The Prairie: A Tale

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Hurd and Houghton, 1872 - 461 pages
 

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Page 158 - A pick-axe, and a spade, a spade, For and a shrouding sheet: O, a pit of clay for to be made For such a guest is meet.
Page 421 - I beseech you, Wrest once the law to your authority: To do a great right, do a little wrong, And curb this cruel devil of his will.
Page 293 - The experience of the trapper was in the right. As the fire gained strength and heat, it began to spread on three sides, dying of itself on the fourth, for want of aliment. As it increased, and the sullen roaring announced its power, it cleared everything before it, leaving the black and smoking soil far more naked than if the scythe had swept the place. The situation of the fugitives would have still been hazardous had not the area enlarged as the flame encircled them. But by advancing to the spot...
Page 287 - ... sky ; surely it contains a promise of happier times ! " " It is glorious ! " returned her husband. " Glorious and heavenly is that streak of vivid red, and here is a still brighter crimson ; rarely have I seen a richer rising of the sun.
Page 332 - I am not prone to weeping, as our sex Commonly are. . . . But I have that honorable Grief lodged here, which burns worse than Tears drown.
Page 292 - criei the amazed Middleton ; " are you not bringing the enemy nigher to us instead of avoiding it ? " " Do you scorch so easily ? your gran'ther had a tougher skin. But we shall live to see — we shall all live to see.
Page 293 - ... aliment. As it increased, and the sullen roaring announced its power, it cleared everything before it, leaving the black and smoking soil far more naked than if the scythe had swept the place. The situation of the fugitives would have still been hazardous had not the area enlarged as the flame encircled them. But by advancing to the spot where the trapper had kindled the grass, they avoided the heat, and in a very few moments the flames began to recede in every quarter, leaving them enveloped...
Page 70 - The gradations of society, from that state which is called refined to that which approaches as near barbarity as connexion with an intelligent people will readily allow, are to be traced from the bosom of the states, where wealth, luxury and the arts are beginning to seat themselves, to those distant, and ever-receding borders which mark the skirts, and announce the approach, of the nation, as moving mists precede the signs of day.
Page 293 - Old trapper," cried Paul, thrusting his fingers through his shaggy locks, " I have lined many a loaded bee into his hole, and know something of the nature of the woods, but this is robbing a hornet of his sting without touching the insect ! "
Page 232 - ... a thousand throats vented their plaints in a discordant murmuring. A long and musing silence reigned in the party, as they gazed on this spectacle of wild and peculiar grandeur. It was at length broken by the trapper, who, having been long accustomed to similar sights, felt less of its influence, or, rather, felt it in a less thrilling and absorbing manner, than those to whom the scene was more novel. .

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