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During 1911 a tornado struck Mary's house at Use, one of the stations. She
fixed the house herself. During this she strained herself and had a heart
attack which was followed by a severe fever. Sometimes the fever was so
great she was delirious. But still she would not stop working. She
continued to teach school and h... | White Queen of the Cannibals: the Story of Mary Slessor of Calabar | Bueltmann, A. J. | ['en'] | 23 | {'Missions -- Nigeria', 'Missionaries -- Nigeria -- Biography', 'Slessor, Mary Mitchell, 1848-1915'} | PG10022 | |||
"Now I don't need a furlough," said Mary. "Instead of going home as I had
planned, I shall stay here and enjoy going over ground in my cart that I
couldn't get over otherwise."
A new government road was being built between Ikpe and Ikot Expene. Mary
wanted to start schools and churches all along this road. But she w... | White Queen of the Cannibals: the Story of Mary Slessor of Calabar | Bueltmann, A. J. | ['en'] | 23 | {'Missions -- Nigeria', 'Missionaries -- Nigeria -- Biography', 'Slessor, Mary Mitchell, 1848-1915'} | PG10022 | |||
For the next two years Mary worked hard at Use and Ikpe. She traveled
between these two places, sometimes in a canoe, sometimes in the government
boat, but mostly in her two-wheeled cart. There was still much to do. She
was still fighting the juju worship, the sinful practice of eating people
and the murdering of twin... | White Queen of the Cannibals: the Story of Mary Slessor of Calabar | Bueltmann, A. J. | ['en'] | 23 | {'Missions -- Nigeria', 'Missionaries -- Nigeria -- Biography', 'Slessor, Mary Mitchell, 1848-1915'} | PG10022 | |||
The governor made a speech and pinned the cross on Mary's left
shoulder. During the speech Mary sat with her head in her hands. When it
came time for her to speak, she found it hard to talk. Turning to the boys
and girls who were in the hall she said, "Be faithful to the government. Be
Christians. Be friends of the m... | White Queen of the Cannibals: the Story of Mary Slessor of Calabar | Bueltmann, A. J. | ['en'] | 23 | {'Missions -- Nigeria', 'Missionaries -- Nigeria -- Biography', 'Slessor, Mary Mitchell, 1848-1915'} | PG10022 | |||
"O Abasi, sana mi yok," said Mary. "O God, release me!"
Janie, the first twin Mary had saved, was now a beautiful black woman. She
and other children Mary had saved and adopted were watching beside Mary's
bed through the night. A rooster crowed.
"Day must be dawning," said one of the girls.
Day was dawning for Mary, G... | White Queen of the Cannibals: the Story of Mary Slessor of Calabar | Bueltmann, A. J. | ['en'] | 23 | {'Missions -- Nigeria', 'Missionaries -- Nigeria -- Biography', 'Slessor, Mary Mitchell, 1848-1915'} | PG10022 | |||
Other Books by the Same Author:
"Journeys to Bagdad"
_Sixth printing_.
"Chimney-Pot Papers"
_Third printing_.
"Hints to Pilgrims"
THERE'S PIPPINS
AND
CHEESE TO COME
BY
CHARLES S. BROOKS
1917
Illustrated by Theodore Diedricksen, Jr.
TO MY FATHER AND MOTHER
CONTENTS
I. There's Pippins and Cheese to Come
II... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
Having now set upon a longer journey--the day being fine and the sidewalks
thronged--you pass by a restaurant that is but a few doors up the street.
A fellow in a white coat flops pancakes in the window. But even though the
pancake does a double somersault and there are twenty curious noses pressed
against the glass, ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
But by what sad chance have these blithe fellows been disjointed? If
a gloomy mood prevails in you--as might come from a bad turn of the
market--you fancy that the evil daughter of Herodias still lives around the
corner, and that she has set out her victims to the general view. If there
comes a hurdy-gurdy on the stre... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
And yet by looking on these torsos of the haberdasher, one is not brought
to thoughts of sad mortality. Their joy is so exultant. And all the things
that they hold dear--canes, gloves, silk hats, and the newer garments on
which fashion makes its twaddle--are within reach of their armless sleeves.
Had they fingers they... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
A fine dinner is lost within me. A quail is but an inferior chicken--a poor
relation outside the exclusive hennery. Terrapin sits low in my regard,
even though it has wallowed in the most aristocratic marsh. Through such
dinners I hack and saw my way without even gaining a memory of my progress.
If asked the courses, ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
The height commands a prospect to the west. Below is the smoke of a
thousand suppers. Up from the city there comes the hum of life, now
somewhat fallen with the traffic of the day--as though Nature already
practiced the tune for sending her creatures off to sleep. You light a
fire. The baskets disgorge their secrets. ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
Now mark his further decline! On an occasion--surely the old rascal's head
is turned!--he would be found in private talk with his hostess, the Lady of
Middlesex, or with the Countess of Monmouth, not as you might expect, on
the properties of fire or on the mortal diseases of man, but--on subjects
quite removed. Societ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
By this time, as you may well imagine, Sir Kenelm's son was wrought to an
excitement. It is likely that he inherited his father's palate and that the
juices of his appetite were stirred. Seizing an armful of the papers, he
leaped down the attic steps, three at a time. His lady mother thrust a
curled and papered head f... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
To this day it is likely that a last auspicated volume still sits on its
shelf with the spice jars in some English country kitchen and that a worn
and toothless cook still thumbs its leaves. If the guests about the table
be of an antique mind, still will they pledge one another with its honeyed
drinks, still will they... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
Doubtless, we have met. It was your umbrella--which you held villainously
beneath your arm--that took me in the ribs when you lighted on a set of
Fuller's Worthies. You recall my sour looks, but it was because I had
myself lingered on the volumes but cooled at the price. How you smoothed
and fingered them! With what t... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
Or it may appear credible that in ages past a jealous builder contrived the
place. Having no learning himself and being at odds with those of better
opportunity, he twisted the pattern of the house. Such was his evil temper,
that he set the steps at a dangerous hazard in the dark, in order that
scholars--whose eyes ar... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
There is one rock especially which I had climbed in the rain and fog of
early morning. A reckless path goes across its face with a sharp pitch to
the ocean. It was so slippery and the wind so tugged and pulled to throw me
off, that although I endangered my dignity, I played the quadruped on the
narrower parts. But onc... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
It was but the other day--in order to fill a gap in a paper I was
writing--I desired to know the name of an author who is obscure although
his work has been translated into nearly all languages. I wanted to know a
little about the life of the man who wrote _Mary Had a Little Lamb_, which,
I am told, is known by childr... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
Perhaps my sluggishness toward first editions--to which I have hinted
above--comes in part from the acquaintance with a man who in a linguistic
outburst as I met him, pronounced himself to be a numismatist and
philatelist. One only of these names would have satisfied a man of less
conceit. It is as though the pteranod... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
But the habit of reading at the open stalls was not only with the poor. You
will remember that Mr. Brownlow was addicted. Really, had not the Artful
Dodger stolen his pocket handkerchief as he was thus engaged upon his book,
the whole history of Oliver Twist must have been quite different. And Pepys
himself, Samuel Pe... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
Any Stick Will Do To Beat A Dog
Reader, possibly on one of your country walks you have come upon a man with
his back against a hedge, tormented by a fiend in the likeness of a dog.
You yourself, of course, are not a coward. You possess that cornerstone of
virtue, a love for animals. If at your heels a dog sniffs and... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
You remember the fellow in the play who would have loved war had they not
digged villainous saltpetre from the harmless earth. The countryside, too,
in my opinion, would be more peaceful of a summer afternoon were it not
overrun with dogs. Let me be plain! I myself like dogs--sleepy dogs
blinking in the firelight, fri... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
Or a lane leads down to the river. Even at this distance you hear the
shallow brawl of water on the stones. A path goes off across a hill, with
trees beckoning at the top. There is a wind above and a wider sweep of
clouds. Surely, from the crest of the hill the whole county will lie before
you. Such tunes as come up f... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
But the dogs that one meets in the Canadian woods are of the fiercest
breed. They border on the wolf. They are called huskies and they are so
strong and so fleet of foot that they pull sleds for hours across the
frozen lakes at almost the speed of a running horse. It must be confessed
that they are handsome and if it ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
It was Daniel who sat with the lions. But there are degrees of bravery. On
Long Street, within sight of my window--just where the street gets into its
most tangled traffic--there has hung for many years the painted signboard
of a veterinary surgeon. Its artist was in the first flourish of youth. Old
age had not yet ch... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
But these golden days are past. Tunbridge Wells has sunk from fashion. The
gaming tables are gone. A band still plays mornings in the Pantilles--or
did so before the war--but cheaper gauds are offered in the shops. Emerald
brooches are fallen to paste. In all the season there is scarcely a single
demand for a diamond ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
The poppy blooms and fades. The maid captures the ball of worsted and
restores it.
It lies in the widow's lap. The band plays. The needles click to a long
tune. The healing waters trickle from the ground. The old woman whines
their merits. Flossie sits motionless, her head cocked and her eye upon the
ball. Perhaps the... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
The city streets that led to the south, which in those days ended in lanes,
popped out of sight abruptly at the top of the first ridge. And when the
earth caught up again with their level, already it was dim and purple and
tall trees were no more than a roughened hedge. But what lay beyond that
range of hills--what to... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
Farms should not be too precisely located; at least this is true of farms
which, like my grandfather's, hang in a mist of memory. I read once of a
wonderful spot--quite inferior, doubtless, to my grandfather's farm--which
was located by evil directions intentionally to throw a seeker off.
Munchausen, you will recall, ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
Presently you came to the toll-gate at the top and paid its keeper five
cents, or whatever large sum he demanded. Then your grandfather--if by
fortunate chance you happened to have one--asked after his wife and
children, and had they missed the croup; then told him his corn was looking
well.
My grandfather--for it is ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
To the eye my grandfather had two legs all the way down and, except for
his crutches and an occasional squeak, you would not have detected his
infirmity. Evidently the maker did no more than imitate nature, although,
for myself, I used to wonder at the poverty of his invention. There would
be distinction in a leg, whi... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
He read much in those last years in science. When he was not reading
Trowbridge to his grandchildren, it was Huxley to himself. But when his
eyes grew tired, he would on an occasion--if there was canning in the
house--go into the kitchen where my mother and grandmother worked, and help
pare the fruit. Seriously, as th... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
The whip was seldom used. Generally it stood in its socket. It was
ornamental like a flagstaff. It forgot its sterner functions. But Dolly
must have known the whip in some former life, for even a gesture toward the
socket roused her. If it was rattled she mended her pace for a block. But
if on a rare occasion my grand... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
When he took his afternoon nap and lay upon his back on the sofa in the
sitting-room, we made paper pin-wheels to see whether his breath would
stir them. This trick having come to his notice by a sudden awakening, he
sometimes thereafter played to be asleep and snored in such a mighty gust
that the wheels spun. He was... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
But the best holiday was a trip to the farm.
This farm--to which in our slow trot we have been so long a time in
coming--lay for a mile on the upper land, and its grain fields and pastures
looked down into the valley. The buildings, however, were set close to the
road and fixed their interest on such occasional wagons... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
And now, although it is not yet noon, hunger rages in us. The pancakes, the
syrup, the toast and the other incidents of breakfast have disappeared
the way the rabbit vanishes when the magician waves his hand. The horrid
Polyphemus did not so crave his food. And as yet there is no comforting
sniff from the kitchen. Scr... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
My brother and I have become sleepy. We lop over against my grandfather--
We awake with a start. There is a gayly lighted horse-car jingling beside
us. The street lights show us into harbor. We are home at last.
The Man Of Grub Street Comes From His Garret
I have come to live this winter in New York City and by good... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
My work--if anything so pleasant and unforced can carry the name--is
done at a window that overlooks this park. Were it not for several high
buildings in my sight I might fancy that I lived in one of the older
squares of London. There is a look of Thackeray about the place as though
the Osbornes might be my neighbors.... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
In this part of town, on the better streets, I sometimes study the fashions
as I see them in the shops and I compare them with those of uptown stores.
Nor is there the difference one might suppose. The small round muff that
sprang up this winter in the smarter shops won by only a week over the
cheaper stores. Tan gait... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
Less oppressive are the streets where commerce is more apparent. Here,
unless you would be smirched, it is necessary to walk fast and hold your
coat-tails in. Packing cases are going down slides. Bales are coming up in
hoists. Barrels are rolling out of wagons. Crates are being lifted in. Is
the exchange never to stop... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
My friend G---- while riding recently on a bus top met with an experience
for which he still blushes.
There was a young woman sitting directly in front of him, and when he came
to leave, a sudden lurch threw him against her. When he recovered his
footing, which was a business of some difficulty, for the bus pitched up... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
It was at the end of day and a light fog rested on the water. Nothing was
entirely lost, yet a gray mystery wrapped the ships and buildings. If New
Jersey still existed it was dim and shadowy as though its real life had
gone and but a ghost remained. Ferry boats were lighted in defiance of the
murk, and darted here an... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
It is on such a bright Spring morning that the housewife, duster in hand,
throws open her parlor window and looks upon the street. A pleasant park is
below, of the size of a city square, and already it stirs with the day's
activity. The housewife beats her cloth upon the sill and as the dust flies
off, she hears the c... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
I have wondered as I have observed the housewives lingering at their
windows--for my window also looks upon the park--I have wondered that these
melodious street cries are not used generally for calling the wares of
wider sale. If a radish can be so proclaimed, there might be a lilt devised
in praise of other pleasing... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
I like these persons who ply their trades upon the sidewalk. My hatter--the
fellow who cleans my straw hat each Spring--is a partner of a bootblack.
Over his head as he putters with his soap and brushes, there hangs a rusty
sign proclaiming that he is famous for his cleaning all round the world. He
is so modest in his... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
The day of all fools is wisely put in April. The jest of the day resides in
the success with which credulity is imposed upon, and April is the month of
easiest credulity. Let bragging travellers come in April and hold us with
tales of the Anthropopagi! If their heads are said to grow beneath their
shoulders, still we ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
Your theatre filled the morning. When Annie came on her quest for dust, you
tooted once upon your nose, just to show that a remnant of your infirmity
persisted, then put your golden convalescence on the making of your
curtain.
But in the early hours of afternoon when the children are once more upon
the street, you reg... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
The usual approach to this theatre was the kitchen door, and those who came
to enjoy the drama sniffed at their very entrance the new-baked bread. A
pan of cookies was set upon a shelf and a row of apples was ranged along
the window sill. Of the ice-box around the corner, not a word, lest hunger
lead you off! As for t... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
Now, on the opening of a door to the upper gallery, there was a scampering
to get seats in front, speed being whetted by a long half hour of waiting
on the stairs. Ghostly, unbodied heads, like the luminous souls of lost
mountaineers--for this was the kind of fiction, got out of the Public
Library, that had come last ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
We see a lonely pass in the hills, the cave of jewels (splendid to the eye
of childhood) where the slave of the lamp first appears, and finally the
throne-room with Aladdin seated safely beside his princess.
Who knows how to dip a pen within the twilight? Who shall trace the figures
of the mist? The play is done. We c... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
In life, Samuel Pepys walked gravely in majestical robe with full-bottomed
wig and with ceremonial lace flapping at his wrists. Every step, if his
portrait is to be believed, was a bit of pageantry. Such was his fame, that
if his sword but clacked a warning on the pavement, it must have brought
the apprentices to the ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
In consequence of this, Samuel Pepys is now known chiefly for his
attentions to the pretty actresses of Drury Lane, for kissing Nell Gwynne
in her tiring-room, for his suppers with "the jade" Mrs. Knipp, for his
love of a tune upon the fiddle, for coming home from Vauxhall by wherry
late at night, "singing merrily" do... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
And for these reasons, we have been inclined to underestimate the
importance of Pepys' diary. Francis Jeffrey, who wrote long ago about
Pepys, evidently thought that he was an idle and unprofitable fellow and
that the diary was too much given to mean and petty things. But in reality
the diary is an historical mine. Ev... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
But also the theatre introduced movable scenery. There is an attempt toward
elaboration of stage effect. "To the King's playhouse--" says Pepys, "a
good scene of a town on fire." Women take parts. An avalanche of new plays
descends on it. Even the old plays that have survived are garbled to suit a
change of taste.
But... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
At a change of scenes, Mrs. Knipp spies Pepys and comes to the pit door. He
goes with her to the tiring-room. "To the women's shift," he writes,
"where Nell was dressing herself, and was all unready, and is very pretty,
prettier than I thought.... But to see how Nell cursed for having so few
people in the pit, was pre... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
I saw once in a public library, as I went along the shelves, a volume of
mine which gave evidence to have been really read. The record in front
showed that it had been withdrawn one time only. The card was blank
below--but once certainly it had been read. I hope that the book went out
on a Saturday noon when the spiri... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
Being swept once beyond a usual caution, I lamented to my friend F---- of
the neglect in which readers held me, to which the above experience in
a library was a rare exception. F---- offered me such consolation as he
could, deplored the general taste and the decadence of the times, and said
that as praise was sweet to... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
I do not know to what I can attribute my timidity. Possibly it arises from
the fact that until recently my writing met with uniform rejection and
failure. For years I wrote secretly in order that few persons might know
how miserably I failed. I answered upon a question that I had given up the
practice, that I now had ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
I am convinced that a close inspection of all desks--a federal matter as
though Capital were under fire--would betray thousands of abandoned novels.
There may be a few stern desks that are so cluttered with price-sheets and
stock-lists that they cannot offer harborage to a love tale. Standing desks
in particular, such... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
A Plague of All Cowards
Having written lately against the dog, several acquaintances have asked me
to turn upon the cat, and they have been good enough to furnish me with
instances of her faithlessness. Also, a lady with whom I recently sat at
dinner, inquired of me on the passing of the fish, whether I had ever
pro... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
And yet--really I hesitate. I blush. My attack will be too intimate; for I
have confessed that I am not the very button on the cap of bravery. I have
indeed stiffened myself to ride a horse, a mightier feat than driving him
because of the tallness of the monster and his uneasy movement, as though
his legs were not wel... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
The bravery of this kind of person is not confined to these few matters.
If you happen to go driving with him, he will--if the horse is of the kind
that distends his nostrils--on a sudden toss you the reins and leave you to
guard him while he dispatches an errand. If it were a motor car there would
be a brake to hold ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
But how Mr. Pickwick dropped his whip, how Mr. Winkle got off his tall
horse to pick it up, how he tried in vain to remount while his horse went
round and round, how they were all spilt out upon the bridge and how
finally they walked to Manor Farm--these things are known to everybody with
an inch of reading.
"'How far... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
But really some of us cowards are diverting persons. The lady who directed
me against the cow is a most delightful woman with whom I hope I shall
again sit at dinner. A witty lady of my acquaintance shivers when a
cat walks in the room. A man with whom I pass the time pleasantly and
profitably, although he will not ad... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
The Asperities of the Early British Reviewers
Book reviewers nowadays direct their attention, for the most part, to the
worthy books and they habitually neglect those that seem beneath their
regard. On a rare occasion they assail an unprofitable book, but even this
is often but a bit of practice. They swish a bludge... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
Until rather near the end of the eighteenth century, those who made their
living in England by writing were chiefly publishers' hacks, fellows of
the Dunciad sucking their quills in garrets and selling their labor for a
crust, for the reading public was too small to support them. Or they
found a patron and gave him a ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
In 1802, when the Edinburgh Review (which was the first of its line to
acquire distinction) came into being, the passion of the times found voice
in politics. Both Whigs and Tories had been alarmed by the excesses of the
French Revolution; both feared that England was drifting the way of France;
each had a remedy, but... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
The Edinburgh Review was founded in 1802, the Quarterly Review in 1809,
Blackwood's Magazine in 1817. These three won distinction among others of
less importance, and from them only I quote. In 1802, when Tory rule was
strongest and Lord Eldon flourished, there was living in Edinburgh a group
of young men who were for... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
The Quarterly Review was the next to come and it was Tory. John Murray, the
London publisher, had been the English distributor of the Edinburgh Review.
In 1809, two considerations moved him to found in London a review to rival
the Scotch periodical. First the Tory party was being hard hit by the
Edinburgh Review and t... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
So Blackwood's was published and Edinburgh city, we may be sure, set up a
roar of delight and anger. Never before had one's friends been so assailed.
Never before had one's enemies been so grilled. How pleasing for a Tory
fireside was the mud bath with which it defiled Coleridge, who was--and you
had always known it--... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
Jeffrey reviewed Wordsworth and found in the "Lyrical Ballads"
"vulgarity, affectation and silliness." He is alarmed, moreover, lest
his "childishness, conceit and affectation" spread to other authors. He
proposes a poem to be called "Elegiac Stanzas to a Sucking Pig," and of
"Alice Fell" he writes that "if the publis... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
There lived in the early days of the nineteenth century a woman by the name
of Lady Morgan, who was the author of several novels and books of travel.
Although her record in intelligence and morals is good, John Croker,
who regularly reviewed her books, accuses her works of licentiousness,
profligacy, irreverence, blas... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
Hazlitt belongs to a "class of men by whom literature is more than at any
period disgraced." His style is suited for washerwomen, a "class of
females with whom ... he and his friend Mr. Hunt particularly delight to
associate."
Shelley, writes the Quarterly, "is one of that industrious knot of authors,
the tendency of ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
"Weep for my Tom cat! all ye Tabbies weep!"
Perhaps I have quoted enough. This is the parentage of our silken and
flattering criticism.
The pages of these old reviews rest yellow on the shelves. From them there
comes a smell of rotting leather, as though the infection spreads. The hour
grows late. Like the ghost of th... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
One evening lately, being in this plight, I spread out before me certain
odds and ends. I had dug deeper than usual in the drawer and had brought up
a yellow stratum of a considerable age. I was poring upon these papers and
was wondering whether I could fit them to a newer measure, when I heard a
slight noise behind m... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
"My dear boy," I said, "you have the advantage of me. Where have I seen
you? There is something familiar about you and I am sure that I have seen
that brown suit before."
"We have never really known each other," the boy replied. "We met once, but
only for an instant. But I have thought of you since that meeting a grea... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
"Dear me, I am so sorry. Do you happen to be married?"
"Yes."
"And would you mind telling me her name?"
I obliged him.
"I don't remember to have heard of her. I didn't think of that name once
as I lay upon the hill. Things don't turn out as one might expect. Now, I
would have thought--but it's no matter."
For a moment... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
"I don't want you to think me ridiculous, but so few understand. If only I
could master the tools! Perhaps my thoughts are old, but they come to me
with such freshness and they are so unexpected. Could I only solve the
frets and spaces inside me here, I could play what tune I chose. But my
feelings are cold and stale ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
The strange boy lay back and laughed. "Musicians think that they are the
only ones that can hear the finer sounds. If one of us common fellows cocks
his ear, they think that only the coarser thumps get inside. And artists
think that they alone know the glory of color. I was thinking of that, this
afternoon. And yet I ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
The boy had spoken so fast that he was out of breath.
"Hold a bit!" I cried. "What you have said sounds familiar. Where could I
have heard it before?"
There was something almost like a sneer on the boy's face. "What a memory
you have! And perhaps you recall this brown suit, too. It's ugly enough to
be remembered. Now ... | There's Pippins and Cheese to Come | Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen) | 1878 | 1934 | ['en'] | 31 | {'Essays'} | PG10023 | |
and PG Distributed Proofreaders
BENEATH THE BANNER
BEING NARRATIVES OF NOBLE LIVES AND BRAVE DEEDS
BY
F.J. CROSS
_ILLUSTRATED_
"I have done my best for the honour of our country."--GORDON
SECOND EDITION
1895
_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_.
GOOD MORNING! GOOD NIGHT!
TRUE STORIES PURE AND BRIGHT.
In this work will be found ... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
_A Prince of Preachers_,--JOHN WESLEY
_Some Children of the Kingdom_
_The Victor, the Story of an Unknown Man_
_A Boy Hero_,--JOHN CLINTON
_Postscript_
BENEATH THE BANNER.
_STORIES OF MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN STEADY WHEN "UNDER FIRE_".
ONLY A NURSE GIRL!
THE STORY OF ALICE AYRES.
On the night of Thursday, 25th ... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
Her spine was so badly injured that although everything possible was
done for her at Guy's Hospital, whither she was removed, she died on
the following Sunday.
Beautiful windows have been erected at Red Cross Hall, Southwark, to
commemorate her heroism; but the best memorial is her own expression:
"I tried to do my be... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
On one occasion he found his thirty vessels stranded, the river having
almost dried up. Nothing daunted, he cut his way through a marsh,
making a progress of only twelve miles in about a fortnight. At the
end of this time he found it was impossible to proceed further along
that course, and had to return to the place h... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
The head man of the tribe and his followers were soon buzzing about
his ears like a swarm of wasps; but seeing he was not to be frightened
by their threats they showed themselves ready enough in the future to
supply him with cattle in return for payment.
His own soldiers were nearly as troublesome as the natives. They... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
After many perils he reached the territory of Kabbu Rega on the
Victoria Nile. The king was apparently friendly at first. But on
several occasions the war drums sounded, and although no violence was
actually offered yet Sir Samuel thought it well to be on his guard.
He therefore set his men to work to build a strong f... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
Then it was discovered that the country through which they had to pass
was full of concealed foes. From the long grass and bushes spears were
constantly hurled at them, and not a few of the men were mortally
wounded. Sir Samuel saw several lances pass close to his wife's head,
and he narrowly escaped being hit on vari... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
All at once the foreman found he was beginning to feel faint, so he
told the labourer they would go up to the top for fresh air. But he
had not the strength to carry out his purpose. The raft was pulled to
the ladder by which they were to get out; but he was unable to ascend,
and fell down in a fainting condition.
The... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
It was his "baptism of fire". Colin was in the rear company. His
captain came for him, and taking the lad's hand walked with him up and
down in front of the leading company for several minutes, whilst the
enemy's guns were commencing to fire. Then he told the youngster to go
back to his place.
"It was the greatest kin... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
He was, of course, reproved by his colonel; but who could be seriously
angry with a youngster for such conduct? So when he was sent back to
England to get healed of his wounds, he was made a captain at the
early age of twenty-one.
Among the first things that Colin Campbell did when he received his
captain's pay was to... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
The Guards and Highlanders strove in friendly emulation who should be
first in the Russian redoubt; but Sir Colin, well ahead of his own men
was first in the battery shouting:--
"We'll hae nane but Highland bonnets here!" and his troops rushed in
after him like lions.
The terrific charge of these fierce Highlanders, c... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
Sir Colin's men, fierce and eager for the onset, would have dashed
from behind the hillock where they were stationed, but for the stern
voice commanding them to stand firm in their ranks.
The Russians hardly waited for their fire. Startled by the red-coated
Britishers rising up at the word of their leader, they broke ... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
Here is an entry from his diary of 5th March, 1846, showing something
of the character of the man. "Anniversary of Barossa. An old story
thirty years ago. Thank God for all His goodness to me'! Although I
have suffered much from ill health, and in many ways, I am still as
active as any man in the regiment, and quite a... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
This advice he certainly followed throughout his life; and he began
pretty early too. For being in command of a sloop of 158 tons, called
the _Speedy_, with fourteen small guns and fifty-one men, he happened
to come across a good-sized Spanish vessel, with thirty-two big guns,
and over 300 men. The Spaniard, of course... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
The assault was delivered--up the rock came the French, and--down they
tumbled in dozens and hundreds. Those who caught hold of the planks
were hooked; and, to crown all, a heavy fire was poured into them by
the British.
During the siege the Spanish flag was shot away whilst a heavy
cannonade was going on; but Cochran... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
When John remarked that he was "summat ruff," the gentleman at whose
house Mr. Whittaker was staying nearly had a fit; and after he had at
length recovered his gravity he ejaculated, "Well, I would have given
a guinea to have seen you before you did go".
Yet John Cassell was a diamond--though at that time the roughest... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
After this he attended meetings and took an active part on the
platform, and became known as "the boy lecturer". Though he was
dressed in fustian, and wore a workman's apron, he spoke effectively,
and his words went to the hearts of his hearers. His originality of
style, too, pleased the audiences of working people wh... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
"Which wouldst thou prefer, carpentering or trying to persuade thy
fellow-men to give up drinking, and to become teetotalers?" he asked.
Without hesitation John Cassell replied:--
"The work of teetotalism."
"Then thou shalt have an opportunity, and I will stand thy friend."
John Cassell now went forth as a disciple of... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
John Cassell was now in the thick of the fight. In those days the
opposition to the Gospel of Temperance was keen and bitter. Sometimes
there were great disturbances at the meetings, sometimes he was pelted
with rubbish, at times he did not know where to turn for a night's
lodging. It was, on the whole, a fierce confl... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 | |||
It is not necessary to say more. Though John Cassell died
comparatively young--he was only forty-eight when his death took place
in 1865--he had done a grand life's work; and the soundness of his
judgment is shown by the fact that works which he planned retain their
hold upon the people to this day.
John Cassell had h... | Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds | Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.) | ['en'] | 17 | {'Biography -- Juvenile literature'} | PG10024 |
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