slivertwist

Updated: June 28, 2025

So saying, the teacher went away. It is scarcely necessary to say to any one who knows boys that the teacher was called out not long afterwards to see that Old Gnarly and Old Slivertwist were both split up fine the boys standing around the heaps of well-prepared fire-wood which they had afforded, and regarding them with an air of exultation and triumph.

Jacob Abbott - Gentle Measures in the Management and Training of the Young: Or, the Principles on Which a Firm Parental Authority May Be: Established and Maintained, Without Violence or Anger, and the Right: Development of the Moral and Mental Capacities Be Promoted by Methods: in Harmony with the Structure and the Characteristics of the Juvenile: Mind

"It will do no good," said the teacher, "for he won't come open, if he can possibly help it. His name is Slivertwist. If you get a crack in him, you will find him full of twisted splinters that he holds himself together with. The only way is to cut them through with a sharp axe. But he holds on so tight with them that I don't believe you can get him open. He says he never gives up to boys."

Jacob Abbott - Gentle Measures in the Management and Training of the Young: Or, the Principles on Which a Firm Parental Authority May Be: Established and Maintained, Without Violence or Anger, and the Right: Development of the Moral and Mental Capacities Be Promoted by Methods: in Harmony with the Structure and the Characteristics of the Juvenile: Mind