At certain periods it becomes the dearest ambition of a man to keep a faithful record of his performances in a book; and he dashes at this work with an enthusiasm that imposes on him the notion that keeping a journal is the veriest pastime in the world, and the pleasantest. But if he only lives twenty-one days, he will find out that only those rare natures that are made up of pluck, endurance, devotion to duty for duty’s sake, and invincible determination, may hope to venture upon so tremendous an enterprise as the keeping of a journal and not sustain a shameful defeat. It may sound awfully funny to read now; but I assure you sitting round the Mess table with Tick's white and blue face in front of one and Tick's awful way of laughing and talking in one's ears, the fun did not dawn on us till a long time after. With no one to call him to account, with only small boys to face him, he had long lost all power of self-control. I have remarked before that to the golfer as he gets older there are compensating advantages to set off against the diminished power and length of the long strokes of the tee, and through the green.
I do not mean that it was dull, for it was not entirely so by any means-but there was a good deal of sameness about it. Are you and your cousins good swimmers? It never occurred to Tom and his cousins that possibly Joe Wayring, and all the other boys who believed that friendly trials of strength and skill, like those that were to come off during the canoe meet, should be fairly conducted, would not thank them for their interference. He was afraid, as well as ashamed, to show them how far his unreasonable enmity toward Joe Wayring had led him, What is a billiards club and so he said nothing. The rest of the boys, for reasons best known to themselves, though they loathed the master, took his side in the affair, and, to show their indignation that the school's business had been dealt with outside, made things as uncomfortable as they could for Walters' younger brother, who still remained. Her hand was still on his arm. He wondered whether there was sarcasm behind the boy's reply, but he was still much too shaken.
She does still. Wait till you see her. At last he grew impatient. In the great series of test matches, both here and in Australia, during the last ten years there have been Stoddart, Maclaren, Ranjitsinhji, and Jackson, as there have been Shrewsbury, Hayward, Tyldesley, and Gunn, the amateurs perhaps having a shade the better of it. " (he was a little given to slang in his happier moods,) "I wrote ten pages in my journal last night-and you know I wrote nine the night before and twelve the night before that. Behind the long dining-tables on either side of the saloon, and scattered from one end to the other of the latter, some twenty or thirty gentlemen and ladies sat them down under the swaying lamps, and for two or three hours wrote diligently in their journals. As Miss Davis stood holding open the door, he had not looked to her, and he did not look back now as she closed the door behind him; their eyes had not met; but he understood that she had comprehended him fully. A motor whizzed past them, coming from behind.
"Oh, I’m coming along bully! But that wouldn’t do, would it? ’ That cat wouldn’t fight, you know. George didn’t know the tunes, either, which was also a drawback to his performances. I'm rather a quick sort of chap at times, you know. Sort of woman who makes you feel that your hands are the color of tomatoes and the size of legs of mutton, if you know what I mean. As is always the fashion at sea, the passengers shortly began to pick up sailor terms-a sign that they were beginning to feel at home. When it rained, the passengers had to stay in the house, of course-or at least the cabins-and amuse themselves with games, reading, looking out of the windows at the very familiar billows, and talking gossip. She stood looking after them as they spun down the curving drive and onto the pike outside the grounds; then she went back to the study. In the season of 1882, of the games played during the time when recitations or examinations were being held, only five were played out of town by the Yale University Nine, though the men went out of town once or twice more but were prevented from playing by the rain.