Sack

“ If in coming down the dark and slippery lane at night somebody with a heavy sack stepped out from the shadow at the stile, and if the contents of the sack were rapidly transferred to the shoulder-sticks, or the bag itself bodily taken along—why, there was nobody there to see. ”

“ For illustration, let us suppose we have before us a man with a well-fitting sack,—not one that fits skin-tight at the waist and spreads out below over the seat, but one that is just what the ideal sack should be, which is loose, yet showing the outlines of the form. Say we button it in front, and draw over the waist a tape-line. We shall find that the more we draw it together the looser and wider it will appear to be; and the bottom of the back will become too short, because the line closer to the body requires more length, which in this case will be drawn up from the bottom. ”

“ Some say in your world that sack is a word used in all tongues, and justly admitted in the same sense among all nations; for, as Aesop’s fable hath it, all men are born with a sack at the neck, naturally needy and begging of each other; neither can the most powerful king be without the help of other men, or can anyone that’s poor subsist without the rich, though he be never so proud and insolent; as, for example, Hippias the philosopher, who boasted he could do everything. Much less can anyone make shift without drink than without a sack. ”

“ They adjust it by drawing it close to one side of the body, and by making folds on the other side of all the extra width in proportion to their body. This sack, which by day is a garment—so shameful to decency, because it so ill satisfies it—serves at night for mattress, sheets, and curtain. For on retiring they ungird the sack, and the part which they doubled about the knees they put up to the head. That is all the opulence and comfort that their beds can boast of, which are made of a thin mat. ”

“ A muslin sack large enough to contain a boy of fourteen is handed out for examination, and after the audience are satisfied that the seams are not only secure and perfect, but that its only opening is at the mouth, the performer's assistant gets inside. The sack is gathered over his head, and the mouth tied fast with a silk handkerchief, and then with a tape, the knots of the latter being not only sealed in any way that seems best to the audience, but the ends, which are left long, given to some one to hold. ”

“ Le cul d’un sac et la langue d’une femme gagnent terjoûs.—In former days, when horses were more employed in carrying loads than they are at the present time when carts are in universal use, it was observed that a sack thrown across the back of a horse had a tendency to slip down gradually in the direction opposite to its mouth. ”

“ The sack is made by cutting the skin of the animal along the inside of the thighs, and then, without making any other incision, stripping it over the fore part of the body, the head being previously cut off, the skin of the legs is sewn or knotted up to prevent the escape of air. ”

“ Opening the sack he called aloud, "Every one out!" whereat one soldier after another came forth until there was a great and formidable army. Then the tailor ordered them to pursue the giants and return with his table-cloth. The soldiers obeyed, overtook the twelve men, and, after a fearful struggle, succeeded in slaying them and in recovering the precious article. The little man was well pleased; holding out his sack, he cried, "Every one in!" whereupon the entire army disappeared in the sack. So the tailor went home, contented with his good luck. ”

“ In the first place there are easier ways of terminating one’s life; in the second place a man can jump into the river with perfect ease without going to the trouble [Pg 337] of sewing himself in a sack; and in the third place it is exceedingly difficult for a man to sew himself into a sack. It is almost impossible.
To sew himself into a sack a man must have no little skill, and he must have a large, roomy sack. He takes, let us say, a sack-needle, threaded with a good length of twine ”

“ Suppose now that you fix the V point of a pair of braces somewhere near the top of the sack and bringing the webs over your shoulders, fix them, nicely adjusted, to the lower corners of the sack, it will ride quite comfortably upon your back—that is, you have made it from a plain sack into a rucksack or back-sack. Get or make as many good large strong ones as you have shoulders in the party to carry them. ”

“ Arriving at the spot, Jim produces the bag, or rather a small sack, from his jacket pocket, and places it in the entrance to the badger's burrow in such a way that should the animal rush for home, as he generally does when alarmed, he will go right into it. The string that runs round the mouth of the sack will be pulled tight by the force of his rush, and there he will be like a pig in a poke. ”

“ A score of men jumped into the hole while one man ran and brought a sack in which he had been carrying oats for his horse. In less time than it takes to tell it the trophies, stripped from the trappings of the Indians with sabres and knives, were deposited in the sack, which Captain Miner fastened to the pommel of his saddle. ”

“ At length he reached his hut, and told his wife what had happened to him, making a great to do over the sack he had carried, and all the good food it contained.
“Oh dear, oh dear!” cried Trude, wringing her hands. “I do think you grow more stupid every day! It was bad enough to take away our only cow, and now you come back bringing an old sack!”
But Geir told her not to scold. She had better fill the big pot with water and put it on the fire, for had not the old woman told him the sack contained good flesh and bones? ”

“ The sack in the capitulum of the male is not central, but lies near the dorsal surface; the ventral interspace, between the outside and the sack, is occupied by oblique fibres (l, fig. 19) , which may be striæ-less muscles, but I suspect are ligamentous fibres, giving support to the whole projecting capitulum. These fibres enter a little way within the lobed peduncle; they are probably homologous with the strong muscles, which run from beneath the upper end of the horny disc of the female to the lower end of the orifice leading into the sack. ”

“ The sack, which forms a cylindrical screen under which the victim is to be burned, has been previously handed round to the spectators, so that they might assure themselves that it was entire, without any hole or split, lacing, or other artifice allowing of an escape from behind—a precaution invariably taken to allay the too ready suspicions of incredulous spectators. ”

“ The wonderful sack occurs in another Venetian story, Widter-Wolf, No. 14, "Der Höllenpförtner" ("The Porter of Hell") . The gifts are: a gun that never misses, a violin that makes every one dance, and a sack into which every one must spring when commanded by the owner. See Köhler's notes to this story, Jahrb. VII. 268. A Corsican version is in Ortoli, p. 155. The episode [Pg 369] of the Devil beaten in the sack is also found in Comparetti, No. 49, "Il Ramaio." A wandering smith gives alms to St. Peter and the Lord, and receives in return a pouch like the above. ”

“ Falstaff. ’Tis no matter for Hercules, but, God’s pity for ’t, to be unacquainted with sack is to have lived as a dead man liveth. Sack, good Launce, is the prince of roystering blades; the pearl of price; the nonpareil of the world, the—nay, there’s no fit comparison to be made. Ambrosia and nectar together were but ashes i’ the mouth to ’t.
Trinculo [coming forward] You speak nothing aside the matter, sir, as I’m a true man. There’s nought to be named i’ the world before sack, and herein, of all places i’ the world, there’s no inn, no sack, no sack within. ”

“ They give rise to forms with a very different organization to that of the parent. They are compared by Gegenbaur to a spoon, the bowl of which is formed by the branchial sack, and the handle by the stalk attaching the bud to the stolon. The oral opening into the branchial sack is directed upwards: an atrial opening is remarkably enough not present. The branchial sack is perforated by numerous openings. It leads into an alimentary tract which opens directly to the exterior by an anus opposite the mouth. ”

“ Either a night-gown or sack may be worn with a short train, no flounce or ornament of any sort, and if a sack scanty, and only two broad plaits. Many women of condition who are not young, wear merely a common crape sack, the younger sort wear the dress that denotes their widowhood, and in a country town I should suppose the full form must be observed. I imagine your enquiry is for poor Mrs. ”

“ A black man also exhibited some feats of strength; among others, he threw himself backward and, resting on his hands, formed an arch, and then bore two heavy men on his [Pg 309] stomach with ease. The horsemanship commenced with the old performance of the rider going round the ring tied up in a sack. During the going round a transformation took place, and he who went into the sack a man came out to all appearance a woman on throwing the sack off. ”

“ As listed today by most outfitting firms it consists of a sack with shoulder straps and head suspension. It is a very desirable article from the point of view of the wilderness voyageur as he is enabled to ease up different sets of muscles while on the hike and
in handling a heavy pack the combined use of the neck and shoulder muscles are brought into play. ”

“ So he didn’t care so much as to peep into the sack again, but carried it straight to her mother as fast as he could, and when he got to the cottage door he threw it in through the door, and bawled out:
“Here you have meat and drink from your daughter; she wants for nothing.”
Now, when the girl had been in the hill a while longer, she did the very same thing with her other sister. She put her head on her shoulders, smeared her with ointment out of the flask, brought her to life, and stuffed her into the sack ”

“ I feel for you a tenderness which renders it impossible for me to leave you without help.
GER. Be sure that I will reward you for it, Scapin, and I promise you this coat of mine when it is a little more worn.
SCA. Wait a minute. I have just thought, at the proper moment, of the very thing to save you. You must get into this sack, and I....
GER. (thinking he sees somebody) . Ah!
SCA. No, no, no, no; 'tis nobody. As I was saying, you must get in here, and must be very careful not to stir. I will put you on my shoulders, and carry you like a bundle of something or other. ”

“ A three-seamed over sack can be very much improved by judicious stretching, as well as by shrinking, for the reason that the forepart is a very large sheet, and if made up flat will never fit the outlines of a man. At least, if all parts are first properly stretched or shrunk a better result can be obtained than if made up flat. For instance, the front edge will never lap over the center of the body 3 or 4 in., and button smoothly, if it be not drawn in at least 1 in. all the way across the chest, unless the [49] surplus length is drawn upward and balanced by a gore under the lapel. ”

“ It was an unforgettable scene--the mate in the high place, the men, sullen and irresponsive, grouped beneath. A gentle snow drifted straight down through the windless air, while the Elsinore, with hollow thunder from her sails, rolled down on the quiet swells so that the ocean lapped the mouths of her scuppers with long-drawn, shuddering sucks and sobs. And all the men swayed in unison to the rolls, their hands in mittens, their feet in sack-wrapped sea-boots, their faces worn and sick. ”

“ Besides this, every year murders occur out of revenge for this brutal treatment. One favourite trick is to fill a sack with fragments of glass and earthenware, and fasten it to the balcony by a cord, the length of which is so calculated, that when let down the sack hangs at about seven feet from the ground. The sack is kept on the balcony till somebody passes, and is then suddenly thrown out, but, thanks to the cord, remains at a safe distance above the heads of those below. ”

“ The tail of the animal is previously cut short, and well soaped, and in this condition he is turned out for the populace to run after him; and he who can catch him with one hand, and hold him by the stump of the tail without touching any other part, obtains him for his pains.
Sack Running, that is, men tied up in sacks, every part of them being enclosed except their heads, who are in this manner to make the best of their way to some given distance, where he who first arrives obtains the prize. ”

“ If we take a Hubbard and cut it off at the hips, we have only a dressing-sack with a yoke. The dressing-sack, however, cannot be walked on, even when the wearer is stooping, and in this respect it has the advantage of the other ”

“ This can be [57] done with a few beagles or harriers on a moonlight night, when, finding him in the open, they will give a merry chase and fine cry, and a run of several miles without a check. If his earths are stopped, and he finds no other refuge, he will be brought to bay. In some districts I have known sacks put into the mouths of the most used holes of a set, the open end of each sack having a running noose pegged into the ground, thus providing an astonishing reception on his return as he charges in, disturbed or pursued in his midnight ramble. ”

“ Never go without your possible sack, which should contain lots of hide strips, of all lengths and sizes, awls, needles, cord, leather, knife, whetstone, and any number of bone rings and toggles. A large fine-toothed rasp is of great service in fashioning bone; take one, or more; one handle will serve for all, and the sharp, tang ends serve to bore holes with. Few men have managed to reduce their sledge equipment to more simple elements than the doctor. ”

“ Towards that small and ghostly hour, he rose up from his chair, took a key out of his pocket, opened a locked cupboard, and brought forth a sack, a crowbar of convenient size, a rope and chain, and other fishing tackle of that nature. ”