Willem Barentsz

“ In being made subordinate to a nobleman like Jacob van Heemskerck, who, though no seaman by profession, had already sailed with him, and had thus had an opportunity of learning and appreciating his many estimable qualities, Barents, a man of humble birth, could however in no wise have felt himself humiliated or aggrieved. ”

“ The states-general then resolved to send another expedition to prosecute the search for a passage, and on the 2nd of July 1595 seven ships sailed from the Maas for that purpose under the leadership of the dauntless Willem Barendszoon. There was another man in that fleet whose name stands high on the roll of Dutch heroes, Jacob van Heemskerk, who went on this occasion as supercargo of a ship of Amsterdam. But ice again obstructed the passage, and having done all that was possible to get through it, the explorers were compelled to put about and entered the Maas on the 18th of November. ”

“ As they passed Icy Cape, a headland of Alaska, latitude 70° 20 ́ N., longitude 161° 46 ́ W., Barentz asked to be lifted [17] up to see it once more, and the dying man’s eyes rested with pleasure upon its cheerless coast.
On the twentieth day of June, Barentz was told that a man in the other boat named Claes Andriz was near death. He remarked he would not long survive his comrade. He was examining at the moment a chart of the countries and objects they had seen on their voyage. He turned to Gerard de Veer, who had made this chart, and asked him for something to drink. ”

“ Stimulated by the spirit of adventure and the love of science far more than by the hope of gaining a pecuniary prize, the undaunted Barendz, who was firm in the faith that a pathway existed by the north of Nova Zembla and across the pole to farthest Ind, determined to renew the attempt the following summer. The city of Amsterdam accordingly, early in the year 1596, fitted out two ships. Select crews of entirely unmarried men volunteered for the enterprise. ”

“ If he comes back alive this evening he’ll have gained a triumph that will be of service to him, perhaps as long as he lives. There’s nothing like showing you don’t care a snap o’ your finger for threats of that kind. Barnett is as brave a fellow as ever I saw. ”

“ They were the old seaman and Edward Barnett, the village landlady's eccentric nephew.
'A plague upon my awkward riding,' said the seaman, 'we are too late! They have taken him, and that rascal too with him! Fool that he was to place any confidence in such a hound.'
'He had been kind to Tom's mother,' said Edward, 'and he supposed that gratitude.'
'Bah!' said the sailor; 'when you have buffeted as many of the storms of life as I have, you will learn that gratitude is rarely found on earth—least of all in such a brutified nature as that fellow's. But why do I blame him? ”

“ The survivor looked around him, then into Barnett's face, and his mind too, traversed the years. "North Dakota?" he queried.
"No; I've changed my ship," said Barnett. "This is the Wolverine."
"Where's the Laughing Lass?"
Barnett shook his head.
"Tell me," begged Slade.
"Wait till you're stronger," admonished Trendon.
"Can't wait," said the weak voice. The eyes grew wild.
"Mr. Barnett, tell him the bare outline and make it short," said the surgeon. ”

“ Barnett looked at Trendon.
"Volcanic?" he said.
"'Mine eyes have seen the coming of the glory of the Lord,'" muttered the surgeon in his deep bass, as he looked forth upon the streaming, radiant heavens. "It's like nothing else."
In the west the splendour and the terror shot to the zenith. Barnett whirled the wheel. The ship responded perfectly.
"I though she might be bewitched, too," he murmured.
"You may head her for the light, Mr. Barnett," said Captain Parkinson calmly. He had come from his cabin, all his nervous depression gone in the face of an imminent and visible danger. ”

“ Barnum, who had been an interested listener. "A New York policeman could have managed that quartet with one hand."
"Then," said Shakespeare, "in the opinion of you gentlemen, we old-time lions would appear to modern eyes to be more or less stuffed?"
"That’s about the size of it," said Carlyle.
"But you’d draw," said Barnum, his face lighting up with pleasure. "You’d drive a five-legged calf to suicide from envy. If I could take you and Cæsar, and Napoleon Bonaparte and Nero over for one circus season we’d drive the mint out of business." ”

“ Having once broken the subtle barrier which separates individuals and races from one another, Mr Barnett manifested himself a moulder and a maker of things in justly ordered sentences, whereby he settled, within a few moments, permitting no interruption, the nature of the syndicate which would be formed, the few to whom any knowledge of it should be confined, and its object in the laying of a foundation for what was to be the development of the M’Korio. ”

“ Phineas Taylor Barnum, born in 1810, at Bethel, Connecticut—how serious and puritanical it sounds! —would have died with a merely local reputation unless chance had favored him by putting in his way something to make a hit with. He stumbled across Charles H. Stratton, the famous, the immortal 'General Tom Thumb' of our childhood. Together they came to Europe and held 'receptions' everywhere. It was the moment when the Queen's eldest children were in the nursery, and Barnum saw that a fortune depended on his bringing them into friendly relations with Tom Thumb. ”

“ Barnum had been the friend of the poor, and his hospitalities had been extended to men of every State in the Union. The citizens of Bridgeport should be proud to claim as one of their citizens P. T. Barnum. His name was written upon every charity in their city, and the temples of God bore its impress. By a few fell strokes of an ugly pen, he has been drawn into that whirlpool of destruction to himself and almost destruction to many in the city. ”

“ I have naturally a very good brain, but it is rusty from want of use. All our brains are rusty. But what is it I want? Oh yes—Roger. In his study, my dear? Let us all go—yes. Where are my glasses, and my gloves? Please put them in your pocket until I go, Arthur. I cannot afford to lose them as I used to do. Down, children! down!”
She took Mrs. North’s arm, and with Mr. Fothersley on her other hand and the dogs in full chorus, started across the lawn toward the house.
“Well played, Violet! well played! The child’s as good as ever at it. But where were we going? Oh yes—I must have Roger. ”

“ Barnum was a master in the science of humbugging the public, and did not disclaim that distinction, it must be said in justice to him that in the course of his long professional career he gave the people more for their money than any other showman, living or dead. ”

“ Every once in a while something interests me. The thing is a sort of instinct. I run it down. If it's a good story, I send it in. That's all there is to it." He laughed slightly. "You see, I'm a sort of magazine writer in method, but my stuff is newspaper stuff. Also the game suits me. That's why I play it. That's why I'm here. I have to tell you about myself this way so you will understand how I came to be mixed up in this Laughing Lass matter."
"I remember," commented Barnett, "that when you came aboard the South Dakota, you had a little trouble making Captain Arnold see it." ”

“ Barnum to come to us was a very cold and forbidding one in February. A snow-storm, the most formidable one of the winter, sprang up to apparently thwart the success of the performance; and so certain was Mr. Barnum that nobody would appear to hear him, he offered not only to release me from the contract between us, but, in addition to that, would pay me the price I was to pay him, or more, to be permitted to return to New York. "There is nothing on earth I hate to do so much," said he, "as to lecture to empty benches." ”

“ If Mr. Barnum had erred, it was only an error of judgment [Cheers] . He sympathized with Mr. Barnum. He had talents which would cope with those of most of the human race. He did not believe that there was a man in the city who had so little soul as to begrudge a tear to him in his misfortune [loud applause] . They should at least send him assurance that there were thousands of hearts in his own city which appreciated his noble benevolence, and loved and honored his character.
Mr. Noble read the following letter from Mr. Barnum:
"NEW YORK, April 25th, 1856. ”

“ Not until one leg dangles in the grave is their raison d'être disclosed. The round people always find themselves sticking in the square holes, and vice versa; but with Barnum we need not deplore a vie manquée. We can smile at his reverses, for even the phænix has cause to blush in his presence. Though pursued by tongues of fire, Barnum remains invincible when iron, stone, and mortar crumble around him ”

“ Barnato himself gained a high reputation in Kimberley as Matthias. A very well-known South African was making a first visit to England and his friends, wishing to show him all the sights, booked seats for the Lyceum on a night when Irving was producing “The Bells.” “Oh, let’s go somewhere else,” said the colonist; “I have seen Barney Barnato as Matthias, and I do not want to see anyone else.” Barnato told this story to Irving, and the great actor replied: “Such is fame.”
The military instinct is very strong amongst the Zulus. ”

“ Often they had to drag their boats over fields of ice, to tie them down lest they should be carried away by the wind, to gather themselves together in a close group in the midst of the snow in order to resist the cold, to call to each other through the dense fog, and hold together in the fear of being scattered and lost, and to gather courage from each other's touch. All did not resist such tremendous trials of their strength. Barendz himself, who was not well when he embarked, felt, after a few days, his end approaching and told his companions. ”

“ When anyone belonging to them dies, they keep a 40lamp burning for a year. The flame is never allowed to go out. It is a symbol. A symbol of the Life Eternal. All the years of the war Raphael Goltz kept this lamp burning for the men who went West. You see it is in the west window. And now I keep it burning for him. You don’t think he would mind, although my poor old master was a German Jew, racially?”
She looked up at North anxiously, as they stood side by side before the lamp.
“Not Dick—certainly not Dick!” said North. Ruth heaved a sigh of relief. ”

“ But her most striking beauty is her rich olive complexion. Her appearance conjures up Zuleima and Zuleika, and the enchanted beauties of the East; but it must be observed that the district judge's wife wears a cross upon a chain round her throat, and that she has printed upon her calling-cards, "Christine von Negrusz."
Strange to say, these cards form her sole connection with other people. She has no visitors, and she visits no one. Between her and the world of Barnow there is a limit of acquaintance, past which neither she nor they try to step. ”

“ The Washington House, at Havana, where they lived for some time, was characterized by Mr. Barnum as "first-rate bad!"
From Cuba they returned to New Orleans, and thence to New York by way of the Mississippi river, St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati and Pittsburg. And then, in May, 1848, it was agreed that Barnum should travel no more with the little General. "I had," says Barnum, "competent agents who could exhibit him without my personal assistance, and I preferred to relinquish a portion of the profits rather than continue to be a travelling showman. ”

“ But one can be anything these days.”
“She is of gentle birth,” said Mr. Fothersley. “Her mother, I gather, was a Courthope, and the Seers seem to be quite good people—Irish I believe—but of good blood. It always tells.”
“You never know which way,” said her Ladyship sagely. “Now look at my Uncle Marcus. Oh, there is Miss Seer. Yes—I really don’t think we need worry. It would be difficult to be rude to her. There, you see—dear Nita is being quite nice! And Roger is quite safe with Condor and the pigs.”
It was indeed late in the afternoon before North came upon Ruth, watching a set of tennis. ”

“ Mr. Fothersley fumbled for his glasses. “Yes, and those wretched little blue-tits everywhere—the worst offenders in the garden. Even the blossom is not safe from them. Madness to encourage them with coconuts and bacon-rind. But as I said, poor Dick——”
By this time Mr. Fothersley had his glasses firmly planted across the bridge of his nose. He could see the pool plainly, and in addition to several blue-tits, two round cherub faces, open-mouthed, very still, hanging over the edge of the bank.
“Good heavens! What are those?” he exclaimed.
“Only two small visitors of mine,” said Ruth, smiling. ”

“ Pithey removed his large pale presence to where his Rolls-Royce car awaited him in the front drive.
“I know you will forgive me, dear lady,” said Mr. Fothersley, his voice trembling with emotion, “if I do not see them off.”
“Indeed, yes!” exclaimed Mrs. North. The allusion to the margarine factory had made her hot all over. “What perfectly hateful people! 71He did nothing but talk, and she did nothing but eat!”
Lady Condor arose briskly from her chair, scattering West Highlanders around her.
“Where is Roger?” she demanded. ”

“ Barnum thought that the reason why his exhibitions were not better patronized here was that the people were too frugal to spend much money for mere amusements. "But they and their habits and ways afforded us so much amusement, that we were quite willing they should give our entertainment the 'go by,' as they generally did. We were in Amsterdam at the season of 'Kremis,' or the annual fair, which is held in all the principal towns, and where shows of all descriptions are open, at prices for admission ranging from one to five pennies, and are attended by nearly the whole population. ”