Pall

“ Yet, it is most fitting that the material of the pall should be altogether congruous with its origin, and consist of a strip of linen, about as long as the width of the corporal, folded up in one square, stitched at the edges, and stiffened with starch. The size of the pall should not exceed the diameter of the paten.
The purificator is a piece of fine white linen about thirteen inches square, hemmed with a narrow hem, and having a small equal-armed cross embroidered in white thread in the middle. The purificator is folded in three parts lengthwise, i. ”

“ For where a grave had opened wide, There was no grave at all: Only a stretch of mud and sand By the hideous prison-wall, And a little heap of burning lime, That the man should have his pall. For he has a pall, this wretched man, Such as few men can claim: Deep down below a prison-yard, Naked, for greater shame, He lies, with fetters on each foot, Wrapt in a sheet of flame! And all the while the burning lime Eats flesh and bone away, It eats the brittle bones by night, And the soft flesh by day, It eats the flesh and bone by turns, But it eats the heart alway. ”

“ There is a little button of lead sewn into the ends of the tails to make them hang properly.
The pall never displayed that tendency to elaborate adornment which distinguished the other vestments of the mediaeval age. Doubtless the fact that all palls were made at Rome, and but few were made at a time, prevented any great change in fashion. Some differences are, notwithstanding, noticeable. In the earliest representations of tailed palls there is to be seen a single cross at the {99} end of each tail; the same cross is to be seen worked on early oraria and mappulae. ”

“ The veil, which should be made of silk, may be about twenty-four inches square, and thus large enough to cover the chalice and paten and touch the corporal on all sides; yet it will suffice if the veil be not more than sixteen or eighteen inches square, and cover only the anterior part of the chalice. For material, a silk that is light in weight, and which will fall in graceful folds on all sides, and not over burden the pall, is to be preferred. ”

“ I made the bird alight on the bust of Pallas, also for the effect of contrast between the marble and the plumage—it being understood that the bust was absolutely suggested by the bird—the bust of Pallas being chosen, first, as most in keeping with the scholarship of the lover, and, secondly, for the sonorousness of the word, Pallas, itself. ”

“ Pale poppies were broidered on the silk coverlet of the bed, as though they had fallen from the tired hands of sleep, and tall reeds of fluted ivory bare up the velvet canopy, from which great tufts of ostrich plumes sprang, like white foam, to the pallid silver of the fretted ceiling. A laughing Narcissus in green bronze held a polished mirror above its head. ”

“ A cradle stood in the place which formerly the toilet-table had occupied--ah, what a cradle--a dream of a cradle! A basket with a canopy of green silk, hung with a long, transparent lace veil, a costly nest for a young bird whose little eyes must be shielded, by all kinds of tender devices, from the bright light, which perhaps later would pain him so! ”

“ Fig. 8.
hang a pail of water, by means of a stick, upon the side of a table" (fig. 8) . Now I have here a table, a piece of stick, and a pail, and the proposition is, how can that pail be hung to the edge of this table? It is to be done, and can you at all anticipate what arrangement I shall make to enable me to succeed? Why this. I take a stick, and put it in the pail between the bottom and the horizontal piece of wood, and thus give it a stiff handle, and there it is; and what is more, the more water I put into the pail the better it will hang. ”

“ Turkish towels are an excellent illustration of pile weaving. A pile surface is a closely set, elastic face covering various kinds of [Pg 63] woolen, silk, and cotton fabrics, and consists of threads standing close together, either in the form of loops or as erect thread-ends sheared off smooth so as to form a uniform and even surface. In the production of a pile fabric a third thread is introduced into the weaving and formed into loops usually by carrying it over the wires laid across the breadth of the cloth. ”

“ As soon as they saw this blood-red ball of fabulous size roll into the entrance to the river, every man stooped, seized a hot stone, and crying aloud, threw it with all his force against the rolling ball. ”

“ Sometimes the spiral starts within the bowl; sometimes it winds round the base of the bowl; but always the ornamentation becomes a trellis-work or network when it fills up the whole stem; when it does not fill up the whole stem, it meanders down it medially, in one substantial spiral, like a corkscrew or a rope, or in two that interlace: and in the finest examples the finger can feel no ridging of the surface at all, though a slight ridging is palpable in many glasses. Now all this meant splendid workmanship—English aptitude at handicraft, the best of its kind in the world. ”

“ Having no leaden balls, they attach a heavy stone to each end of a cord about thirty yards long. If they wish to capture an animal, they hurl one of the stones at it with singular address. By the peculiar art with which the ball is thrown, the rope makes a turn or two round the neck of the animal, which remains entangled, without the power of escaping. In order to show the power of this weapon, I took aim at the trunk of a tree which they pointed out. ”

“ It is a giddy height to fall from down to the stone pavement below, where the ringers stand. Their ropes are bound round with list or cloth, or some such thing, for a better grasp for the hand. High as it is to this the first floor, if you should attempt to ring one of these bells, and forget to let the rope slip quickly, it will jerk you almost to the ceiling: thus many a man has broken his bones close to the font where he was christened as a child. ”

“ There was a scarred and battered and ancient billiard-table in the garret, and along with it a peck of checked and chipped balls, and a rackful of crooked and headless cues. I played solitaire up there every day with that difficult outfit. The table was not level, but slanted sharply to the southeast; there wasn't a ball that was round, or would complete the journey you started it on, but would always get tired and stop half-way and settle, with a jolty wabble, to a standstill on its chipped side. ”

“ The whipping-post and pillory is a sturdy bit of timber a foot square. Eight or nine feet from the ground it pierces a small platform, and five feet above this there is a cross-piece which contains in each of its two arms a hole for the neck and two holes for the wrists of the man who is to be pilloried. ”

“ Running through a staple in the ceiling is a rope, and to the end of this rope he attaches the can, hoisting it until it swings a dozen feet above your head. Hanging from a hole in the side of the can is a cord. ”

“ Every time you come to see me you must bring a skein of silk with you, and I will make a ladder of them, and when it is finished I will climb down by it, and you will take me away on your horse.’
They arranged that, till the ladder was ready, he was to come to her every evening, because the old woman was with her during the day. ”

“ A creek subject to the tide.
PILCHARD. The Clupea pilchardus, a fish allied to the herring, which appears in vast shoals off the Cornish coast about July.
PILE. A pyramid of shot or shell.—To pile arms, is to plant three fire-locks together, and unite the ramrods, to steady the outspread butt-ends of the pieces resting on the ground. A pile is also a beam of wood driven into the ground to form by a number a solid foundation for building upon. A sheeting-pile has more breadth than thickness, and is much used in constructing coffer-dams. ”

“ In the other end of the table, where the like hole is made, another boy of the bigness of the known boy must be placed, having on his usual apparel: he must lean or lie upon the board, and must put his head under the board, through the side hole, so as the body shall seem to lie on the end of the board, and his head lie in a plate on the other end. ”

“ A table near the bed had been overturned and broken,—a knife of very peculiar form, bent and distorted, lay conspicuously upon the pillow, as if placed there on purpose to attract notice, and the carpet, on which a pool of congealed blood had gathered, was likewise strewed with money, rings, bijouterie, trinkets, and plate. ”

“ When the surface of a piled fabric is irregular, also when cut and looped pile are used in combination, design is no longer dependent upon colour, for in the former case pile threads are only lifted over wires where required, at other places a flat texture is formed. In the latter case the entire surface of a fabric is covered with pile, but if the figure is cut and the ground looped the pattern will be distinct. ”

“ The mat is woven like the other mat and basket until it is three and a half inches in diameter, when the edge is bound off. Bring each spoke across the next one and press it down beside the next, as in the border of the basket, except that the long end is not cut off, but brought out between the fourth and fifth rows of weaving on the under side of the mat. The loops of the border are drawn [45] in so that they will not be more than a quarter of an inch beyond the weaving. ”

“ The little brass bowls they carry on hip or at arm's length glitter with lights that hit the eye like electric sparks. One figure alone would make an artist's study for days. The colour from the red soil reflects under their raised arms and under their cheeks and into the classic folds of their draperies, strong blue, and deep red, in their shadows and throw up rich reflections [Pg 148] to the undersides of the wet earthenware bowls; the water laps over their brims, and the sky reflects like sapphire on their upper surfaces.... ”

“ The material being prepared, each child is supplied either with a small flat board, slate, cloth, or strong paper, to cover the part of the table used; a small blunt elastic knife, and a portion of the plastic material. The child is first left to pursue the bent of its own inclinations, generally the roller and the ball are the first objects attempted. In their formation the child finds great delight. ”

“ Palai and his father each carried a club, tied to the waist by deer-skin strings, a knife, and a long wooden spear with a stone head. It was a great honor for a boy to be allowed to hunt the cave-bear; only very brave men attacked this beast, so Palai felt proud. ”

“ Chapter 5 BOFFIN’S BOWER
Over against a London house, a corner house not far from Cavendish Square, a man with a wooden leg had sat for some years, with his remaining foot in a basket in cold weather, picking up a living on this wise:—Every morning at eight o’clock, he stumped to the corner, carrying a chair, a clothes-horse, a pair of trestles, a board, a basket, and an umbrella, all strapped together. ”

“ By means of the fixed pulley a man may raise himself to a considerable height, or descend to any proposed depth. If he be placed in a chair or bucket attached to one end of a rope which is carried over a fixed pulley, by laying hold of this rope on the other side, as represented in fig. 115., he may, at will, descend to a depth equal to half of the entire length of the rope, by continually yielding rope on the one side, and depressing the bucket or chair by his weight on the other. ”

“ Cann, setting down the pail, "you may have it if you choose; but you must take it out to the barn to do your dyeing, so as not to muss things around here. I'll put it into some little pails that you can carry." ”

“ The earth is best left in the carrying basket, which is laid in the roped basket at the bottom, and taken out of it at the surface. If the pit is rotten and wide at the top, the basket has to be swung across the top two or three times, until on letting the ropes loose it flies out 10 or 20 feet to the side of the pit, where it is caught by the emptying boy. ”

“ Properties.—Three wooden billets; a flat stone about six inches in diameter or square; forty stones about as "big as a fist" or like pieces of wood; as many sticks for markers as there are players; counters to score the game.
Directions.—The three billets, called pa-tol sticks, are made four and a half inches long, one inch wide and half an inch in thickness; it is important that the wood from which they are made be firm and hard. ”

“ Then the man being laid on the sound side, we bring the sound leg between the two posts below the piece of wood corresponding to the step of a ladder, while the affected one is brought above it, so that the head of the thigh is to be adapted to it; but a folded garment is to be first wrapped about it to prevent the thigh from being bruised. ”

“ TAke a ball and lay it on the Table, and holding a knife in one hand by the blade, desire some body to take the Ball that is upon the Table, & lay it upon the haft of the knife, pretending that you will blow it thence invisibly, and when he is laying it on, take him a good rap on the knuckles. ”

“ A boy or young man is selected, placed on a ladder or pole, and carried shoulder-height round the town, the people who accompany him having armed themselves with every homely instrument whence noise can be extracted—poker and tongs, kettles and frying-pans, old tin pots, and so forth. ”

“ All the resources of the plate-basket are brought into use, and knives, forks, tumblers, wine-glasses, German silver and Britannia metal, are collected and borrowed, and furbished up, to grace the evening’s entertainment with a magnificence becoming the occasion. ”

“ Draw with a pencil a circle on the bottom of the bowl, about an inch in from the edge all around, and scrape, with the sharpest wooden tool, a layer of clay out of the bottom within the circle, so that the outside ring shall form a ridge about one-sixteenth of an inch above it. ”