Spade

“ By all means call a spade a spade; but do not imagine that all life is spades. To insist upon bedroom scenes in fiction or drama, and all the nakedness of phrase such a conception of art implies, does, and must, often suggest the sly and coarse innuendo. It is the same with all excess of emphasis on physical detail. ”

“ While he was engaged in marking the head of the lifeless body, the slender form of a man appeared above him and shrank back in horror at the discovery. This man turned and picked up the heavy spade and swung it in air. If it had descended the negro would have been brained. But thought is a monarch! Slowly the arm descended, the spade was laid upon the ground, and the form a moment before animated with an overwhelming passion stood silent and motionless behind the cedar. ”

“ The spade is the first thing, but the average ironmonger will show you an unwieldy weapon only meant to be used by navvies. Don't buy it. Get a small spade, about half-size—it is nice and light and doesn't tire the wrist, and with it you can make a good display of enthusiasm, and earn the hypocritical admiration of your wife. ”

“ With hands trembling so that I could scarcely hold the spade, I began to throw the loose dirt out from the hole. I found it was not large enough to work in to advantage, and removed the adjoining stones. The earth under all of them seemed loose, and I worked feverishly, expecting every instant that the spade would strike a metal box or receptacle of some sort, in which the securities had been placed. For a few inches, it was easy digging; then the earth became hard again. ”

“ I had no idea that any man could work so with a shovel, which seems such a clumsy tool compared with a spade: but a gentleman who knows the country and the people told me that, with their native weapon, Moonites will do as much digging in an hour as other folk get through in an hour and a half with a spade. ”

“ Anyone who has observed how casual, how purely accidental are many of the natural variations of surface which nevertheless give us pleasure, has a right to ask himself whether the spade may not be allowed to produce in a few days what sun, wind, rain, and similar agents can achieve in a few years. ”

“ Each had a garden, and a day never passed without permission being asked for a few hours' recreation with the spade or hoe, the latter being the favourite implement, as the want of shoes rendered the management of the spade extremely difficult, except in very light soil. ”

“ MidHG. spate may be inferred from the MidHG. and ModHG. dimin. spatel, ‘little shovel’; the implied OHG. *spato agrees with OSax. spado, Du. spade (spa) , AS. spada, E. spade. These OTeut. cognates are primit. allied to Gr. σπάθη, ‘ (blade of a) sword.’ Ital. spada, ‘sword’ (to which Fr. épée is allied) , is usually derived from Gr. rather than from Teut.
Spatz, m., ‘sparrow,’ from the equiv. late MidHG. spatz, m.; a pet term peculiar to HG., and allied to MidHG. spar (see Sperling) . The assumed orig. connection with the equiv. Lat. passer (for *spat-ter?) is less probable. ”

“ Captain Spade pointed to a narrow door let into the wall a few paces distant, and which was doubtless used by the staff of the establishment when they had occasion to go out by the river.
"That is the way I propose to go in. It's much easier than scaling the wall with a ladder." ”

“ Take, for example, such a hand as seven Hearts, headed by Queen, Knave; Ace, Knave, and two Clubs; two small Diamonds, and no Spades. An original two Heart or one Club call would grossly mislead the partner without being of any real advantage, but one Spade followed by two Hearts, or even three, if necessary, shows the exact situation. As long as the hand containing a long suit is not so strong that there is grave danger of its being left in with one Spade, it should be started with the defensive declaration. When such great strength exists, a sound opening bid invariably presents itself. ”

“ Thy spade was first the earth to raise,
To join the Clyde to Carron-braes.
⁠But left my song should gather strengths,
And swell with hist’ry into length,
I’ll lum the whole by singing praise
Unto the chrystal Carron-braes.
†The late Sir Laurence Dundas, of West-Kerse. Bart. who lifted the first spade-ful of earth, towards digging of the Great Canal between Forth and Clyde.—The Spade was preserved, and lies in West-Kerse House, by Grangemouth. ”

“ I rose and resumed my journey, through as quiet a wood as ever grew out of the quiet earth. For the wind of the morning had ceased when the sun appeared, and the trees were silent. Not a bird sang, not a squirrel, mouse, or weasel showed itself, not a belated moth flew athwart my path. But as I went I kept watch over myself, nor dared let my eyes rest on any forest-shape. All the time I seemed to hear faint sounds of mattock and spade and hurtling bones: any moment my eyes might open on things I would not see! ”

“ They are emphatically convinced that dust is dust and mud is mud, and that a spade may justly be called a spade. Outside the coffee-stall itself, in the small hours of the morning, there is continual [187] necessity for the suppression of rowdies and marauders and those who exhibit anarchic tendencies in a civilisation remote from our own, but with very definite standards. ”

“ They growled a response and went on digging. For some time there was no noise but the grating sound of the spades discharging their freight of mould and gravel. It was very monotonous. Finally a spade struck upon the coffin with a dull woody accent, and within another minute or two the men had hoisted it out on the ground. They pried off the lid with their shovels, got out the body and dumped it rudely on the ground. The moon drifted from behind the clouds and exposed the pallid face. ”

“ Gentlemen no longer swear or fall drunk under the table, or abduct young ladies and shut them up in lonely country-houses, or so habitually set about the ruin of their neighbors' wives, as they once did. Generally, people now call a spade an agricultural implement; they have not grown decent without having also grown a little squeamish, but they have grown comparatively decent ”

“ In removing a young tree or shrub, the ground is generally first dug out on one side, so as to form a small trench, and then the spade is driven perpendicularly into the ground, below the depth to which the roots descend, and the whole mass is raised like a spade full of earth. Small plants are raised by the spade at once without making any trench; and large trees require all the skill of a professed gardener. ”

“ If these town gods can't detect the thieves who steal from their own temples, it's scarcely likely they can tell me who stole my Spade." ”

“ And as soon as ever the ice shall have melted, and the rivers be flowing, and the land have dried sufficiently to be workable, the spade will begin its task in kitchen and flower garden, and the plough and the harrow their tasks in the field ”

“ The first point to be attended to, in order to render the operation of digging less laborious, is to provide a suitable spade; that is, one which shall be as light as is consistent with strength, and which will penetrate the ground with the least possible trouble. ”

“ Norse spjátra, behave as a fop. See spaideil.
spadal, a paddle, plough-staff, so Ir.; from M. Eng. spaddle, paddle, dim. of spade.
spadhadh, a strong and quick pull, the utmost extent of the outstretched arms, the grass cut by one scythe-stroke, spadh, a scyth's stroke (Bad.) ; from Lat. spatium. Meyer objects. If Stokes' theory were right spadh could be from root spa, pull, span. Cf. Eng. swath.
spàg, a claw or paw, limb of an animal, club-foot, spàgach, club-footed or awkward in the legs, Ir. spág, claw, club-foot, clumsy leg, W. ysbach, a claw; spàga-da-ghlid, a buffoon, tomfool (Wh.) ”

“ The labourers whose duty it is to look after the watering of the [48] crops are armed with long spades, for the purpose of digging trenches and clearing a way for the water, &c. In a dispute these spades become very formidable weapons, and many a broken head have they caused. ”

“ There are 3 Spades, which indicate disappointment. Two Knaves coming together indicate loss of goods and other trouble. The Knave of Spades indicates a legal gentleman of not very refined character who is employed by his master, an unscrupulous lawyer, as shown by the King of Spades, and who is an enemy of the inquirer. A young bachelor devoted to pleasure, however, will help the inquirer out of difficulty. The next pack, which is for “those who do not expect,” is, we will say, composed of the Queen of Hearts, Ten of Spades, Ace of Clubs, Nine of Clubs. ”

“ I think, however, that those sleep best who lie beneath the wooden cross fashioned with labour and some occasional dimness of eye by the pocket-knife of an old "pal."
XIII
THE MEN WITH THE SPADES
The graves at Frere were dug by our own men, or rather by a small fatigue party from a regiment near by. Nearly every morning they came, the men with the spades. There were six of them, with a corporal, and they came up jauntily, with their spades on their shoulders and with pipes in their mouths. They were in their shirt-sleeves, and there was much display of belt and of unbuttoned neck. ”

“ "Watch for the ace of spades, which is the sign of death, and the ace of clubs, which designates the official of the night. ”

“ Distress not yourself if you cannot at first understand the deeper mysteries of Spaceland. By degrees they will dawn upon you. Let us begin by casting back a glance at the region whence you came. Return with me a while to the plains of Flatland, and I will show you that which you have so often reasoned and thought about, but never seen with the sense of sight—a visible angle. ”

“ In a sheltered inlet, where the sea has swept up a thick white carpet of bleached sand, the Spawer pitches his bathing camp this morning. On other occasions he has trod down here more gladsomely; the sea, murmuring its musical cadences upon a lonely beach, has not made music to him in vain. ”

“ I descended the hill, and, after joining my friends at Strathpeffer,—Buchubai Hormazdji among the rest,—visited the Spa, in the company of my old friend the minister of Alness. The thorough identity of the powerful effluvium that fills the pump-room with that of a muddy sea-bottom laid bare in warm weather by the tide, is to the dweller on the sea-coast very striking. It is identity,—not mere resemblance. ”

“ From the windows of the posada, as we sat at dinner, we watched the waves rolling in mountains of snowy foam, before the wind, in-shore; and all the craft weighing or slipping their cables, and beating close-hauled under topsails and courses to attain good sea-room, lest they might be driven on the rocks. ”

“ When you lay down and when you arose, you would have had in your ears the thunderous beat of countless thousands of white-lipped angry waves on the long level reaches of sand, that stretched away southward for miles as far as the eye could reach. ”

“ A trim little garden appeared where all had once been waste ground; and a flag-staff, with a bit of bunting, gave a naval aspect to the spot.
All was dark; not one glimmer of light to be seen in any of the windows. ”

“ Every mast, every rope, even, can be seen clearly and distinctly against the beautiful background. For an instant every outline is tinged with gold, then it passes slowly on, the sun sinks beneath the waves, and then comes the soft twilight, when one “sinks into reveries and dreams.” ”

“ Peace hovering, brooding, over the land, was a vision too dazzling to be clearly seen—the well-tilled fields of heavy-headed grain, with the shadows of clouds sweeping over them; the harbors of the river ports—since the coveted sea was impossible—crowded with masts whose tops sparkled in sun or frost, and perhaps by special pact even the freedom off that great water ”

“ The gloomy light, the black shore, the two stranded ships, which the eye could now plainly distinguish, and the boom of the guns of distress, with the furious bellowing of the wind, and the raging waves, made one feel like a mite in the creation, and perfectly at the mercy of the elements. ”

“ Scarcely, indeed, had I made fast the halyard than I beheld on the very verge of the horizon what seemed to be a vessel. The moment of sunrise, like that of sunset, is peculiarly favorable to distinct vision; and as the pink line of dawn sheeted over the sea, the dark object stood out clear and sharp; but the next moment the glare of brighter day covered sky and water together, and I could no longer see the ship. ”

“ By night, for instance, after you have turned in to your little narrow bed—the cradle of the deep, in which you are nightly rocked—to hear it rising and falling, and ending in long-drawn cadence, gives one an indescribable feeling of peace and security. ”

“ That looks the fairer for our darker days.
The sirens' voices ever in our ear,
Vainly we struggle; Fate our lot has cast.
We drift along, powerless our course to steer,
Bound by a threefold cord unto the mast. ”

“ Those only who have endured a long series of thirst, and who can readily recall the desire and agitation which even the ideas alone of springs and brooks have at that time raised in their minds, can judge of the emotion with which we viewed a large cascade of the purest water, which poured into the sea at a short distance from the ship, from a rock near a hundred feet high. ”

“ On the deck of the foremost ship not a living soul was seen, or shape, unless something in darkness and form, resembling a human shadow could be called a shape, which flitted from extremity to extremity of the ship, with the appearance of trimming the sails, and directing the vessel’s course. ”

“ The prospect of another long night upon the raft, and of all that might happen in a night, was insupportable. I had securely bound the planks together, as I believed, but the constant play of the swell was sure to tell after a time. One of the ligatures might chafe through, and in a minute the whole fabric scatter under our feet like the staves of a stove boat, and leave us no more than a plank to hold on by in the midst of this great sea which all day long had been without ships. ”