United States or American Samoa ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
John Thornton was eating dinner when Buck dashed into camp and sprang upon him in a frenzy of affection, overturning him, scrambling upon him, licking his face, biting his hand "playing the general tom-fool," as John Thornton characterized it, the while he shook Buck back and forth and cursed him lovingly. For two days and nights Buck never left camp, never let Thornton out of his sight.
The seamen did to me what school-boys do to the new boy. I did not know then that there is no mercy for one sensitive enough to take such "jests" to heart. At sea, the rough, ready tom-fool boy is the boy to thrive. Such an one might have spilt all the slush in the ship, without getting so much as a cuff. I was a merry boy enough, but I was sad when I made my first appearance.
"You win," he said, succinctly. "Your friend Scattergood has brought the fight right on to our front porch.... What about it, Hammond? Will such a tom-fool law stand water?" "Can't tell. My judgment is that it wouldn't, but it's such a fool law that nobody can tell. And if it stuck " He sucked in his breath. "It would give every jay legisature a show to rough the railroads beautifully."
He drew a small book from his pocket, at which the other glanced malevolently. "I give you fair warning, Mr. President," said Stanton. "If you've come here to read me the work of one of your tom-fool funny men, I'll fling it out of the window." "This work is the Bible," said Lincoln, with the artlessness of a mischievous child. "I looked in to ask how the draft was progressing."
"By this time we were all as sociable together as mice in malt, except that these Corsicans never laughed at all, but stared at us awsome-like even when the creature Fett put one foot on a chair and another on the table and made 'em a long tom-fool speech in English, calling 'em friends Romans and countrymen and asking them to lend him their ears, as though his own weren't long enough.
The moment one of us had advanced one of these objections he was at once himself the most eager to demolish it. Thus we gradually worked ourselves toward enthusiasm. "If Sam Bagsby would join us, it might be worth trying," we came to at last. But Sam Bagsby scouted any such idea. "I ain't that kind of a tom-fool," said he. "If I want to paddle my hands blue I'd do it yere.
The symptoms are slight, and though it is impossible to say from moment to moment what will happen, the chances are that if we can keep Hunt-Goring from doing any further mischief, the disease may remain in a stationary condition for some time. In that case you may manage to get Olga away on this tom-fool expedition of yours to India before any serious development takes place."
Now, run away and make a hog of yourself with the women! 'Here, my little lad, here's your set of morals. Now, run away and be a bally monk!" "Exactly!" said Henry. "That's my view!" "Well, all I can say," said Ninian, "is that it won't do. This may be a tom-fool sort of a world, but it gets along in its tom-fool way a lot better than it will in your neat arrangement of things...."
"If I'd known how he got it I'd never have come," was Linday's comment. Daw nodded concurrence. "That's what she said. She told me sure not to whisper how it happened." "Is he crazy?" Linday demanded in his wrath. "They're all crazy. Him an' his brother are all the time devilin' each other to tom-fool things. I seen them swim the riffle last fall, bad water an' mush-ice runnin' on a dare.
"Why, what was to prevent him lugging away a little this day and that, till the whole caboodle was sunk in a solid block? What do you suppose he was doing with the lantern, you tom-fool? Planting it, of course planting every dollar of it, night after night, while you were snoozing in your silly bed."
Word Of The Day