Mr. Rogers

“ Rogers was the local dealer in anchors and other marine ironwork. The door of the shop was locked and there was a yell for axes to burst it open.
Then arose an agonized shriek of “Don't chop! don't chop!” and Mr. Rogers himself came struggling to the defense of his property. In concert the instant need was explained to him, but he remained unconvinced.
“We can't stay here arguin' all night!” roared one of the leaders. “He's got to let us in. Go ahead and chop! I'll hold him.”
“I give you fair warnin', Squealer Wixon! If you chop that door, I'll have the law onto you. ”

“ Rogers (with her nine small children) stands by in triumph, looking with delight at as much of her husband as is not hidden by the rolls of calico, the motive of the picture, — the complete triumph of piety over pain in both Mr. Rogers and his worthy spouse, — is as conspicuous as is the scoffing disposition of the soldiers who are on guard at the stake. ”

“ When I thought Bertie had talked enough I took Mr. Rogers for a walk in the forest—and, by the way, it was he who called my attention to the ground pine. He was delightfully solicitous lest I get my feet wet, or catch cold; and when you have been watching over some one else for two years, who is, also, quite the centre of all that sort of thing, you find such solicitude rather fascinating. Mr. Rogers is a widower, by the way, and I have heard that American women train their husbands excellently. ”

“ Rogers bought one of these placards for his cousin.
'It just shows,' observed Minks, whom he was taking out with him.
'Shows what?' inquired his master.
'How many more thoughtful people there are about, sir, than one had any idea of,' was the reply. 'The public mind is looking for something of that kind, expecting it even, though it hardly knows what it really wants. That's a story, Mr. Rogers, that must change the point of view of all who read it—with understanding. It makes the commonest man feel he is a hero.'
'You've put our things into a non-smoker, Minks,' the other interrupted him. ”

“ Rogers's Opinion, that it was only sacrificing the Men to no Purpose; for they had so large a Mark of us, they could not miss us; and during all the Engagement, as they play'd their Shot so hot at our Stern, it is surprizing there were not many more Men Kill'd. I then sent for my Second and Third Mate, and told them Mr. Rogers's Opinion and my own. They both agreed to it, and consented to the surrendering of the Ship. So we submitted to the Enemy, finding it in vain to proceed. ”

“ I look sixty and I feel sixty, but I am a hundred and four and your grandfather. Don't let appearances make you forget that. Rogers says I'm safe to get in. Then I shall wake this place up a bit, and say a thing or two that wants saying."
He had Mr. Rogers and his wife and daughter in to dine. "Socially they are nothing," my grandpapa admitted; "but when you're running for a public appointment you must be all things to all men, and not disdain to make use of mere canaille." ”

“ Hundreds of homes will have a shadow on them many years. Children are fatherless and motherless. Men and women are weeping. The whole world about us is poorer and sadder, and there is no compensation which can reach the case. Here was our fellow-townsman, Mr. Rogers, in the prime of his life, steady and true as the day, a man whose bond you would not want if you had his word, or even his word if you knew he had made up his mind. ”

“ Rogers on his energy, his foresightedness, complimented him in various ways, and he has deserved those compliments, although I say it myself; and I enjoy them all. There is one side of Mr. Rogers that has not been mentioned. If you will leave that to me I will touch upon that. There was a note in an editorial in one of the Norfolk papers this morning that touched upon that very thing, that hidden side of Mr. Rogers, where it spoke of Helen Keller and her affection for Mr. Rogers, to whom she dedicated her life book. ”

“ It was useless for Ned to protest that he was not a burglar, nor a burglar's partner, or to tell the true story of the ladder, or to ask to be taken to his father. The policeman considered himself too wise for any such delusive tricks.
"Mr. Rogers's boy, eh?" said he. "Why don't you call yourself George Washington's boy, while you're about it?"
"Washington never had any boys," said Ned.
"Didn't eh? Well, now, I congratulate George on that. A respectable man never knows what his sons may come to, in these times."
"Washington didn't live in these times," said Ned ”

“ You will be doing a good work. He has several at Umvalosa, and at Pieter’s Kop, and Spielman’s Vley, and Landman’s Drift, and several other places. Mr Rogers is one of those who make a good use of the means entrusted to them. ”

“ Campbell may be said to hold a place (among modern poets) between Lord Byron and Mr. Rogers. With much of the glossy splendour, the pointed vigour, and romantic interest of the one, he possesses the fastidious refinement, the classic elegance of the other. ”

“ He had learned some law, and after he was fifty-five years old acquired a good reading knowledge of the Latin language. Judge McMaster, who knew him well, said: “There was no man in this society in his time of so much intellectual culture as Mr. Rogers except the minister, and not always excepting him.”
Mr. Rogers’s son Jabez was long a resident of the village, as was his grandson, Perry P. Rogers, whose later life was spent in Binghamton where he died in 1894, to the regret of every person who had known him. He had a most intimate knowledge of the early settlers of this part of the valley. ”

“ The sergeant suggested that perhaps the neighbours might extend hospitality.
"Who is going to take in eleven people?" shouted Mr. Rogers. "We shall all starve!"
At this announcement the Rogerses, who were all sturdy trenchermen, set up such a howl as to bring Mrs. Rogers and the other maid out of the omnibus. ”

“ You've done enough, Allen!" he exclaimed. "Leave life in the scoundrel so we can get the truth out of him."
CHAPTER XVIII A SEA COURT
"Mr. Rogers, take the deck!" commanded Captain Hamilton sharply. "You bullies, get forward with you!" he added to the curious men of the watch. "Don't any of you lose sight of the fact that if it were a seaman instead of a passenger who attacked Mr. Ditty, he'd be in the chain-locker now.
"Drew, you and Tyke come below with me. When you've washed your face, Mr. Ditty, I want to see you there too. Mr. Rogers!" ”

“ At this time the sea was breaking in at the fore part of the ship, and reached as far as the main-mast, and Captain Pierce gave Mr Rogers a nod, and they took a lamp, and went together into the stern gallery, and after viewing the rocks for some time, Captain Pierce asked Mr. Rogers, if he thought there was any possibility of saving the girls, to which he replied, he feared there was not, for they could only discover the black face of the perpendicular rock, and not the cavern which afforded shelter to those who escaped ”

“ I lost Susy thirteen years ago; I lost her mother—her incomparable mother!—five and a half years ago; Clara has gone away to live in Europe; and now I have lost Jean. How poor I am, who was once so rich! Seven months ago Mr. Rogers died—one of the best friends I ever had, and the nearest perfect, as man and gentleman, I have yet met among my race; within the last six weeks Gilder has passed away, and Laffan—old, old friends of mine. Jean lies yonder, I sit here; we are strangers under our own roof; we kissed hands good-by at this door last night—and it was forever, we never suspecting it. ”

“ Rogers,' glance round with one eye on his employer and another on a possible chair, seat himself with a sigh that meant 'I have written a new poem in the night, and would love to read it to you if I dared,' then flatten out his oblong note-book and look up, expectant and receptive. Rogers would say 'Good morning, Mr. Minks. We've got a busy day before us. ”

“ The next day I heard little May Rogers telling another child about it. This was her story:
"You see, brother Fay and brother Neddie, they drived a nail in the wood-shed door; and Biddy, she lended Mr. Robbins's axe; and then Papa, he got besited; and so we haven't any wood-shed door any more."
Meanwhile, the preparations for the horizontal balloon ascension had gone on. But, as Ned remarked long ago, nothing could be done without capital, and he was obliged to make another business call upon his Aunt Mercy.
"What's new down at your house?" said she, after the greetings were over. ”

“ Rogers, on gaining this station, was so nearly exhausted, that had his exertions been protracted only a few minutes longer, he must have sunk under them. He was now prevented from joining Mr. Meriton, by at least twenty men between them, none of whom could move, without the imminent peril of his life.
‘They found that a very considerable number of the crew, seamen and soldiers, and some petty officers, were in the same situation as themselves, though many who had reached the rocks below, perished in attempting to ascend. ”

“ Street. In 1793 the firm name was Rogers & Woolsey, his partner being William Walter Woolsey, his brother-in-law, Mr. Rogers having married Sarah Woolsey, a sister of the wife of President Dwight of Yale College. In that year he was living at 272 Pearl Street, near Beekman, “in a large house with hanging garden extending over the yard and stable.”6
Mr. Rogers was a merchant of high character and public spirit. In 1793 he was an active member of the Society for the Manumission of Slaves. He was a governor of the New York Hospital from 1792 to 1799, and in 1797 treasurer of the City Dispensary. ”

“ Rogers got to be extremely wealthy; and though it was said of him, by his old neighbors in general, that his great fortune did not seem to make him vain as a man, or render him less approachable than before, it was evident that he prized his good luck most of all for the contrast which it established between him—now the man of abundant leisure and great wealth—and Mr. Hague, still the plodding, though well-to-do, apothecary. ”

“ Rogers, being approached tentatively by the doctor in his friend’s behalf, shook his head and thanked his stars he had nothing to leave. He had enjoyed his money, he said.
They mended slowly as they approached Hong-kong, though a fit of temper on Mr. Mackenzie’s part, during which he threw out ominous hints about having his money back, led to a regrettable relapse in his case. He was still in bed when they came to anchor in the harbour; but the skipper and his second officer were able to go above and exchange congratulations from adjoining deck-chairs. ”

“ Mr. Burton and Aunt Mercy were married on Wednesday quietly at her house, and none of the boys were there except Phaeton and Ned. Roderick Ayr and Miss Glidden were married next morning in church, and all the boys were there.
In the arrangements for this wedding, it was planned that there should be no bridesmaids and no best man, though it was then the fashion to have them,—but four ushers. Jack had asked Phaeton and Ned Rogers, Isaac Holman, and me, to officiate in this capacity; and we, with a few of the other boys, met in the printing-office to talk it over. ”

“ Rogers returned from his drive and received us in the dining-room. He said, "Mr. Hamerton, I think I've seen you before," but I said he was mistaken, so he held out his hand and went on: "Well then, I'm very glad to see you now, especially so well introduced. Have you been all over the house? You have the honor of knowing a very distinguished artist. ”

“ She could have cooked me up a hot Introduction. She would have draped the first few paragraphs with Tiger skins, and described me in such a way that I would have really looked like something. So I just says to myself, why monkey with these writers, why not write my own Introduction? So here goes.
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I have known Mr. Rogers for years and have long been familiar with his Literary masterpieces, both in Novels, and in Books of technical knowledge. I think there are few writers of Poetry or prose today who equal him, and I am certain he is surpassed by none. ”

“ Robert Knowlesman to succeed Mr. John Rogers, who being deceased, these we approve as the fittest Men to be Members of a Committee in their Places; and having at the same time consider’d the Necessity of cleaning our Ships, we do desire Capt. Courtney to use all manner of Dispatch to get ready for a Careen, and that the Men and Officers assist him as much as possible, and then he to assist the Duke, as soon as his Ship is compleated, and off the Careen, because one Ship
At Gorgona.
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ought to be in a Readiness to protect the other, whilst on a Careen, in case we be attack’d by the Enemy. ”

“ What do you think of the idea, Rogers?"
Rogers coughed discreetly. "Well, sir, I've certainly heard it said that there's room out there for anyone who really wants to work."
Mr Rowland gazed at him with interest and admiration. "Very neatly put, Rogers. Just what I was thinking myself. I shan't go to Australia-not today, at any rate. Fetch me an ABC, will you? We will select something nearer at hand."
Rogers brought the required volume. George opened it at random and turned the pages with a rapid hand. "Perth-too far away-Putney Bridge-too near at hand. Ramsgate? I think not. ”

“ I really like Rogers, and have always found him most friendly. After many petty delays we set off at last and reached Bushy Grove to dine with my kind and worthy family friend and relative, David Haliburton. I am delighted to find him in all the enjoyment of life, with the vivacity of youth in his sentiments and enjoyments. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell Marjoribanks are the only company here, with Miss Parker.
May 27.—Well, my retreat from London is now accomplished, and I may fairly balance the advantage and loss of this London trip. ”