Sawyer

“ Sawyer.
“Now, they are beginning again,” thought Ruth, but the elater paid no attention to Mrs. Sawyer.
“As I said before,” he repeated, “we have reason to be proud, for though we build no cities, like ants, wasps, and bees, and make no honey or wax, or have, in fact, any special trades, yet we are interesting and beautiful. The ancient Egyptians thought some of us sacred and worshipped us.” ”

“ He had nearly been a coward that night; he had been a fool every day of his life. Sawyer's phrase, "pleasure in healing grievous disease," recurred to him with almost Biblical dignity. The sense of responsibility toward men and things began to crowd in upon him, to cry out within him so insistently, that he was amazed.
He wiped the sweat out of his eyes and turned to pack the handbag. ”

“ They were as good-hearted and lovable a pair as it was possible for man and woman to be; all the stray dogs and hungry cats and needy tramps found their way to the Sawyer house by unerring instinct, and Jake was never to be seen on his way to or from his mill without a troop of children climbing all over him. Nevertheless, he and his wife were a great care to their neighbors. Not once had Hannah Sawyer got through her spring house-cleaning or her fall pickling and preserving without help. ”

“ Sawyer is not that sort of person. He is quite straight all through. And he never worries me more than he can help. He looks after everything, and whatever he touches (metaphorically speaking) turns to gold. I'm sure anything like those pheasants——"
"Yes, yes, I dare say. But pheasants are not everything."
"Well, no; there are a few other things," says Dorian, amicably,—"notably, grouse. Why this undying hatred to Sawyer, my dear Arthur? In what has he been found wanting?"
"I think him a low, under-hand, sneaking sort of fellow," [Pg 35] says Sartoris, unhesitatingly. ”

“ Sawyer is a well-built, able-bodied personage, standing five feet eight in the worsted stockings he usually affects, with a frame admirably calculated to resist fatigue, to perform feats of strength rather than agility, and to put on beef: the last tendency he keeps down with constant and severe exercise, so that the twelve stone which he swings into his saddle is seldom exceeded by a pound. “As long as I ride thirteen stone,” quoth Mr. Sawyer to his intimates after dinner, “no man alive can take the shine out of me over a country. ”

“ No, by Jove! it is the other leg!"
"Now, William," said Mr. Sawyer, "what is the meaning of all this?"
The crooked little man's eyes brightened when he saw Mr. Sawyer.
"Mr. Sawyer, sir, I know no more than a babe unborn. I come in by the 10.30, and no sooner hadn't my foot touched the ground than these young gentlemen they gathered round me and began a arskin' what I meant by it, and then all them others came along. I dunno what's matter wi' em. Seems to me they're all gone crazy."
"Where's Joseph?" ”

“ At that moment a shadow fell on the page and Tom Sawyer stepped in at the door and caught a glimpse of the picture. Becky snatched at the book to close it, and had the hard luck to tear the pictured page half down the middle. She thrust the volume into the desk, turned the key, and burst out crying with shame and vexation.
"Tom Sawyer, you are just as mean as you can be, to sneak up on a person and look at what they're looking at." ”

“ Sawyer, and I beg your pardon," said he, most courteously. "You have really been useful to mankind, after all."
"No apologies, please," replied Sawyer, affably. "I am always sympathetic with those who jump at conclusions. Ah—by the way, I have heard that Mr. Villard, our host, was most prodigal when he retired from active business, going so far as to turn over to his organization the complete running of the institution in order that each man should have the ready made opportunity of becoming substantially rich. I don't know the facts, nor did I hear them from our modest host. ”

“ This political stuff is beginning to wear out," snapped Sawyer. "There are too many big citizens getting interested in this dope trade and in the gang work for you and your Boss to keep it hushed any longer."
He turned to Burke and waved his hand toward the stairway which led to the dormitory above.
"Go on upstairs, my boy, and rest up a little bit. You're pale. This has been a hard day, and I'm going to send out White to relieve you. Take a little rest and then I'll send you up to Men's Night Court with Morgan, for I want him held over for investigation by the United States officers." ”

“ Sawyer then made a trip to Boston and found that Mr. Pinchot had not intended to go to Canada but had been making inquiries as to when a steamer would sail for France. He had been told he would have to go to New York. Am I taking up too much of your time, Mr. Harlow?”
“It makes no difference now. I am too late for the dinner. Pray proceed.”
“While in the city Mr. Sawyer called upon the architects who drew the plans for the Ellicott Mills. I mean the original plan, for many changes have been made in the interior. ”

“ And at the zenith of his fame, how he would suddenly appear at the old village and stalk into church, brown and weather-beaten, in his black velvet doublet and trunks, his great jack-boots, his crimson sash, his belt bristling with horse-pistols, his crime-rusted cutlass at his side, his slouch hat with waving plumes, his black flag unfurled, with the skull and crossbones on it, and hear with swelling ecstasy the whisperings, “It’s Tom Sawyer the Pirate!—the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main!” ”

“ Clenching his fists, he cursed beneath his breath, thoughtfully, with intent.
‘H’m!’ grunted Sawyer sympathetically.
‘There’s a blighter at home,’ stammered Hagan, ‘phwat is afeared to do his bit out here’—he hesitated as if to swallow pent-up gorge—‘of the name of O’Shea—a damned thaivin’ grocer. [Pg 360] The letter says as how he’s afther walking out wid Kitty Murphy, as is promised to mesilf.’
‘Ugh, a woman is it?’ breathed Sawyer. ”

“ Just as they were about to move on, the Welshman stepped out and said:
“Hallo, who’s that?”
“Huck and Tom Sawyer.”
“Good! Come along with me, boys, you are keeping everybody waiting. Here—hurry up, trot ahead—I’ll haul the wagon for you. Why, it’s not as light as it might be. Got bricks in it?—or old metal?”
“Old metal,” said Tom.
“I judged so; the boys in this town will take more trouble and fool away more time hunting up six bits’ worth of old iron to sell to the foundry than they would to make twice the money at regular work. But that’s human nature—hurry along, hurry along!” ”

“ Roger North, who often assisted him when attorney-general, describes Sawyer as ‘a proper, comely gentleman, inclining to the red; a good general scholar, and perhaps too much of that, in shew at least, which made some account him inclined to the pedantic.’ Though ‘proud, affected and poor spirited,’ he thought him on the whole an efficient law officer. ”

“ I says:
“It’s too many for me, Tom Sawyer. If I had a farm and it was mine, and another person wanted it, would it be right for him to—”
“Oh, shucks! you don’t know enough to come in when it rains, Huck Finn. It ain’t a farm, it’s entirely different. You see, it’s like this. They own the land, just the mere land, and that’s all they do own; but it was our folks, our Jews and Christians, that made it holy, and so they haven’t any business to be there defiling it. It’s a shame, and we ought not to stand it a minute. We ought to march against them and take it away from them.” ”

“ Men that don't skeer don't holler. Why not put it to him right then and there, out in the yard, over a barrel?"
Before Sawyer could reply, the philosophic mind of Steve saw the practical sense of his brother's suggestion. "I reckon he's got the right idee, Mr. Sawyer. He's done so much of this sort of work lately that now it comes to him somewhat in the natur' of a trade. You can tell him a good deal about mules that I reckon he don't know, but he knows the fine p'ints in men like a hungry feller knows the fine p'ints of a fried chicken. Better let him have his way." ”

“ He rose as two natives came and, picking up the inert body, made for the bell tent.
“Say!” exclaimed Sawyer. “None of that! I ain’t goin’ to sleep in the tent wit’ that stiff. Maybe he’s got some kind of a plague like you said. Seen them guys in the Lazar——”
“Sleep in the ruddy bush then!” snapped Plessons over his shoulder.
“’S ’nough!” whispered Bodiker as Sawyer started truculently after them. “That isn’t the plague, man. Can’t be in the middle of Africa.”
As Sawyer hesitated, grumbling, came a hail from Tony Westlake reentering the zareba. ”

“ Bob Sawyer immediately hailed with, ‘Tom, you vagabond, come here.’
The boy presented himself accordingly.
‘You’ve been stopping to “over” all the posts in Bristol, you idle young scamp!’ said Mr. Bob Sawyer.
‘No, sir, I haven’t,’ replied the boy.
‘You had better not!’ said Mr. Bob Sawyer, with a threatening aspect. ‘Who do you suppose will ever employ a professional man, when they see his boy playing at marbles in the gutter, or flying the garter in the horse-road? Have you no feeling for your profession, you groveller? ”

“ Putnam sank back in her chair.
"If I didn't think you were a truthful man, Mr. Sawyer, I wouldn't b'lieve a word you said. My poor Alice. Why, do you know, Mr. Sawyer, I never saw a human being in all my life that I liked so much as I have Alice Pettengill. Did you ever see her, Mr. Sawyer?"
"No," said Quincy, "she only arrived yesterday afternoon, and she did not appear at supper nor at breakfast this morning. ”

“ Price said, "This is a hell of a way to treat a man who comes to you as a friend. I hate the Vurna as much as you do, for what they've done to Earth, and—"
Sawyer stopped him, saying ominously, "Save your words, you'll need them later. We've got a hard ride before morning. Let's go."
They all went out through a back door, except the old chief of the Indianas who was not going. In the twilight outside, there were horses ready.
Sawyer and Oakes of the Illinois led off, and Price followed with Burr ahead of him and Twist behind him. ”

“ Sawyer. Mr. Sawyer, this is my nephew, 'Zekiel Pettengill. I am good friends with both of you, and I hope you will be good friends to each other."
The two men shook hands. If each had any idea of what the other was thinking about he did not betray it by look or act.
Uncle Ike continued, "Mr. Sawyer, this is Jim Cobb and this is Bill Cobb, and this," as Mandy entered bearing something for the table, "is Miss Mandy Skinner. Now that we are all acquainted, I think we had all better introduce ourselves at once to the supper. I haven't done such a hard day's work for sixteen years." ”

“ One poor chap, who had no other grandeur to offer, said with tolerably manifest pride in the remembrance:
“Well, Tom Sawyer he licked me once.”
But that bid for glory was a failure. Most of the boys could say that, and so that cheapened the distinction too much. ”

“ I was quite ashamed to see the trouble great men took to please me.
“Well, I am sorry to hear it, Firm,” said the Sawyer, coming in one day, with clouts of snow in his snowy curls. “Not that I care a cent for the fellow—and an impudenter fellow never sucked a pipe. Still, he might have had time to mend, if his time had been as good as the room for it. However, no blame rests on us. I told him to bed down to saw-mill. They Englishmen never know when they are well off. But the horse got home, they tell me?”
“The horse got home all right, grandfather, and so did the other horse and man. ”

“ I then went to the boy and found that all Sawyer’s balls had the same mark. There was something in the bore of the rifle that made a peculiar crease in the ball as it was forced out. I then got a neighbor to inquire of Sawyer how long he had owned his rifle, and I found that it was in his possession before the war came on. My suspicions were then strongly excited. It was not probable that there were two rifles that would make the same impression upon the ball discharged from them. ”

“ Miss Sawyer, book in hand, took up a position in the centre of the stage.
"'Enter the Duke, the Magnificoes, Antonio, Bassanio, Gratiano, Salerio, and others,'" she read.
"Who's goin' to be the 'others'?" called Mrs. Stout. Miss Sawyer made no reply, and the rest did not laugh because each of them, excepting Mrs. Tweedie and Mrs. Stout, when the name of the character she was to play was read, had a nervous chill. Miss Sawyer waited patiently for some one to enter, but no one stirred.
"Who goes in first?" asked Mrs. Blake. ”

“ The tinker laughed in spite of himself. “Certainly; it’s very simple. I found these, in a suit of rags which I saw on a tramp the morning you lost the diamonds—and Miss O’Connell. I liked the rags so well that I paid the tramp to change clothes with me; he took mine and gave me his, along with a knockout blow for good measure.”
The manager of the Inn interrupted with an exclamation of surprise: “So! You were the young fellow they picked up senseless by the stables that morning. When the grooms saw the other man running, they made out it was you who had struck him first.” ”

“ Reminded of the fact that he had guests to entertain he sat up quite suddenly and gave attention to Parkins' query.
"All that is in the background with me. I've seen every part of it; been everywhere worth going. This is the spot where my dreams will come true. Here I will live—and here I will die."
"Right," agreed Sawyer. "I am glad you have come to stay. If ever a man needed comradeship it is myself. I shall haunt you, Mr. Villard, and your beautiful home, unless you agree to become a downright good neighbor who will swap visits often." ”