The Autocrat of the breakfast tableHoughton, Mifflin, 1858 - 373 pages |
From inside the book
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Page 5
... course understand the precise amount of seasoning which must be added to it before he adopts it as one of the axioms of his life . The speaker disclaims all responsibility for its abuse in incompetent hands . ] 1HE AUTOCRAT OF THE ...
... course understand the precise amount of seasoning which must be added to it before he adopts it as one of the axioms of his life . The speaker disclaims all responsibility for its abuse in incompetent hands . ] 1HE AUTOCRAT OF THE ...
Page 8
... course of a protracted existence ! Why , the truths a man carries about with him are his tools ; and do you think a carpenter is bound to use the same plane but once to smooth a knotty board with , or to hang up his hammer after it has ...
... course of a protracted existence ! Why , the truths a man carries about with him are his tools ; and do you think a carpenter is bound to use the same plane but once to smooth a knotty board with , or to hang up his hammer after it has ...
Page 16
... course advise wisely , but not necessarily because he wrangles or plays well . The old gentleman who sits opposite got his hand up , as a pointer lifts his forefoot , at the expression , " his relations with truth , as I understand ...
... course advise wisely , but not necessarily because he wrangles or plays well . The old gentleman who sits opposite got his hand up , as a pointer lifts his forefoot , at the expression , " his relations with truth , as I understand ...
Page 21
... course necessary accidents with us , as with our prototypes . And so we come to their style of weapon . Our army sword is the short , stiff , pointed giadius of the Romans ; and the American bowie - knife is the same tool , modified to ...
... course necessary accidents with us , as with our prototypes . And so we come to their style of weapon . Our army sword is the short , stiff , pointed giadius of the Romans ; and the American bowie - knife is the same tool , modified to ...
Page 22
... course every body likes and respects self - made men . It is a great deal better to be made in that way than not to be made at all . Are any of you younger people old enough to remember that Irishman's house on the marsh at ...
... course every body likes and respects self - made men . It is a great deal better to be made in that way than not to be made at all . Are any of you younger people old enough to remember that Irishman's house on the marsh at ...
Common terms and phrases
American elm asked asphyxia beauty beneath Benjamin Franklin better boarders bombazine brain call John chair cheroot chloroform comes commonly conversation course dandyism dear divinity-student Doctors of Divinity dream English elm eyes face fact falchion fancy feel feet flowers give green grow hand head hear heard heart Houyhnhnm human intellectual kind lady laugh lecture lips literary live long path look man's mean meerschaum ment mind morning Nature never o'er old age old gentleman opposite OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES once perhaps person poem poets poor pretty Professor remarks remember round rowlocks schoolmistress seen smile sometimes soul speak spring stand stone story suppose sure sweet talk tell things thought tion told toutes les nuits tree truth turned uttered verses voice walk waves woman words write young fellow youth
Popular passages
Page 289 - Now in building of chaises, I tell you what, There is always somewhere a weakest spot, In hub, tire, felloe, in spring or thill, In panel, or crossbar, or floor , or sill, In screw, bolt, thoroughbrace, — lurking still, Find it somewhere you must and will, Above or below, or within or without, And that's the reason, beyond a doubt, A chaise breaks down but doesn't wear out. But the Deacon swore (as Deacons do, With an "I dew vum...
Page 290 - That couldn't be split nor bent nor broke,^ That was for spokes and floor and sills; He sent for lancewood to make the thills; The crossbars were ash, from the straightest trees, The panels of white-wood, that cuts like cheese, But lasts like iron for things like these; The hubs of logs from the "Settler's ellum...
Page 104 - Year after year beheld the silent toil That spread his lustrous coil; Still, as the spiral grew, He left the past year's dwelling for the new...
Page 292 - What do you think the parson found, When he got up and stared around? The poor old chaise in a heap or mound, As if it had been to the mill and ground! You...
Page 289 - Saw the earth open and gulp her down, And Braddock's army was done so brown, Left without a scalp to its crown. It was on the terrible earthquake-day That the Deacon finished the one-hoss shay.
Page 99 - I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, — but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.
Page 104 - THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS.* This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign, Sails the unshadowed main, — The venturous bark that flings On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings In gulfs enchanted, where the siren sings, And coral reefs lie bare, Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.
Page 305 - I care not much for gold or land; Give me a mortgage here and there — Some good bank-stock — some note of hand, Or trifling railroad share — I only ask that Fortune send A little more than I shall spend.
Page 194 - The smooth, soft air with pulse-like waves Flows murmuring through its hidden caves, Whose streams of brightening purple rush, Fired with a new and livelier blush, While all their burden of decay The ebbing current steals away, And red with Nature's flame they start From the warm fountains of the heart.
Page 104 - And every chambered cell, Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell...