Queechy, Volume I

I know each lane, and every alley green, Dingle or bushy dell of this wild wood, And every bosky bourne from side to side; My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood. MILTON.

Every day could not be as bright as the last, even by the help of pitch pine knots. They blazed, indeed, many a time, but the blaze shone upon faces that it could not sometimes...

Have you seen but a bright lily grow, Before rude hands have touched it? Ha' you mark'd but the fall o' the snow, Before the soil hath smutch'd it? BEN JONSON.

To them life was a simple art Of duties to be done, A game where each man took his part, A race where all must run; A battle whose great scheme and scope They little cared to kn...

"Some bring a capon, some a rurall cake, Some nuts, some apples; some that thinke they make The better cheeses, bring 'hem; or else send By their ripe daughters, whom they would...

"Whilst skies are blue and bright, Whilst flowers are gay, Whilst eyes that change ere night Make glad the day; Whilst yet the calm hours creep, Dream thou — and from thy sleep...

One other incident alone in the course of the voyage deserves to be mentioned; both because it served to bring out the characters of several people, and because it was not — wha...

Fleda waited for Barby's coming the next day with a little anxiety. The introduction and installation, however, were happily got over. Mrs. Rossitur, as Fleda knew, was most eas...

Miss Anastasia was a little surprised and a good deal gratified, Fleda saw, by her coming, and played the hostess with great benignity. The quilting-frame was stretched in an up...

One of the greatest of Fleda's pleasures was when Mr. Carleton came to take her out with him. He did that often. Fleda only wished he would have taken Hugh too, but somehow he n...

"No — his sister was with him; he had been complaining all the evening that he didn't feel right, but I didn't think nothing of it, and I didn't know as he did; and towards even...

Fleda had not been a year in Paris, when her uncle suddenly made up his mind to quit it and go home. Some trouble in money affairs, felt or feared, brought him to this step, whi...

" 'Tis merry, 'tis merry, in good green wood, So blithe Lady Alice is singing; On the beech's pride, and the oak's brown side, Lord Richard's axe is ringing." LADY OF THE LAKE.

Fleda pushed open the parlour door, and preceded her convoy, in a kind of tip-toe state of spirits. The first thing that met her eyes was her aunt, in one of the few handsome si...

"There the most daintie paradise on ground Itselfe doth offer to his sober eye — — The painted flowers, the trees upshooting hye, The dales for shade, the hills for breathing sp...

Faire Christabelle, that ladye bright, Was had forth of the towre: But ever she droopeth in her minde, As, nipt by an ungentle winde, Doth some faire lillye flowre. SYR CAULINE.

A single cloud on a sunny day, When all the rest of heaven is clear, A frown upon the atmosphere, That hath no business to appear, When skies are blue and earth is gay. BYRON.

The Evelyns spent several weeks at the Pool; and both mother and daughters conceiving a great affection for Fleda, kept her in their company as much as possible. For those weeks...

The voyage across the Atlantic was not, in itself, at all notable. The first half of the passage was extremely unquiet, and most of the passengers uncomfortable to match. Then t...

It was the middle of winter. One day Hugh and Fleda had come home from their walk. They dashed into the parlour, complaining that it was bitterly cold, and began unrobing before...

Fleda's fatigue did not prevent her being up before sunrise the next day. Fatigue was forgotten, for the light of a fair spring morning was shining in at her windows, and she me...

Mr. Carleton came the next day, but not early, to take Fleda to Montepoole. She had told her grandfather that she did not think he would come, because after last night he must k...

Captain Rossitur did no work at the saw-mill. But Fleda's words had not fallen to the ground. He began to show care for his fellow-creatures in getting the bellows mended; his n...

In the snuggest and best private room of the House at Montepoole, a party of ladies and gentlemen were gathered, awaiting the return of the sportsmen. The room had been made as...

whisperingly bade her "Remember!" But Fleda knew nothing of it; and when she had finally parted from aunt Miriam, and was seated in the little wagon on her way home, to her fanc...

"The thresher's weary flinging-tree The lee-lang day had tired me: And whan the day had closed his e'e, Far i' the west, Ben i' the spence, right pensivelie, I gaed to rest." BU...

A mind that in a calm angelic mood Of happy wisdom, meditating good, Beholds, of all from her high powers required, Much done, and much designed, and more desired. — WORDSWORTH.

Several days had passed. Fleda's cheeks had gained no colour, but she had grown a little stronger, and it was thought the party might proceed on their way without any more tarry...