Gibbons would then be able to say that he, not Marsten, had ended the strike; and he might even enact the rôle of a benefactor, who had sacrificed his own feelings in the interests of the men. ”

“ They are the toughest set of undersized gentry that I have run into in France. They have forearms as big as three-inch shells, and as hard. Their favourite pastime is juggling hand-grenades that can't possibly explode unless they just lightly touch one another. ”

“ However, that which impressed the French people was the individual appearance of these samples of American manhood. Our men were tall and broad and brawny. They were young and vigorous. Their eyes were keen and snappy. Their complexions ranged in shade from the swarthy sun-tanned cheeks of border veterans to the clear pink skins of city youngsters. But most noticeable of all to the French people were the even white rows of teeth which our men displayed when they smiled. Good dentistry and clean mouths are essentially American. ”

“ The rider on the cycle was bending close over his handle bars and apparently giving her all there was in her, but the bulky figure that filled to overflowing the side car, rode with his head well back.
At every irregularity in the road, the bathtub contraption bounced on its springs, bow and stern rising and falling like a small ship in a rough sea. Its nearer approach revealed that the giant torso apparent above its rim was encased in a double breasted khaki garment which might have marked the wearer as either the master of a four in hand or a Mississippi steamboat of the antebellum type. ”

“ I winced as he deliberately tore the paper from that precious fine smoke and inserted the filler in his mouth for a chew.
"You see, England and France and us is all Allies," he said. "Both of them loves us and we love both of them. We don't know nothing about gas masks and [122] they knows all there is to know about them. The French say their gas mask is the best. The British say their gas mask is the best.
"Well, you see, they both offer us gas masks. Now Uncle Sam don't want to hurt nobody's feelings, so he says, 'Gentlemen, we won't fight about this here matter. ”

“ While I wondered at this prosaic method of identification, an American soldier came around the corner of the church, lighted a cigarette and sat down on an old tombstone.
"Stick around if you want to hear something good," he said, "That is if that last shell didn't bust the organ. There's a French poilu who has come up here every afternoon at five o'clock for the last three days and he plays the sweetest music on the organ. It certainly is great. ”