The Schooner on the Beach (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1884 edition. Excerpt: ... an audience. "Here is Florence Nightingale, the only painting in existence. She herself was a great artist. Here is Sitting Bull, the illustrious Indian brave." The professor went on to astonish his audience by saying that the wild Indians were never diseased until the white man came among them. The white man brought "alkey-hol," and "alkey-hol" was the "pest of America-r-er " "The man using it should be knocked out of socie-tee." Here the professor's nose blushed redder than ever, as if in shame at the insincere statements made just under it by that treacherous neighbour, Silas's tongue. The professor kept his word in the administration of laughing-gas, to make apparent any native peculiarities in an individual, and thereby assist the professor in determining any resemblance to famous characters on the walls. "The new atmospheric intoxicant," he said, "would also give the person a cheap while delightful trip to Fairyland." As soon as an invitation was given, some of the ambitious boys of the village came forward and applied their mouths to the nozzle of a black bag. When fairly charged with the gas, they began to manifest certain very interesting and historical traits. They are generally manifested by boys who loaf before grocery stores or about tavern stables and railroad stations. Most of the professor's candidates began to shuffle and dance, and if he had not prudently tied a rope about them, somewhat restricting their liberty, they would have moved right among the audience in their effort to execute with their feet a first-class reveille. "Whom among the great do these resemble?" asked the professor, with a wave of his hand. Some one called out the name...