Dusty Diamonds Cut and Polished: A Tale of City Arab Life and Adventure by - (best self help books to read txt) đ
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âDid you lead the same sort of life, Bob?â asked the farmer, who had by that time appeased his appetite.
âPretty much so, sir,â replied Bobby, âthough I wasnât quite so âard up as Tim, havinâ both a father and mother as well as a âome. But they was costly possessions, so I was forced to give âem up.â
âWhat! you donât mean that you forsook them?â said Mr Merryboy with a touch of severity.
âNo, sir, but father forsook me and the rest of us, by gettinâ into the Stone Jugâwery much aginâ my earnest advice,âanâ mother anâ sister both thought it was best for me to come out here.â
The two waifs, being thus encouraged, came out with 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 of chronic laughter of a mild type.
âHave some more bread and butter, and tea, Bob and some more sausage,â said Mrs Merryboy, under a sudden impulse.
Bob declined. Yes, that London street-arab absolutely declined food! So did Tim Lumpy!
âNow, my lads, are you quite sure,â said Mr Merryboy, âthat youâve had enough to eat?â
They both protested, with some regret, that they had.
âYou couldnât eat another bite if you was to try, could you?â
âVell, sir,â said Bob, with a spice of the âold countryâ insolence strong upon him, âthereâs no sayinâ what might be accomplished with a heffort, but the consikences, you know, might be serious.â
The farmer received this with a thunderous guffaw, and, bidding the boys follow him, went out.
He 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 theyâd like to work there.
âUncommon!â was Bobby Frogâs prompt reply, delivered with emphasis.
âFust rate!â was Tim Lumpyâs sympathetic sentiment.
âWell, then, the sooner we begin the better. Dâyou see that lot of cord-wood lying tumbled about in the yard, Bob?â
âYes, sir.â
âYou go to work on it, then, and pile it up against that fence, same as you see this one done. Anâ letâs see how neatly youâll do it. Donât hurry. What we want in Canada is not so much to see work done quickly as done well.â
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. Remembering the farmerâs 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 whom they had been well trained to defy, so they worked on utterly regardless of him.
Thereafter a welcome sound was heardâthe 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 countenance so much, (by gladdening the 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.
âWell, lads,â said the farmer as they commenced the mealâwhich was a second edition of breakfast, tea included, but with more meat and vegetablesââhow did you find the work? pretty hardâeh?â
âOh! no, sir, nothink of the kind,â said Bobby, who was resolved to show a disposition to work like a man and think nothing of it.
âAh, good. Iâll find you some harder work after dinner.â
Bobby blamed himself for having been so prompt in reply.
âThe end of this month, too, Iâll have you both sent to school,â 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. âItâs vacation time just now, and the schoolmasterâs away for a holiday. When he comes back youâll have to cultivate mind as well as soil, my boys, for Iâve come under an obligation to look after your education, and even if I hadnât, Iâd do it to satisfy my own conscience.â
The couleur-de-rose with which Bob and Tim had begun to invest their future faded perceptibly on hearing this. The viands, however, were so good that 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.
After dinner the 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 they were all the better for their absence!
âNow for the hard work I promised you, boys; come along.â
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 clumps of woodland, where 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.
âHave you got clasp-knives?â he asked.
âYes, sir,â said both boys, at once producing instruments which were very much the worse for wear.
âVery well, now, here is the work I want you to do for me this afternoon. Dâyou see the creek down in the hollow yonderâabout half a mile off?â
âYes, yes, sir.â
âWell, go down there and cut two sticks about ten feet long each; tie strings to the small ends of them; fix hooks that youâll find in that pocket-book to the lines. The creek below the fall is swarming with fish; youâll find grasshoppers and worms enough for bait if you choose to look for âem. Go, and see what you can do.â
A reminiscence of ancient times induced Bobby Frog to say âWalkeâeâr!â to himself, but he had too much wisdom to say it aloud. He did, however, venture modestly to remarkâ
âI knows nothink about fishinâ, sir. Never cotched so much as a eel inââ
âWhen I give you orders, obey them!â 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 the pool pointed out, and when they did look back Mr Merryboy had disappeared.
âVell, I say,â began Bobby, but Tim interrupted him with, âNow, Bob, you must git off that âabit youâve got oâ puttinâ vâs for double-uâs. Wasnât we told by the genlâmân that gave us a partinâ had-dress that weâd never git on in the noo world if we didnât mind our pâs and qâs? Anâ here you are as regardless of your vâs as if theyâd no connection wiâ the alphabet.â
âPretty cove you are, to find fault wiâ me,â retorted Bob, âwâen youâre far wuss wiâ your haitchesâa-droppinâ of âem wâen you shouldnât ought to, anâ stickinâ of âem in where you oughtnât should to. Go along anâ cut your stick, as master told you.â
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. Bobbyâs hook had barely sunk when it was seized and run away with so forcibly as to draw a tremendous âHi! hallo!! ho!!! Iâve got âim!!!â from the fisher.
âHoy! hurroo!!â responded Tim, âsoâve I!!!â
Both boys, blazing with excitement, held on.
The fish, bursting, apparently, with even greater excitement, rushed off.
âHeâll smash my stick!â cried Bob.
âThe twineâs sure to go!â cried Tim. âHold oâoâon!â
This command was addressed to his 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.
âA ten-pounder if heâs aâ ounce,â said Tim.
âYou tell that to the horseâhi ho! stop that, will you?â
But Bobbyâs fish was what himself used to beâtroublesome to deal with. It would not âstop that.â
It kept darting from side to side and leaping out of the water until, in one of its bursts, it got entangled with Timâs fish, and the boys were obliged to haul them both ashore together.
âSplendid!â exclaimed Bobby, as they unhooked two fine trout and laid them on a place of safety; âAt âem again!â
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 marked each boy 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.
âTo play with us, you mean,â suggested Tim.
âNo, father said work,â the child returned simply.
âItâs jolly work, then! But I say, old âooman, dâyou call Mr Merryboy father?â asked Bob in surprise.
âYes, Iâve called him father ever since I came.â
âAnâ whoâs your real father?â
âI have none. Never had one.â
âAnâ your mother?â
âNever had a mother either.â
âWell, you air a curiosity.â
âHallo! Bob, donât forget your purliteness,â said Tim. âCome, Mumpy; father calls you Mumpy, doesnât he?â
âYes.â
âThen so will I. Well, Mumpy, as I was goinâ to say, you may come anâ work with my rod if you like, anâ weâll make a game of it. Weâll play at work. Let me see where shall we be?â
âIn the garden of Eden,â suggested Bob.
âThe very thing,â said Tim; âIâll be Adam anâ youâll be Eve, Mumpy.â
âVery well,â said Martha with ready assent.
She would have assented quite as readily to have personated Jezebel or the Witch of Endor.
âAnd Iâll be Cain,â said Bobby, moving his line in a manner that was meant to be persuasive.
âOh!â said Martha, with much diffidence, âCain was wicked, wasnât he?â
âWell, my dear Eve,â said Tim, âBobby Frog is wicked enough for half-a-dozen Cains. In fact, you canât cane him enough to pay him off for all his wickedness.â
âBah! go to bed,â 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 looked at the two boys in pleased gravity.
âHi! Cainâs got another bite,â cried Adam, while Eve went into a state of gentle excitement, and fluttered near with an evidently strong desire to help in some way.
âHallo! got âim again!â shouted Tim, as his rod bent to the water with jerky violence; âout oâ the way, Eve, else youâll get shoved into Gihon.â
âEuphrates, you stoopid!â said Cain, turning his Beehive training to account. Having
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