id stringlengths 16 16 | text stringlengths 150 2.3k | word_count int64 30 60 | source stringclasses 1
value | book_id stringclasses 1
value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
twg_000012584500 | that bore them onward to Montreal; "they'll soon be partin' you an' me, an' that'll be worse than wallerin' in the mud of Vitechapel." Bobby said this with such an expression of serious anxiety that his little friend was quite touched. "I hope not, Bob," he replied. "What d'ee say to axin' our Guardian to put us both i... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584501 | same sitivation?" Bobby thought that this was not a bad idea, and as they rolled along these two little waifs gravely discussed their future prospects. It was the same with many others of the band, though not a few were content to gaze out of the carriage windows, pass a running commentary on the new country, and leave... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584502 | entirely to their Guardian. Soon, however, the busy little tongues and brains ceased to work, and ere long were steeped in slumber. At midnight the train stopped, and great was the sighing and groaning, and earnest were the requests to be let alone, for a batch of the boys had to be dropped at a town by the way. At | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584503 | last they were aroused, and with their bags on their shoulders prepared to set off under a guide to their various homes. Soon the sleepiness wore off, and, when the train was about to start, the reality of the parting seemed to strike home, and the final handshakings and good wishes were earnest and hearty. Thus, littl... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584504 | band grew less and less. Montreal swallowed up a good many. While there the whole band went out for a walk on the heights above the reservoir with their Guardian, guided by a young Scotsman. "That's a jolly-lookin' 'ouse, Tim," said Bob Frog to his friend. The Scotsman overheard the remark. "Yes," said he, "it is a nic... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584505 | a good jolly man owns it. He began life as a poor boy. And do you see that other villa--the white one with the green veranda among the trees? That was built by a man who came out from England just as you have done, only without anybody to take care of him; God however cared for him, and now | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584506 | you see his house. He began life without a penny, but he had three qualities which will make a man of any boy, no matter what circumstances he may be placed in. He was truthful, thorough, and trustworthy. Men knew that they might believe what he said, be sure of the quality of what he did, and could rely upon | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584507 | his promises. There was another thing much in his favour, he was a total abstainer. Drink in this country ruins hundreds of men and women, just as in England. Shun drink, boys, as you would a serpent." "I wouldn't shun a drink o' water just now if I could get it," whispered Bobby to his friend, "for I'm uncommon thirst... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584508 | At this point the whole band were permitted to disperse in the woods, where they went about climbing and skipping like wild squirrels, for these novel sights, and scents, and circumstances were overwhelmingly delightful after the dirt and smoke of London. When pretty well breathed--our waifs were grown too hardy by tha... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584509 | to sit round him and sing that sweet hymn: "Shall we gather at the river?" And tears bedewed many eyes, for they were reminded that there were yet many partings in store before that gathering should take place. And now the remnant of the band--still a goodly number--proceeded in the direction of the far west. All night... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584510 | reached Belleville, where they were received joyfully in the large house presented as a free gift to Miss Macpherson by the Council of the County of Hastings. It served as a "Distributing Home" and centre in Canada for the little ones till they could be placed in suitable situations, and to it they might be returned if... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584511 | change of employer required it. This Belleville Home was afterwards burned to the ground, and rebuilt by sympathising Canadian friends. But we may not pause long here. The far west still lies before us. Our gradually diminishing band must push on. "It's the sea!" exclaimed the boy who had been named little Mouse, _alia... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584512 | Konky, who was a good deal older; "it's a lake." "Ontario," said the Guardian, "one of the noble fresh-water seas of Canada." Onward, ever onward, is the watchword just now--dropping boys like seed-corn as they go! Woods and fields, and villas, and farms, and waste-lands, and forests, and water, fly past in endless var... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584513 | end!" exclaimed Tim Lumpy after one of his long gazes of silent admiration. "_Wot_ a diff'rence!" murmured Bobby Frog. "Wouldn't mother an' daddy an' Hetty like it, just!" The city of Toronto came in sight. The wise arrangements for washing in Canadian railway-cars had been well used by the boys, and pocket-combs also.... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584514 | solemn as they landed at the station. But their fame had preceded them. An earnest crowd came to see the boys, among whom were some eager to appropriate. "I'll take that lad," said one bluff farmer, stepping forward, and pointing to a boy whose face had taken his fancy. "And I want six boys for our village," said anoth... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584515 | want one to learn my business," said a third, "and I'll learn him as my own son. Here are my certificates of character from my clergyman and the mayor of the place I belong to." "I like the looks of that little fellow," said another, pointing to Bob Frog, "and should like to have him." "Does you, my tulip?" said | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584516 | Bobby, whose natural tendency to insolence had not yet been subdued; "an' don't you vish you may get 'im!" It is but justice to Bobby, however, to add, that this remark was made entirely to himself. To all these flattering offers the Guardian turned a deaf ear, until he had passed through the crowd and marshalled his b... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584517 | empty room of the depot. Then inquiries were made; the boys' characters and capacities explained; suitability on both sides considered; the needs of the soul as well as the body referred to and pressed; and, finally, the party went on its way greatly reduced in numbers. Thus they dwindled and travelled westward until o... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584518 | little Mouse remained with the Guardian, whose affections seemed to intensify as fewer numbers were left on which they might concentrate. Soon the little Mouse was caught. A huge backwoods farmer, who could have almost put him in his coat-pocket, took a fancy to him. The fancy seemed to be mutual, for, after a tearful ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584519 | Mouse went off with the backwoodsman quite contentedly. Then Konky was disposed of. A hearty old lady with a pretty daughter and a slim son went away with him in triumph, and the band was reduced to two. "I do believe," whispered Bob to Tim, "that he's goin' to let us stick together after all." "You are right, my dear | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584520 | boy," said the Guardian, who overheard the remark. "A family living a considerable distance off wishes to have two boys. I have reason to believe that they love the Lord Jesus, and will treat you well. So, as I knew you wished to be together, I have arranged for your going to live with them." As the journey drew to | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584521 | a close, the Guardian seemed to concentrate his whole heart on the little waifs whom he had conducted so far, and he gave them many words of counsel, besides praying with and for them. At last, towards evening, the train rushed into a grand pine-wood. It soon rushed out of it again and entered a beautiful piece of coun... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584522 | was diversified by lakelet and rivulet, hill and vale, with rich meadow lands in the hollows, where cattle browsed or lay in the evening sunshine. The train drew up sharply at a small road-side station. There was no one to get into the cars there, and no one to get out except our two waifs. On the road beyond stood | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584523 | a wagon with a couple of spanking bays in it. On the platform stood a broad-shouldered, deep-chested, short-legged farmer with a face like the sun, and a wide-awake on the back of his bald head. "Mr Merryboy, I presume?" said the Guardian, descending from the car. "The same. Glad to see you. Are these my boys?" He spok... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584524 | quick, hearty, off-hand manner, but Bobby and Tim hated him at once, for were they not on the point of leaving their last and best friend, and was not this man the cause? They turned to their Guardian to say farewell, and, even to their own surprise, burst into tears. "God bless you, dear boys," he said, while the guar... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584525 | held open the door of the car as if to suggest haste; "good-bye. It won't be _very_ long I think before I see you again. Farewell." He sprang into the car, the train glided away, and the two waifs stood looking wistfully after it with the first feelings of desolation that had entered their hearts since landing in Canad... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584526 | poor lads," said Mr Merryboy, laying a hand on the shoulder of each, "come along with me. Home is only six miles off, and I've got a pair of spanking horses that will trundle us over in no time." The tone of voice, to say nothing of "home" and "spanking horses," improved matters greatly. Both boys thought, as they ente... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584527 | the wagon, that they did not hate him quite so much as at first. The bays proved worthy of their master's praise. They went over the road through the forest in grand style, and in little more than half an hour landed Bobby and Tim at the door of their Canadian home. It was dark by that time, and the | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584528 | ruddy light that shone in the windows and that streamed through the door as it opened to receive them seemed to our waifs like a gleam of celestial light. CHAPTER NINETEEN. AT HOME IN CANADA. The family of Mr Merryboy was a small one. Besides those who assisted him on the farm--and who were in some cases temporary serv... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584529 | consisted of his wife, his aged mother, a female servant, and a small girl. The latter was a diamond from the London diggings, who had been imported the year before. She was undergoing the process of being polished, and gave promise of soon becoming a very valuable gem. It was this that induced her employer to secure o... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584530 | gems from the same diggings. Mrs Merryboy was a vigorous, hearty, able-bodied lady, who loved work very much for the mere exercise it afforded her; who, like her husband, was constitutionally kind, and whose mind was of that serious type which takes concern with the souls of the people with whom it has to do as well as... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584531 | bodies. Hence she gave her waif a daily lesson in religious and secular knowledge; she reduced work on the Sabbath-days to the lowest possible point in the establishment, and induced her husband, who was a little shy as well as bluff and off-hand, to institute family worship, besides hanging on her walls here and there... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584532 | the Word of God. Old Mrs Merryboy, the mother, must have been a merry girl in her youth; for, even though at the age of eighty and partially deaf, she was extremely fond of a joke, practical or otherwise, and had her face so seamed with the lines of appreciative humour, and her nutcracker mouth so set in a smile | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584533 | of amiable fun, and her coal-black eyes so lit up with the fires of unutterable wit, that a mere glance at her stirred up your sources of comicality to their depths, while a steady gaze usually resulted in a laugh, in which she was sure to join with an apparent belief that, whatever the joke might be, it was uncommonly | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584534 | good. She did not speak much. Her looks and smiles rendered speech almost unnecessary. Her figure was unusually diminutive. Little Martha, the waif, was one of those mild, reticent, tiny things that one feels a desire to fondle without knowing why. Her very small face was always, and, as Bobby remarked, awfully grave, ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584535 | close at hand somewhere, for it could be evoked by the smallest provocation at any time, but fled the instant the provoking cause ceased. She seldom laughed, but when she did the burst was a hearty one, and over immediately. Her brown hair was smooth, her brown eyes were gentle, her red mouth was small and round. Obedi... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584536 | in her nature. Original action seemed never to have entered her imagination. She appeared to have been born with the idea that her sphere in life was to do as she was directed. To resist and fight were to her impossibilities. To be defended and kissed seemed to be her natural perquisites. Yet her early life had been ca... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584537 | foster other and far different qualities, as we shall learn ere long. Tim Lumpy took to this little creature amazingly. She was so little that by contrast he became quite big, and felt so! When in Martha's presence he absolutely felt big and like a lion, a roaring lion capable of defending her against all comers! Bobby... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584538 | by her, but in a comparatively mild degree. On the morning after their arrival the two boys awoke to find that the windows of their separate little rooms opened upon a magnificent prospect of wood and water, and that, the partition of their apartment consisting of a single plank-wall, with sundry knots knocked out, the... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584539 | converse freely, but to peep at each other awkwardly--facts which they had not observed the night before, owing to sleepiness. "I say, Tim," said Bob, "you seem to have a jolly place in there." "First-rate," replied Tim, "an' much the same as your own. I had a good squint at you before you awoke. Isn't the place splend... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584540 | it is. I've been lookin' about all the mornin' for Adam an' Eve, but can't see 'em nowhere." "What d'ee mean?" "Why, that we've got into the garden of Eden, to be sure." "Oh! stoopid," returned Tim, "don't you know that they was both banished from Eden?" "So they was. I forgot that. Well, it don't much matter, for ther... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584541 | a prettier girl than Eve here. Don't you see her? Martha, I think they called her--down there by the summer-'ouse, feedin' the hanimals, or givin' 'em their names." "There you go again, you ignorant booby," said Tim; "it wasn't Eve as gave the beasts their names. It was Adam." "An' wot's the difference, I should like t... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584542 | both made _one_ flesh? However, I think little Martha would have named 'em better if she'd bin there. What a funny little thing she is!" "Funny!" returned Tim, contemptuously; "she's a _trump_!" During the conversation both boys had washed and rubbed their faces till they absolutely shone like rosy apples. They also co... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584543 | extent that each mass lay quite flat on its little head, and bade fair to become solid, for the Guardian's loving counsels had not been forgotten, and they had a sensation of wishing to please him even although absent. Presently the house, which had hitherto been very quiet, began suddenly to resound with the barking o... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584544 | the noisy voice of a huge man. The former rushed about, saying "Good-morning" as well as it could with tail and tongue to every one, including the household cat, which resented the familiarity with arched back and demoniacal glare. The latter stamped about on the wooden floors, and addressed similar salutations right a... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584545 | the commander of an army. There was a sudden stoppage of the hurricane, and a pleasant female voice was heard. "I say, Bob, that's the missus," whispered Tim through a knot-hole. Then there came another squall, which seemed to drive madly about all the echoes in the corridors above and in the cellars below. Again the n... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584546 | came up a sound like a wheezy squeak. "I say, Tim, that's the old 'un," whispered Bob through the knot-hole. Bob was right, for immediately on the wheezy squeak ceasing, the hurricane burst forth in reply: "Yes, mother, that's just what I shall do. You're always right. I never knew such an old thing for wise suggestion... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584547 | boys to milk the cows after breakfast. The sooner they learn the better, for our new girl has too much to do in the house to attend to that; besides, she's either clumsy or nervous, for she has twice overturned the milk-pail. But after all, I don't wonder, for that red cow has several times showed a desire to fling | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584548 | a hind-leg into the girl's face, and stick a horn in her gizzard. The boys won't mind that, you know. Pity that Martha's too small for the work; but she'll grow--she'll grow." "Yes, she'll grow, Franky," replied the old lady, with as knowing a look as if the richest of jokes had been cracked. The look was, of course, l... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584549 | on the boys above, and so was the reply, because it reached them in the form of a wheezy squeak. "Oh! I say! Did you ever! Milk the keows! On'y think!" whispered Bob. "Ay, an' won't I do it with my mouth open too, an' learn 'ow to send the stream up'ards!" said Tim. Their comments were cut short by | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584550 | the breakfast-bell; at the same time the hurricane again burst forth: "Hallo! lads--boys! Youngsters! Are you up?--ah! here you are. Good-morning, and as tidy as two pins. That's the way to get along in life. Come now, sit down. Where's Martha? Oh! here we are. Sit beside me, little one." The hurricane suddenly fell to... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584551 | of a chapter of the Bible and a short prayer were read. Then it burst forth again with redoubled fury, checked only now and then by the unavoidable stuffing of the vent-hole. "You've slept well, dears, I hope?" said Mrs Merryboy, helping each of our waifs to a splendid fried fish. Sitting there, partially awe-stricken ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584552 | surroundings, they admitted that they had slept well. "Get ready for work then," said Mr Merryboy, through a rather large mouthful. "No time to lose. Eat--eat well--for there's lots to do. No idlers on Brankly Farm, I can tell you. And we don't let young folk lie abed till breakfast-time every day. We let you rest this... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584553 | Tim, just by way of an extra refresher before beginning. Here, tuck into the bread and butter, little man, it'll make you grow. More tea, Susy," (to his wife). "Why, mother, you're eating nothing--nothing at all. I declare you'll come to live on air at last." The old lady smiled benignly, as though rather tickled with ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584554 | understood by the boys to protest that she had eaten more than enough, though her squeak had not yet become intelligible to them. "If you do take to living on air, mother," said her daughter-in-law, "we shall have to boil it up with a bit of beef and butter to make it strong." Mrs Merryboy, senior, smiled again at this... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584555 | though she had not heard a word of it. Obviously she made no pretence of hearing, but took it as good on credit, for she immediately turned to her son, put her hand to her right ear, and asked what Susy said. In thunderous tones the joke was repeated, and the old lady almost went into fits over it, insomuch | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584556 | that Bob and Tim regarded her with a spice of anxiety mingled with their amusement, while little Martha looked at her in solemn wonder. Twelve months' experience had done much to increase Martha's love for the old lady, but it had done nothing to reduce her surprise; for Martha, as yet, did not understand a joke. This,... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584557 | a subject of intense amusement to old Mrs Merryboy, who certainly made the most of circumstances, if ever woman did. "Have some more fish, Bob," said Mrs Merryboy, junior. Bob accepted more, gratefully. So did Tim, with alacrity. "What sort of a home had you in London, Tim?" asked Mrs Merryboy. "Well, ma'am, I hadn't n... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584558 | home at all, boy; what do you mean? You must have lived somewhere." "Oh yes, ma'am, I always lived somewheres, but it wasn't nowheres in partikler. You see I'd neither father nor mother, an' though a good old 'ooman did take me in, she couldn't purvide a bed or blankets, an' her 'ome was stuffy, so I preferred to live | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584559 | in the streets, an' sleep of a night w'en I couldn't pay for a lodgin', in empty casks and under wegitable carts in Covent Garden Market, or in empty sugar 'ogsheads. I liked the 'ogsheads best w'en I was 'ungry, an' that was most always, 'cause I could sometimes pick a little sugar that was left in the cracks an' | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584560 | 'oles, w'en they 'adn't bin cleaned out a'ready. Also I slep' under railway-arches, and on door-steps. But sometimes I 'ad raither disturbed nights, 'cause the coppers wouldn't let a feller sleep in sitch places if they could 'elp it." "Who are the `coppers?'" asked the good lady of the house, who listened in wonder to... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584561 | the--the--pl'eece." "Oh! the police?" "Yes, ma'am." "Where in the world did they expect you to sleep?" asked Mrs Merryboy with some indignation. "That's best known to themselves, ma'am," returned Tim; "p'raps we might 'ave bin allowed to sleep on the Thames, if we'd 'ad a mind to, or on the hatmosphere, but never 'avin... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584562 | "Did you lead the same sort of life, Bob?" asked the farmer, who had by that time appeased his appetite. "Pretty much so, sir," replied Bobby, "though I wasn't quite so 'ard up as Tim, havin' both a father and mother as well as a 'ome. But they was costly possessions, so I was forced to give 'em up." "What! | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584563 | you don't mean that you forsook them?" said Mr Merryboy with a touch of severity. "No, sir, but father forsook me and the rest of us, by gettin' into the Stone Jug--wery much agin' my earnest advice,--an' mother an' sister both thought it was best for me to come out here." The two waifs, being thus encouraged, came out... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584564 | their experiences pretty freely, and made such a number of surprising revelations, that the worthy backwoodsman and his wife were lost in astonishment, to the obvious advantage of old Mrs Merryboy, who, regarding the varying expressions of face around her as the result of a series of excellent jokes, went into a state ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584565 | "Have some more bread and butter, and tea, Bob and some more sausage," said Mrs Merryboy, under a sudden impulse. Bob declined. Yes, that London street-arab absolutely declined food! So did Tim Lumpy! "Now, my lads, are you quite sure," said Mr Merryboy, "that you've had enough to eat?" They both protested, with some r... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584566 | eat another bite if you was to try, could you?" "Vell, sir," said Bob, with a spice of the `old country' insolence strong upon him, "there's no sayin' what might be accomplished with a heffort, but the consikences, you know, might be serious." The farmer received this with a thunderous guffaw, and, bidding the boys fol... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584567 | took them round the farm buildings, commenting on and explaining everything, showed them cattle and horses, pigs and poultry, barns and stables, and then asked them how they thought they'd like to work there. "Uncommon!" was Bobby Frog's prompt reply, delivered with emphasis. "Fust rate!" was Tim Lumpy's sympathetic se... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584568 | that lot of cord-wood lying tumbled about in the yard, Bob?" "Yes, sir." "You go to work on it, then, and pile it up against that fence, same as you see this one done. An' let's see how neatly you'll do it. Don't hurry. What we want in Canada is not so much to see work done quickly as done | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584569 | well." Taking Tim to another part of the farm, he set him to remove a huge heap of stones with a barrow and shovel, and, leaving them, returned to the house. Both boys set to work with a will. It was to them the beginning of life; they felt that, and were the more anxious to do well in consequence. | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584570 | Remembering the farmer's caution, they did not hurry, but Tim built a cone of stones with the care and artistic exactitude of an architect, while Bobby piled his billets of wood with as much regard to symmetrical proportion as was possible in the circumstances. About noon they became hungry, but hunger was an old foe w... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584571 | trained to defy, so they worked on utterly regardless of him. Thereafter a welcome sound was heard--the dinner-bell! Having been told to come in on hearing it, they left work at once, ran to the pump, washed themselves, and appeared in the dining-room looking hot, but bright and jovial, for nothing brightens the human ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584572 | heart), as the consciousness of having performed duty well. From the first this worthy couple, who were childless, received the boys into their home as sons, and on all occasions treated them as such. Martha Mild, (her surname was derived from her character), had been similarly received and treated. "Well, lads," said ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584573 | a second edition of breakfast, tea included, but with more meat and vegetables--"how did you find the work? pretty hard--eh?" "Oh! no, sir, nothink of the kind," said Bobby, who was resolved to show a disposition to work like a man and think nothing of it. "Ah, good. I'll find you some harder work after dinner." Bobby ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584574 | having been so prompt in reply. "The end of this month, too, I'll have you both sent to school," continued the farmer with a look of hearty good-will, that Tim thought would have harmonised better with a promise to give them jam-tart and cream. "It's vacation time just now, and the schoolmaster's away for a holiday. Wh... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584575 | you'll have to cultivate mind as well as soil, my boys, for I've come under an obligation to look after your education, and even if I hadn't, I'd do it to satisfy my own conscience." The _couleur-de-rose_ with which Bob and Tim had begun to invest their future faded perceptibly on hearing this. The viands, however, wer... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584576 | it did not disturb them very much. They ate away heartily, and in silence. Little Martha was not less diligent, for she had been busy all the morning in the dairy and kitchen, playing, rather than working, at domestic concerns, yet in her play doing much real work, and acquiring useful knowledge, as well as an appetite... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584577 | farmer rose at once. He was one of those who find it unnecessary either to drink or smoke after meals. Indeed, strong drink and tobacco were unknown in his house, and, curiously enough, nobody seemed to be a whit the worse for their absence. There were some people, indeed, who even went the length of asserting that the... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584578 | the better for their absence! "Now for the hard work I promised you, boys; come along." CHAPTER TWENTY. OCCUPATIONS AT BRANKLY FARM. The farmer led our two boys through a deliciously scented pine-wood at the rear of his house, to a valley which seemed to extend and widen out into a multitude of lesser valleys and clump... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584579 | lakelets and rivulets and waterfalls glittered in the afternoon sun like shields and bands of burnished silver. Taking a ball of twine from one of his capacious pockets, he gave it to Bobby along with a small pocket-book. "Have you got clasp-knives?" he asked. "Yes, sir," said both boys, at once producing instruments w... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584580 | wear. "Very well, now, here is the work I want you to do for me this afternoon. D'you see the creek down in the hollow yonder--about half a mile off?" "Yes, yes, sir." "Well, go down there and cut two sticks about ten feet long each; tie strings to the small ends of them; fix hooks that you'll find in | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584581 | that pocket-book to the lines. The creek below the fall is swarming with fish; you'll find grasshoppers and worms enough for bait if you choose to look for 'em. Go, and see what you can do." A reminiscence of ancient times induced Bobby Frog to say "Walke-e-r!" to himself, but he had too much wisdom to say it aloud. He | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584582 | did, however, venture modestly to remark-- "I knows nothink about fishin', sir. Never cotched so much as a eel in--" "When I give you orders, _obey_ them!" interrupted the farmer, in a tone and with a look that sent Bobby and Tim to the right-about double-quick. They did not even venture to look back until they reached... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584583 | out, and when they did look back Mr Merryboy had disappeared. "Vell, I say," began Bobby, but Tim interrupted him with, "Now, Bob, you _must_ git off that 'abit you've got o' puttin' v's for double-u's. Wasn't we told by the genl'm'n that gave us a partin' had-dress that we'd never git on in the noo world if we didn't | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584584 | mind our p's and q's? An' here you are as regardless of your v's as if they'd no connection wi' the alphabet." "Pretty cove _you_ are, to find fault wi' _me_," retorted Bob, "w'en you're far wuss wi' your haitches--a-droppin' of 'em w'en you shouldn't ought to, an' stickin' of 'em in where you oughtn't should to. Go al... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584585 | cut your stick, as master told you." The sticks were cut, pieces of string were measured off, and hooks attached thereto. Then grasshoppers were caught, impaled, and dropped into a pool. The immediate result was almost electrifying to lads who had never caught even a minnow before. Bobby's hook had barely sunk when it ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584586 | so forcibly as to draw a tremendous "Hi! hallo!! ho!!! I've got 'im!!!" from the fisher. "Hoy! hurroo!!" responded Tim, "so've I!!!" Both boys, blazing with excitement, held on. The fish, bursting, apparently, with even greater excitement, rushed off. "He'll smash my stick!" cried Bob. "The twine's sure to go!" cried T... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584587 | fish, which leaped high out of the pool and went wriggling back with a heavy splash. It did not obey the order, but the hook did, which came to the same thing. "A ten-pounder if he's a' ounce," said Tim. "You tell that to the horse--hi ho! stop that, will you?" But Bobby's fish was what himself used to be--troublesome | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584588 | to deal with. It would not "stop that." It kept darting from side to side and leaping out of the water until, in one of its bursts, it got entangled with Tim's fish, and the boys were obliged to haul them both ashore together. "Splendid!" exclaimed Bobby, as they unhooked two fine trout and laid them on a place of | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584589 | safety; "At 'em again!" At them they went, and soon had two more fish, but the disturbance created by these had the effect of frightening the others. At all events, at their third effort their patience was severely tried, for nothing came to their hooks to reward the intense gaze and the nervous readiness to act which ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584590 | during the next half-hour or so. At the end of that time there came a change in their favour, for little Martha Mild appeared on the scene. She had been sent, she said, to work with them. "To play with us, you mean," suggested Tim. "No, father said work," the child returned simply. "It's jolly work, then! But I say, | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584591 | old 'ooman, d'you call Mr Merryboy father?" asked Bob in surprise. "Yes, I've called him father ever since I came." "An' who's your real father?" "I have none. Never had one." "An' your mother?" "Never had a mother either." "Well, you air a curiosity." "Hallo! Bob, don't forget your purliteness," said Tim. "Come, Mumpy... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584592 | "Yes." "Then so will I. Well, Mumpy, as I was goin' to say, you may come an' _work_ with my rod if you like, an' we'll make a game of it. We'll play at work. Let me see where shall we be?" "In the garden of Eden," suggested Bob. "The very thing," said Tim; "I'll be Adam an' you'll be | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584593 | Eve, Mumpy." "Very well," said Martha with ready assent. She would have assented quite as readily to have personated Jezebel or the Witch of Endor. "And I'll be Cain," said Bobby, moving his line in a manner that was meant to be persuasive. "Oh!" said Martha, with much diffidence, "Cain was wicked, wasn't he?" "Well, m... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584594 | "Bobby Frog is wicked enough for half-a-dozen Cains. In fact, you can't cane him enough to pay him off for all his wickedness." "Bah! go to bed," said Cain, still intent on his line, which seemed to quiver as if with a nibble. As for Eve, being as innocent of pun-appreciation as her great original probably was, she loo... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584595 | the two boys in pleased gravity. "Hi! Cain's got another bite," cried Adam, while Eve went into a state of gentle excitement, and fluttered near with an evidently strong desire to help in some way. "Hallo! got 'im again!" shouted Tim, as his rod bent to the water with jerky violence; "out o' the way, Eve, else you'll g... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584596 | into Gihon." "Euphrates, you stoopid!" said Cain, turning his Beehive training to account. Having lost his fish, you see, he could afford to be critical while he fixed on another bait. But Tim cared not for rivers or names just then, having hooked a "real wopper," which gave him some trouble to land. When landed, it pr... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584597 | finest fish of the lot, much to Eve's satisfaction, who sat down to watch the process when Adam renewed the bait. Now, Bobby Frog, not having as yet been quite reformed, and, perhaps, having imbibed some of the spirit of his celebrated prototype with his name, felt a strong impulse to give Tim a gentle push behind. For... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584598 | in an irresistibly tempting position on the bank, with his little boots overhanging the dark pool from which the fish had been dragged. "Tim," said Bob. "Adam, if you please--or call me father, if you prefer it!" "Well, then, father, since I haven't got an Abel to kill, I'm only too 'appy to have a Adam to souse." Sayi... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584599 | he gave him a sufficient impulse to send him off! Eve gave vent to a treble shriek, on beholding her husband struggling in the water, and Cain himself felt somewhat alarmed at what he had done. He quickly extended the butt of his rod to his father, and dragged him safe to land, to poor Eve's inexpressible relief. "What... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.