Van Horn

“ And here, amidst the fat success and insolence of the sea-people, Van Horn swaggered his way, taking his chance, incapable of believing that he might swiftly die, knowing that he was building good future business in the matter of recruiting labour for the plantations of other adventuring white men on far islands who dared only less greatly than he. ”

“ Van Horn read, his finger marking the place, his eyes alternating watchfully between the writing and the black chief before him, while the black chief himself speculated and studied the chance of getting behind him and, with the single knife-thrust he knew so well, of severing the other's spinal cord at the base of the neck.
"Sati," Van Horn read. "Last monsoon begin about this time, him fella Sati get 'm sick belly belong him too much ”

“ Van Horn retorted harshly, dropping his gun into the stern-sheets, motioning to rowers and steersman to turn the boat around, and puffing his cigar as carelessly casual as if, the moment before, life and death had not been the debate.
"My word," he went on with fine irritable assumption. "What name you stick 'm gun along me? Me no kai-kai (eat) along you. Me kai-kai along you, stomach belong me walk about. You kai-kai along me, stomach belong you walk about. You no like 'm kai-kai Su'u boy belong along you? Su'u boy belong you all the same brother along you. ”

“ That James Van Horn and R.P. Burns had long been conscious or unconscious rivals was known to everybody. Van Horn was not popular with the hospital staff, while Burns might have ordered them all to almost any deed of valour and have been loyally obeyed. But Van Horn's standing in the city was well understood; he was admired and respected as the most imposing and influential figure in the medical profession there represented. ”

“ Van Horn. He was a decade older than Red, possessed a strikingly impressive personality, and looked, to the last detail, like a man accustomed to be deferred to.
Descending, he caught sight of Ellen, and came across to the Imp, hat in hand, and motoring-glove withdrawn.
"Ah, Mrs. Burns,—accompanying your husband on this matchless morning? He is a fortunate man. You don't mind the waiting? My wife thinks there is nothing so unendurable,—she has no patience with the length of my calls." ”

“ His wife has not been inferior to him in zeal, and they are surrounded by a goodly progeny of children, and grand-children, and great-grand-children, who promise to perpetuate the name of Van Horne, until time shall be no more. ”

“ W. C. Van Horne, who was afterwards President of the Railway, and who was knighted for his distinguished services to the Empire as a builder of railways. Van Horne was a somewhat extraordinary composite. I recall having the privilege of being under his guidance around the fine art gallery of Lord Strathcona in Montreal, and had evidence not only of his genial companionship, but of his being an art connoisseur as well as a skilled user of the brush himself. ”

“ In foeman worthy of their steel.”
In any case, Hill’s commendation of Van Horne to Stephen in 1881 was whole hearted and emphatic. Hill said that of all the men he knew Mr. Van Horne was altogether the best equipped, both mentally and every other way. A pioneer was needed, and the more of a pioneer the better. And to this Mr. Hill added, in his message to Stephen, “You need a man of great physical and mental power to carry the line through. Van Horne can do it. But he will take all the authority he gets and more ”

“ Finally Van Hornung said, “It is—still the same up there? The castles and the wonderful people and the—colors? But it would be. The colors—I was an artist once. I think the colors meant most to me. There were so many we do not know.”
“Orelle told me,” Miller said dully. “I wouldn’t believe her. I didn’t want to believe her.”
“There are the legends, Miller,” Van Hornung said. “You and I aren’t the first. We won’t be the last. There have always been stories of humans who visit Paradise for a little while—and leave again. I’m no scientist. ”

“ We put up for the Sabbath at a tavern where none but the servants deign to look at us- When I am with such people, my proud spirit rises & I feel superior to them all— I believe no regard is paid to the sabbath any where in this State- It is only made a holiday of— So much swearing as I have heard amongst the Pensylvanians both men & women I have never heard before during my whole life- I feel afraid I shall become so accustom'd to hearing it, as to feel no uneasiness at it. ”

“ I never will go to New Connecticut with a Deacon again, for we put up at every byeplace in the country to save expence- It is very grating to my pride to go into a tavern & furnish & cook my own provision- to ride in a wagon &c. ”

“ I am every moment expecting something dreadful & dare not lay down my pen lest they should think me listening to them- They are the very worst wretches that ever liv'd, I do believe,—I am out of all patience with them- The whole world nor any thing in it, would tempt me to stay in this State three months- I dislike everything belonging to it—I am not so foolish as to suppose there are no better people in it than those we have seen ”

“ We pass'd through Reading yesterday which is one of the largest & prettiest towns I have seen-We stopt about 2 hours in the town, & I improved my time in walking about to see it- I went into the stores enquiring for a scissor case- Almost every one could talk english- but I believe the greatest part of them were dutch people- As soon as we left Reading, we cross'd the Schuylkill- It was not deeper than the Lehi, & we rode thro' it in our waggon. ”

“ I did not imagine parting with any friend could be so distressing as I found leaving your Mama. I did not know till then, how much I loved her & could I at that moment have retraced my steps! but it was too late to repent— Deacon Wolcott & his wife are very kind, obliging, people, & Miss Wolcott is a very pleasant companion, I do not know what I should do without her. ”

“ We have had better roads to day, but only came 10 miles— Last night we had good beds, but were oblig'd to sleep in the room with the Dr & his father-Mr & Mrs W- of course, as we have determin'd not to sleep out of their room again— The landlord & his wife were extremely clever- they gave us a great many apples & some cherry bounce- Such treatment, after being refus'd even the privilege of getting any victuals,- as we were the night before, was very welcome— The landlord has been a waggoner-"Only look at that now"-A clever waggoner! ”

“ Mr W is I believe a very pious good man, but not naturally pleasant temper'd- religion however, has corrected it in a great degree, but not wholly overcome it- Mrs W- is an amiable sweet temper'd woman, as I ever saw ”

“ The death of her father in 1796, and the subsequent marriage of her mother, was probably the reason for Margaret Dwight being taken by her grandmother, Mary Edwards Dwight, a daughter of Jonathan Edwards, who trained her as her own child in her family in Northampton. The death of her grandmother, February 7, 1807, was the occasion of her going to live in New Haven in the family of her aunt, Elizabeth Dwight, who had married William Walton Woolsey, and whose son was President Theodore Woolsey.
Three years later, in 1810, Margaret Dwight left New Haven to go to her cousins in Warren, Ohio. ”

“ About sunset, we left the baker's & came down to the Creek, but found it was impossible to get over the waggon, & the road was so intolerable between the place we had left & the creek, that we could not go back, & what to do, it took a long time to determine; but at length Mr W concluded we had better come over to a dirty tavern this side, & let Erastus sleep in the wagon— The stream runs so fast, that we did not dare cross it alone, as there was nothing but a log to cross on ”

“ Family tradition adds a personal touch in relating that her home was a center of hospitality and that she herself was active and very vivacious.
The journal of the rough wagon trip to Ohio in 1810 was evidently kept by Margaret Dwight in fulfilment of a promise to her cousin, Elizabeth Woolsey, to whom it was sent as soon as the journey was over. A good many years later the journal was given to a son of the author, and the original is now in the possession of a granddaughter, Miss Katharine Reynolds Wishart of Waterford, Pennsylvania. ”

“ One misfortune follows another, and I fear we shall never reach our journey's end— Yesterday we came about 3 miles— After coming down an awful hill, we were oblig'd to cross a creek; but before we quite came to it, the horses got mired, & we expected every moment one of them would die-but Erastus held his head out of water, while Mr W-was attempting to unharness them, & Mrs W- & Susan were on the bank, calling for help— I sat by, to see the horse breathe his last ”

“ Mr W. made several attempts to dispel & by kind words & phebeish [A] looks but without success; he appears to be a very fond husband. We stopt to eat oats at a Tavern in Fairfield, West Farms, an old Lady came into the room where Miss W. (whose name, by the way, is Susan, not Hannah, Sally, or Abby) & we were sitting. "Well! Gals where are you going?" "To New Connecticut" "You bant tho- To New Connecticut? Why what a long journey! do you ever expect to get there? How far is it?" "Near 600 miles" "Well Gals, you Gals & your husbands with you?" ”

“ Wednesday morn- I have not spent so pleasant an evening this long time as the last- Will you believe me, when I tell you we heard some waggoners conversing upon religious subjects- instead of swearing & cursing- One is an Irish waggoner, & appears to be sensible, well inform'd man- & what is more, has read his bible- 2 clever waggoners! I think I will never condemn a whole race again- I can now, even believe it possible to find a clever Dutchman in Pennsylvania. ”

“ We came but 9 or 10 miles to day, & are now near the 6th Mountain- in a tavern fill'd with half drunken noisy waggoners— One of them lies singing directly before the fire; proposing just now to call for a song from the young ladies—— I can neither think nor write he makes so much noise with his love songs ”

“ Monday morn- We have now I think met with as bad as can befal us— Never, never did I pass such a night—— We could get no bed & for a long time expected to be oblig'd to set up all night- but we could get no room nor fire to stay by, & the landlady was so kind as to give up her bed to us ”

“ Jennyauter-P—Wednesday 2 oclock P M-between 2 brothers——
This morning we cross'd the first mountain call'd first brother, & are in an inn between the first & second brother; the latter we are soon to ascend-The first m-n is 31⁄2 miles over,- better road than we expected- but bad enough to tire the horses almost to death- We met & were overtaken by a number of people— We all walk'd the whole distance over- I did not stop at all to rest till I reach'd the top- I was then oblig'd to wait for some of them to overtake me, as I had outwalk'd them all. ”

“ Jan for his part neither realised nor cared what was happening; it was the end of all things, for him or Evan, if not for them both. Evan would hear of it—and then—and then! But would he hear? Would he, necessarily? Jan glanced at Haigh, and saw something that he almost liked in him at last; something human, after all these years; but only until Haigh saw him and promptly fell upon the flies.
Mulberry meanwhile had knocked the neck off the unopened bottle with a dexterous blow from one of the empties. A fountain of foam leapt up like a plume of smoke ”

“ All at once, Van turns a breaker on its end, jumps on it, and, sticking his arms a-kimbo like a fishwoman, he begins to spout at us; and fine and fierce no doubt he thought he looked in his red nightcap, and belt stuck full of pistols. “Now, my lads,” he says, “we’re going to have some of the good old times over again: take possession of one of the beautiful isles in the Pacific, and sail where we like under the black flag, free as the day, with none of your cursed tyrants to make men sweat blood and work like dogs, but all free and equal. ”

“ The only thought Jan gave him was a twinge of wonder that he could go his ways so briskly with the virtual head of his house lying under sentence of expulsion in the spare room. Heriot was mighty keen on his house, keenly critical and appreciative of every fellow in it, but keener yet on a corporate entity, mysteriously independent of the individuals that made it up, which expressed itself in Jan’s mind as “the house itself.” He too had felt like that about the house cricket and the school Eleven; the best bat got measles, and it was no good giving him another thought. ”

“ Haigh, and in an instant Jan saw him redder than Mulberry himself. It was Haigh with a limp collar and a streaming face. So he had smelt a rat, set a watch, and followed the fly on foot like the old athlete that he was! But how much more like him all the rest! Jan not only came tumbling back into school life, as from that other which was to have been his, but back with a thud into the Middle Remove and all its old miseries and animosities. ”

“ Vanna’s sense of justice pointed out that it was not reasonable to expect a few months’ devotion to eclipse the association of a lifetime; but though reason may convince the brain, it leaves the heart untouched.
Jean had Robert; Miggles had a whole family of adopted children; Mrs Rendall had her son; Piers had—a sharp stab of pain penetrated through the dull misery of her mood, a stab which had pierced her at every recollection of Jean’s light words—“Always at the Van Dusens’—such a pretty daughter—I believe he is in love.” ”