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Article THE BRASS THUMB. ← Page 5 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Brass Thumb.
that very morning , as she passed the statue on her way to church , for his brass thumb for a tobacco-stopper . " Mercy on me ! " cried the despairing Hans , " that she should have taken such a fancy into her head ! I am undone . I am banished her presence , until I procure the brass thumb of this rampaging old saint , and ' tis sacrilege even to think of it !"
SECOND PART . LOVE is at all times a sufficient torment , even when its inherent terrors are not aggravated by inflictions from the fair one . Even in that very lowest depth of love , to which ( for a Dutchman ) Hans Hobbler had fallen , his mistress seemed determined to discover some still lower deep into which he
should be precipitated . Cruelty is common with barbarians , and therefore not of its lightest form with young maidens , when they know they have a lover ( or slave , for the terms are synonymous ) at their disposal . I should prove tedious were I to impart all the troubles of this good man and persecuted brewer , in the lot which fate
had cast for him . The impossibility of complying with Leuchidde ' s unreasonable desire drove sleep from his eyes , and he wandered about like the ghost of himself . He was hourly becoming as meagre as one of his own proving-gimlets , and nought could yield him comfort . He was debarred from the sight of his mistress ; for she absolutely forbade her reluctant
knight her presence , until he had achieved the capture of the prize which was to be "his limited service . " He dreaded , too , that some bold adventurer might , in the mean time , strike in for the prize , and , more decisive than himself , uproot the whole saint in the turning of a hand . If poor Hans Hobbler ' s love was as half a dozen , his fears were as no less , and he felt that , until he could count in some preponderating inducements in the former respect , he should remain as stationary as the dead weights of one of his own Dutch clocks .
But at last Hans , alarmed at the rumours he heard that others were in the field against him as well as against the saint , determined to make the effort . One moonlight night , —which he chose for the company , —he sallied out , sighing heavily at the necessity of it , but intent upon his daring act . Though on ordinary occasions a most sober man , if truth must be told , this night he concealed in his bosom a silver flasket of his own national liquid , Hollands . He was enveloped in a cloak
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Brass Thumb.
that very morning , as she passed the statue on her way to church , for his brass thumb for a tobacco-stopper . " Mercy on me ! " cried the despairing Hans , " that she should have taken such a fancy into her head ! I am undone . I am banished her presence , until I procure the brass thumb of this rampaging old saint , and ' tis sacrilege even to think of it !"
SECOND PART . LOVE is at all times a sufficient torment , even when its inherent terrors are not aggravated by inflictions from the fair one . Even in that very lowest depth of love , to which ( for a Dutchman ) Hans Hobbler had fallen , his mistress seemed determined to discover some still lower deep into which he
should be precipitated . Cruelty is common with barbarians , and therefore not of its lightest form with young maidens , when they know they have a lover ( or slave , for the terms are synonymous ) at their disposal . I should prove tedious were I to impart all the troubles of this good man and persecuted brewer , in the lot which fate
had cast for him . The impossibility of complying with Leuchidde ' s unreasonable desire drove sleep from his eyes , and he wandered about like the ghost of himself . He was hourly becoming as meagre as one of his own proving-gimlets , and nought could yield him comfort . He was debarred from the sight of his mistress ; for she absolutely forbade her reluctant
knight her presence , until he had achieved the capture of the prize which was to be "his limited service . " He dreaded , too , that some bold adventurer might , in the mean time , strike in for the prize , and , more decisive than himself , uproot the whole saint in the turning of a hand . If poor Hans Hobbler ' s love was as half a dozen , his fears were as no less , and he felt that , until he could count in some preponderating inducements in the former respect , he should remain as stationary as the dead weights of one of his own Dutch clocks .
But at last Hans , alarmed at the rumours he heard that others were in the field against him as well as against the saint , determined to make the effort . One moonlight night , —which he chose for the company , —he sallied out , sighing heavily at the necessity of it , but intent upon his daring act . Though on ordinary occasions a most sober man , if truth must be told , this night he concealed in his bosom a silver flasket of his own national liquid , Hollands . He was enveloped in a cloak