"Ketch" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... from whence he was. He said from London, their Captain name Collyford, the ship named the Resolution, bound for China. This Collyford had been Gunners Mate at Bombay, and after run away with the Ketch. ...
— Great Pirate Stories • Various
... that dark building on one side of the yard, in which is kept the gibbet with all its dreadful apparatus, and on the door of which we half expected to see a brass plate, with the inscription 'Mr. Ketch;' for we never imagined that the distinguished functionary could by possibility live anywhere else! The days of these childish dreams have passed away, and with them many other boyish ideas of a gayer nature. But we still retain ...
— Sketches by Boz - illustrative of everyday life and every-day people • Charles Dickens
... was the man who established this, of the very same family (still thriving in West Middlesex) which for the service of the state supplied an official whose mantle it is now found hard to fill; and the blacksmith was known as "Jack Ketch" in the village, while his forge was becoming the centre of news. Captain Stubbard employed him for battery uses, and finding his swing-shutters larger than those of Widow Shanks, and more cheaply lit up by the glow of the forge, was now beginning, ...
— Springhaven - A Tale of the Great War • R. D. Blackmore
... waiting for it," she said to herself, observing the scullery door ajar. "Won't I ketch it! It's him for growling and snapping at a body, and it's me for always being before or behind time, bad luck to me. There's no ...
— The Stillwater Tragedy • Thomas Bailey Aldrich
... motion as if to rise and pursue, whereupon Wesley fled, wailing back over his shoulder as he ran, "You wait till I ketch you out alone on the public streets ...
— Ramsey Milholland • Booth Tarkington
... vus, we're free all round like; there ain't ne'er a bloomin' slave, White or black, but wot is free enough—to pop into 'is grave; Though if they ketch yer trying even that game, and yer fail, Yer next skool for teaching freedom ain't ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 102, Feb. 20, 1892 • Various
... be dry, Stood always nigh, For Darius was sly! And whenever at work he happened to spy At chink or crevice a blinking eye, He let a dipper of water fly. "Take that! an' ef ever ye get a peep, Guess ye'll ketch a weasel asleep!" And he sings as he locks His big strong box: "The weasel's head is small an' trim, An' he is leetle an' long an' slim, An' quick of motion an' nimble of limb, An' ef yeou'll be Advised by me, Keep wide awake when ye're ...
— The Elson Readers, Book 5 • William H. Elson and Christine M. Keck
... mirror, sir; when you move your 'ed, you do ketch that effect. I've observed it myself frequent. Chin cut, sir? My fault—my ...
— The Tinted Venus - A Farcical Romance • F. Anstey
... you hear that?" There was another blinding flash and bounding roll of thunder along the shore. "I wonder you didn't ketch it. You would—only ...
— By Shore and Sedge • Bret Harte
... the French Court. Prince Rupert at once foresaw the value of such an enterprise, and aided them in procuring the required assistance from several noblemen and gentlemen, to fit out in 1667 two ships from London, the "Eagle," Captain Stannard, and the "Nonsuch," ketch, Captain Zechariah Gillam. This Gillam is called by Oldmixon a New Englander, and was probably the same one who went in 1664/5 with Radisson and Groseilliers to Hudson's Strait on the unsuccessful voyage ...
— Voyages of Peter Esprit Radisson • Peter Esprit Radisson
... can't ketch me that way. I've heard of them friends before. But I'll tell you what," he added, as Patty stood looking at him blankly, "I'll go in there with you, and if so be's your friend's there and pays up the cash, I've nothing ...
— Patty's Summer Days • Carolyn Wells
... that he would instantly leave the cart in which he was conveyed, but he remained and saw his fellow prisoner hanged. Being asked why he did not at once go about his business, he said, "He was waiting to see if he could bargain with Mr. Ketch ...
— Law and Laughter • George Alexander Morton
... me what yo' ain't cryin' fo', kase ef yo' ain't cryin' fer somethin' yo' want yo' shore mus' be a-crying fo' somethin' yo' don't want," was Mammy's bewildering argument. "An' I bait yo' I ain't gotter go far fer ter ketch de thing yo' don' want neither," and the old woman looked ready to deal with that same cause once it ...
— Peggy Stewart at School • Gabrielle E. Jackson
... dull, and Mr. Frederick Dix, mate of the ketch Starfish, after a long and unsuccessful quest for amusement, returned to the harbor with an idea of forgetting his disappointment in sleep. The few shops in the High Street were closed, and the only entertainment offered at the taverns was contained in glass and pewter. ...
— Short Cruises • W.W. Jacobs
... callate, for 'Bam!' it caught him—or somebody in the seine-boat with him. He swore some, or somebody swore, you c'n bet. 'I don't know who y'are,' he hollers, 'but if ever I meet you ashore,' and he was so far away then I couldn't ketch no more of it. 'Don't know who y'are, but ...
— The Seiners • James B. (James Brendan) Connolly
... we received regularly through the courtesy of the rebel pickets, said prior to the fourth, in speaking of the "Yankee" boast that they would take dinner in Vicksburg that day, that the best receipt for cooking a rabbit was "First ketch your rabbit." The paper at this time and for some time previous was printed on the plain side of wall paper. The last number was issued on the fourth and announced that we ...
— Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete • Ulysses S. Grant
... room with a forced bravery, exclaimed to his companion, that he was as rich as the Duke of Bedford himself. He had five guineas and a half, which was as much as he could possibly spend in the course of the ensuing month; and what happened after that, it was Jack Ketch's business to see to, not his. As he uttered these words, he threw himself abruptly upon a bench that was near him, and seemed to be asleep in a moment. But his sleep was uneasy and disturbed, his breathing was hard, and, at intervals, had rather the nature of a groan. A young fellow from the ...
— Caleb Williams - Things As They Are • William Godwin
... a match, and I wil provide you a Song or a Ketch against then too, that shal give some addition of mirth to the company; ...
— The Compleat Angler - Facsimile of the First Edition • Izaak Walton
... were somehow unlucky and one by one they dropped out of the game of life. The oldest brother died with the smell of burnt black powder in his nostrils, and Tom's father stood over the body and called his dead son a fool for wearing his gun so it could stick in the holster. "If I ever ketch yuh doin' a trick like that, I'll thrash yuh till yuh can't stand," he admonished young Tom sternly. Young Tom always remembered how his dad had looked when brother Bill ...
— Rim o' the World • B. M. Bower
... hurt a little, en couldn't swim fas', so I wuz a considable ways behine you towards de las'; when you landed I reck'ned I could ketch up wid you on de lan' 'dout havin' to shout at you, but when I see dat house I begin to go slow. I 'uz off too fur to hear what dey say to you—I wuz 'fraid o' de dogs; but when it 'uz all quiet agin I knowed you's in de house, so I struck out for de woods ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain
... at North Head lighthouse requires some repairs, but the other buildings appear in good order. The wreck of the s.s. "Wentworth" still remains on the rocks to the southward of North Head, and forms a most efficient beacon. The pilot ketch "Dudley" has been recently repaired at Townsville in a very satisfactory manner. She is a very useful vessel, making monthly trips to Dent Island in addition ...
— Report on the Department of Ports and Harbours for the Year 1890-1891 • Department of Ports and Harbours
... most broke by that time, and I knew I should give in 'fore Monday. But I set and sewed and listened to the tinkle tankle of the drops in the pans set round to ketch 'em, for the house leaked like a sieve. Mis Bascurn was down suller putterin' about, for every kag and sarce jar was afloat. Moses, her brother, was lookin' after his stock and tryin' to stop the damage. All of a sudden he bust in lookin' ...
— Work: A Story of Experience • Louisa May Alcott
... wasn't a good man. He'd tell them to steal a hog and git home wid it. If they ketch you over there they'll whoop you. He'd help eat hogs ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States - Volume II. Arkansas Narratives. Part I • Work Projects Administration
... him; an' to stan' up dah wid de whole county fa'r roahin' at him—it's de God's mussy be did'n have no ahms wid him, dat night! Ole Mist' Chen'eth done brung him home, an' yo' pa reach out an' kick me squah' out'n' de liberry winder soon's he ketch sight er me!" The old man's gravity gave way to his enjoyment of the recollection, and he threw back his head to laugh. "He sho' did, honey! Uhuh! Ho, ho, ho! He sho' did, honey, ...
— The Two Vanrevels • Booth Tarkington
... and absurd neck;—those follies are all over now, aren't they? We love each other for good now, don't we? Yes, for ever; and Glycera may go to Bath, and Telephus take his cervicem roseam to Jack Ketch, n'est-ce pas? ...
— The Virginians • William Makepeace Thackeray
... upon her one of his deprecating, toothless smiles. "'T aint a-goin' ter tech us here," said he; "but I'm powerful glad ter be outer the Gornish Camp ter night. Them chaps be a-goin' ter ketch it, ...
— Earth's Enigmas - A Volume of Stories • Charles G. D. Roberts
... be thine, but the proudest treasure of me life is this fair daughter of thine that sets here by me side, Lord John,' says he. From that I thought maybe the Lady Constance had said something I didn't ketch. Of course, I was busy drivin' ...
— Heart's Desire • Emerson Hough
... of bread and in skillets what helt two. Big pots for bilin' was swung over de coals in de fireplace. Dey was hung on hooks fastened to de chimbly or on cranes what could be swung off de fire when dey wanted to dish up de victuals. Hit warn't nothin' for us to ketch five or six 'possums in one night's huntin'. De best way to tote 'possums is to split a stick and run deir tails thoo' de crack—den fling de stick crost your shoulders and tote de 'possums 'long safe and sound. Dat way dey can't bite you. Dey's bad 'bout gnawin' out of sacks. When us went ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States - Volume II. Arkansas Narratives. Part I • Work Projects Administration
... countered with "What do you belong to?" "Oh," said he, "I belong to de gang." "What gang?" "De gang on de corner of Fitty Fit and Cottage Grove." "And what do you do?" "Ah, in de ev'nin' we go out and ketch guys and tie 'em up." Allowing for nickel-show and Wild-West suggestions, there remains a touch of a ...
— The Minister and the Boy • Allan Hoben
... manager of the Frozen Dog Opera House. "He's got a five-mile start and I don't think the boys kin ketch him."—Life. ...
— Toaster's Handbook - Jokes, Stories, and Quotations • Peggy Edmund & Harold W. Williams, compilers
... obedience to the government. "I will make no speeches," he exclaimed. "Only ten words, my Lord." He turned away, called his servant, and put into the man's hand a toothpick case, the last token of ill starred love. "Give it," he said, "to that person." He then accosted John Ketch the executioner, a wretch who had butchered many brave and noble victims, and whose name has, during a century and a half, been vulgarly given to all who have succeeded him in his odious office. [430] "Here," ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 1 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay
... a corruption of Mid. Eng. orped, bold, warlike. Craske is an East Anglian word for fat, and Crouse is used in the north for sprightly, confident. To these we may add Ketch, Kedge, Gedge, from an ...
— The Romance of Names • Ernest Weekley
... no, sir!" cried Mr. Sim piteously. "We don't speak, you know; we—we've lost the habit of it, and we're too old to ketch holt of it again. You give it to him, Cal, like a good feller! And—and there's another thing, Calvin. Did you have any dealin's with Cousin about what we was speakin' of some time along back, in ...
— The Wooing of Calvin Parks • Laura E. Richards
... before, mother went down with a lite and then i heard him say, i will be cussed the whole place is ful of toads. then mother said did you ever. and father said he never did, and it was some more of that dam boys works and he yelled upstairs for me to come down and ketch them. so i went down and caught them and put them out all but 2 that father had stepped on and they had to be swep up. then all the folks came down in their nitegounds and i went up stairs lively and got into bed and pulled the clothes round me tite, but it dident do enny good ...
— The Real Diary of a Real Boy • Henry A. Shute
... nose after church! I'll go for you, Bill Jones, when I ketch you alone! Leg go o' my hair, I tell you, or I'll knock the stuffin' out ...
— Cole's Funny Picture Book No. 1 • Edward William Cole
... I lost no time in taking Percival into the swamp where them Union friends of mine is hid. Swanson went right on past, leaving word at all the houses of the 'Mergency men that there was a Yankee horse-thief loose in the kentry, and they've went out to ketch him. They know where he is, and think to surround him and the rest of the Union fellers and take 'em in in a lump; but they'll get fooled. There's some sharp men in that party, and they won't allow ...
— Rodney The Partisan • Harry Castlemon
... one person in the world that's got a talent for missing things, it's Mr. Opp. I never seen him that he hadn't just missed gettin' a thousand dollar job, or inventin' a patent, or bein' hurt when he had took out a accident policy. If he did ketch a train, like enough it ...
— Mr. Opp • Alice Hegan Rice
... he'll see for himself, that them cussed varmints won't hev more'n four hours the start; an', ef he'll let us hev the men, we kin ketch ...
— The Young Trail Hunters • Samuel Woodworth Cozzens
... and see the place where the cunning and wisdom of man has set a trap to ketch the power of that great liquid Geni, who has ruled it over his mighty watery kingdom sence the creation, and I spoze always calculated to; throwin' men about, and drawin' 'em down into its whirlpool jest like forest ...
— Around the World with Josiah Allen's Wife • Marietta Holley
... to number six, with the wooden leg. The eleven boots is to be called at half-past eight and the shoe at nine. Who's number twenty-two, that's to put all the others out? No, no; reg'lar rotation, as Jack Ketch said, ven he tied the men up. Sorry to keep you a-waitin', Sir, but ...
— The Pickwick Papers • Charles Dickens
... from the bow-window of his coffee-room, Master Simon could follow its course down through the meadows to the church-tower of Ponteglos and the shipping congregated there about the wharves, and watch in the middle distance the sails of a barge or shallow trading-ketch moving among the haymakers. But from November to March, when the floods were out, the "Flowing Source" stood above an inland sea, with a haystack or two for lesser islets. Then the river's course could be told only by a line of stakes on which the wild fowl rested. ...
— Wandering Heath • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... you wan day, two, t'ree mont' ago," Poleon remarked, with apparent evasion, "'bout Johnny Platt w'at I ketch on de Porcupine all et up ...
— The Barrier • Rex Beach
... desire), and I confess that till I had read them I was not aware of the full extent of human absurdity. Like Garrick's "Ode to Shakspeare," they "defy criticism." These are of the personages who decry Pope. One of them, a Mr. John Ketch, has written some lines against him, of which it were better to be the subject than the author. Mr. Hunt redeems himself by occasional beauties; but the rest of these poor creatures seem so far gone that I would not "march through Coventry with them, that's flat!" were ...
— Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6 (of 6) - With his Letters and Journals • Thomas Moore
... this a trap?" mumbled the man. "If it is, you ain't goin' to ketch me in it. Not ...
— The Rover Boys in Business • Arthur M. Winfield
... stranger, that Hell fer Sartain empties, as it oughter, of co'se, into Kingdom-Come. You can ketch the devil 'most any day in the week on Hell fer Sartain, an' sometimes you can git Glory everlastin' on Kingdom-Come. Hit's the only meetin'-house thar in twenty ...
— 'Hell fer Sartain' and Other Stories • John Fox, Jr.
... "I ketch your meanin'," he replied. "It's like this. Sanders chased Sunnysides three seasons, an' thought he'd roped him. But all he gits 's a cracked leg, an' not a yeller hair of the slippery beast. Then us three takes on the job—not presumin' ...
— The Heart of Thunder Mountain • Edfrid A. Bingham
... four mile along by the pine woods an' the b'ilin' spring," he added, smiling at her. "Leastways it didn't use to be. I thought if I could get the seven-o'clock, 'twould take me back to Boston so 's I could ketch my train to-night. She's kinder dull, out there alone," he ended, wearily. "'Twas some o' her property I come to settle up. She'll want to hear about it. I never was no kind of ...
— Country Neighbors • Alice Brown
... "The Cart-horse," because she seemed broad and bluff for her length. She was forty-five feet in length, with a fifteen- foot beam and seven-foot depth. She was first rigged as a lugger, but altered to the more modern "dandy" (something like a ketch but with more rake to the mizzen and with no topmast on the mainmast) before she was sold. Any one about the herring basins who has arrived at fisherman's maturity (about sixty years) will remember the Mum Tum, and, so far as she was concerned, the partnership was entirely ...
— Edward FitzGerald and "Posh" - "Herring Merchants" • James Blyth
... and spat impudently. "I ain't saying nothing," he growled, "only this: I got a right to quit, ain't I? Well, I'm quitting. Any time you ketch me working for a female girl that can't ride a horse 'thout falling off, that can't see a pig stuck 'thout fainting, that can't walk a mile 'thout getting laid up, that ...
— Judith of Blue Lake Ranch • Jackson Gregory
... cat, you!" exclaimed Uncle Rufus. "Dar's too many of you cats erbout disher house, an' dat's a fac'. Dar's more cats dan dar is mices to ketch—ya-as'm!" ...
— The Corner House Girls at School • Grace Brooks Hill
... a higher reach of public feeling. To my own thinking, it is out of this pain and hatefulness that an execution becomes invested with an ideal grandeur. It is sheer horror to all concerned—sheriffs, halbertmen, chaplain, spectators, Jack Ketch, and culprit; but out of all this, and towering behind the vulgar and hideous accessories of the scaffold, gleams the majesty of implacable law. When every other fine morning a dozen cut-purses were hanged ...
— Dreamthorp - A Book of Essays Written in the Country • Alexander Smith
... 'Wouldn't yo like to ketch us—wouldn't yo?—wouldn't yo?' screeched the child, beside herself. She too had been watching, had seen the ...
— The History of David Grieve • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... get out of here right away, for I heard tell at the store before I come up that there's bound to be an Injun outbreak. Them savages from Sonora are already on their way up, and they'll kill and scalp every man, woman, and child they can ketch, and there's nothing to keep them from ketching us, if we stay at this here little fort ...
— The Expedition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate • Eliza Poor Donner Houghton
... said Abner, "that we should save a lot of trouble if we should put the anchor out and let it hang; then, when we come to the bar, she'll ketch and fetch us up without our ...
— The House of Martha • Frank R. Stockton
... answer was prompt. "Why, I figgered that you couldn't ketch Jeems Henery an' wouldn't ketch me. An'," the Angel added dreamily, "it come might' nigh bein' that-a-way if ...
— In Happy Valley • John Fox
... know of love or feeling?—Wretch! Begone!' she cried, with kindling eyes—'and do My bidding!' Baba vanish'd, for to stretch His own remonstrance further he well knew Might end in acting as his own 'Jack Ketch;' And though he wish'd extremely to get through This awkward business without harm to others, He still preferr'd his ...
— Don Juan • Lord Byron
... ergo, some scissors were bad. The second instance of her handiness will surprise you even more:—She once stood upon a scaffold, under sentence of death—[but, understand, on the evidence of false witnesses]. Jack Ketch was absolutely tying the knot under her ear, and the shameful man of ropes fumbled so deplorably, that Kate (who by much nautical experience had learned from another sort of 'Jack' how a knot should be ...
— Narrative And Miscellaneous Papers • Thomas De Quincey
... Old Un let fall the boxing gloves and turning on Joe, reached up and shook a feeble old fist under the champion's massive chin. "Look at this, me lad—look at this!" he croaked. "Some day I shall ketch you sich a perishin' punch as'll double ye up till kingdom come, me lad, and—Lord, the ...
— The Definite Object - A Romance of New York • Jeffery Farnol
... hoss on this place that could ketch the lieutenant's black mare. Oh, why didn't I shoot the nigger?" and the soldier strode up and down as ...
— Miss Lou • E. P. Roe
... destroy the Philadelphia. Some delay ensued, as our squadron was driven by severe gales from the Tripolitan coast; but at last, in January, 1804, Preble gave orders to Decatur to undertake the work for which he had volunteered. A small vessel known as a ketch had been recently captured from the Tripolitans by Decatur, and this prize was now named the Intrepid, and assigned to him for the work he had in hand. He took seventy men from his own ship, the Enterprise, ...
— Hero Tales From American History • Henry Cabot Lodge, and Theodore Roosevelt
... couldn't ketch me even if I was dead drunk and unconscious in the gutter, that's what ...
— Anderson Crow, Detective • George Barr McCutcheon
... thet queer, Jos," said Aunt Ri, "aout here 'n thes wilderness to ketch sumbody sayin' thet,—jest what they all say ter hum? I donno's I'm enny kinder'n ennybody else. I don't want ter see ennybody put upon, nor noways sufferin', ef so be's I kin help; but thet ain't ennythin' stronary, ...
— Ramona • Helen Hunt Jackson
... the snake I brunged you!" he exclaimed as he came close under the sill, which is not high from the ground. "If you put your face down to the mud and sing something to 'em they'll come outen they holes. A doodle-bug comed, too, but I couldn't ketch 'em both. Lift me up and I can put him in the water-glass on your table." He held up one muddy paddie to me and promptly I lifted him up into my arms. From the embrace in which he and the worm and I indulged my lace and dimity came out ...
— The Melting of Molly • Maria Thompson Daviess
... a thief to ketch a thief. But you know I've a grudge agin the devil, if I do belong to him; and if I could help git you out of his clutches it would do me a ...
— A Knight Of The Nineteenth Century • E. P. Roe
... you wouldn't ketch him to make such a dunce of himself. He believes in using a little when he wants it, and ...
— The Bobbin Boy - or, How Nat Got His learning • William M. Thayer
... sik and you can come heer to git wel our doctur is bully I havent took no stuf but sitrate of magneeshia and I don't mind that litel Billy Sims wot lives down by the postofis has got meesils and you can ketch them from him if he arnt ded and then old Stuffy can rite to your farther to let you come here and tel him weve got a bully doctor Thee if Billy Sims is ded or got wel you mite ketch somthin ells and its prime heer farthers ...
— Punchinello, Vol. II. No. 38, Saturday, December 17, 1870. • Various
... know of Love or feeling?—Wretch! Begone!" she cried, with kindling eyes—"and do My bidding!" Baba vanished, for to stretch His own remonstrance further he well knew Might end in acting as his own "Jack Ketch;" And though he wished extremely to get through This awkward business without harm to others, He still preferred his own ...
— The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 6 • Lord Byron
... Enselman was here," he said, "I bet he could ketch more fish in half 'n hour, with a pole like this o' mine and a han'ful o' 'hoppers, than any of you can in a whole week o' fishing with ...
— In Exile and Other Stories • Mary Hallock Foote
... Constantinople asked news of every vessel. The captain of a ketch from the Isles of Marmora told them that a chember had cast anchor in the isles, and a tall man, clothed in white, who bestrode the deck, being apprised that the islanders were Christians, had raised his finger, whereupon the church burnt down. When at last the Jews heard of ...
— Dreamers of the Ghetto • I. Zangwill
... tops'ls, won't you? I never did see sitch a craft for heavin' about like a Dutch lugger in a cross sea. She sails side on, no matter where she's bound for. Forges ahead a'most entirely by means of leeway, so to speak. Hallo! woa! Ketch a grip o' the painter, Dick, an' hold on till I git off the hurricane deck o' this walrus—else I'll be overboard in a—. There—" The captain came to the ground suddenly as he spoke, without the use of ...
— Charlie to the Rescue • R.M. Ballantyne
... bein' this Or thet, ez it may happen One way or t'other hendiest is To ketch the people nappin'; It aint by princerples nor men My preudent course is steadied,— I scent wich pays the best; an' then Go into ...
— Initial Studies in American Letters • Henry A. Beers
... daughters, but they ain't nothin' by the side er that there young gal what dusted us this mornin'. The bes'-lookin' one er their daughters is Mr. Jeff. He air sho growed ter a likely young man. He air certainly kind an' politeful too. Didn't he say pintedly he wa' glad ter see you? Didn't he ketch a holt an' help me tote ev'y las' one er these here trunks up here? When the young marster air so hospitle I don't see whe'fo' you gits ...
— The Comings of Cousin Ann • Emma Speed Sampson
... ketch on," he sneered. "You know there's some one here with me, an' that they've got you covered. I know you, an' I knowed you'd come rushin' in here, just like you did, killin' mad. Bah! Did you think I'd give you a chance, you short-horned maverick! ...
— The Trail Horde • Charles Alden Seltzer
... charge nothin' for the wife and kids, seein' as I ain't got none," said the man. "Ketch me saddled up with a woman an' kids, if I know what I'm about. Them's for the benefactors. I live in a little shanty I rigged up myself out of two packin' boxes. I've got 'em on a man's medder here. He ...
— 'Doc.' Gordon • Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman
... slowly, "I'm never gwine to tell a lie an' set myself in de place whar Satan hisself can ketch a holt an me. No, sah, 'pears like I'm ready to do what's right, but dat ain't right nohow, an' 'pears, too, its mighty funny you's so scart of dat poor little milk-faced gal. Trus' in de Lord, Mas'r Benton, an' go right on over ...
— The Harvest of Years • Martha Lewis Beckwith Ewell
... ship. And lastly, I lived for some years in the West Indies, one of the few remaining spots where shanties may still be heard, where my chief recreation was cruising round the islands in my little ketch. In addition to hearing them in West Indian seaports, aboard Yankee sailing ships and sugar droghers, I also heard them sung constantly on shore in Antigua under rather curious conditions. West ...
— The Shanty Book, Part I, Sailor Shanties • Richard Runciman Terry
... "Ketch the little swine at it," remarked Trooper Herbert Hawker, as loudly as he dared, to his "towny," Trooper Henry Bone. "'Chawnst 'is arm!' It's 'is bloomin' life 'e'd chawnce if that Young Jock got settin' abaht 'im. Not 'arf!" and the exotic of the Ratcliffe ...
— Snake and Sword - A Novel • Percival Christopher Wren
... got a colour fit to toast by. We'll show 'em yer've got a kick in yer. [He takes her arm] Little Aida, ketch 'old ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy
... the new enterprise at once. The Albert, a little ketch-rigged vessel of ninety-seven tons register, was selected. Iron hatches were put into her, she was sheathed with greenhart to withstand the pressure of ice, and thoroughly refitted. Captain Trevize, a Cornishman, was engaged as skipper. Though Doctor Grenfell ...
— The Story of Grenfell of the Labrador - A Boy's Life of Wilfred T. Grenfell • Dillon Wallace
... wid ye—ketch Mary Maloney getting a lover these days, when the hard times is come. No, no, thank Heaven I haven't got that to trouble me yet, nor ...
— The Canadian Elocutionist • Anna Kelsey Howard
... a fire in the woods?" said one of the men, an elderly farmer. He drew a long, tremulous breath. "It's so tarnation quick! It's either all over before you can ketch your breath, or it's got beyond you for good." It evidently did not occur to him to thank the girls for their part. They had only done what every one did in an emergency, the best they could. He looked back ...
— The Bent Twig • Dorothy Canfield
... I ketch you," snarled the man, fingering his wounded leg and dividing his glances between ...
— Pluck on the Long Trail - Boy Scouts in the Rockies • Edwin L. Sabin
... you're a stranger in these parts," returned the lounger, looking at Masterton curiously. "Ef you warn't, ye'd know that about the last man San Francisco or Canada City WANTED to ketch is Monty Trixit! He knows too much and THEY know it. But they've got to keep up a show chase—a kind o' cirkis-ridin'—up here to satisfy the stockholders. You bet that Jake Poole hez got his orders—they might ...
— From Sand Hill to Pine • Bret Harte
... stayin'. I'm tellin' you private that I'm goin' to wrangle dudes next season. I made him a good proposition and I think it'll ketch him." ...
— The Fighting Shepherdess • Caroline Lockhart
... that many men play the numbers 4, 11, 44 every day regularly, and this well-known "gig" only comes out about once a year, or say once in every 600 drawings. This is especially the negro's "gig." He watches for its coming day after day with fond anticipation. He would rather "ketch dat 'ar gig" for five dollars than receive a ...
— Danger! A True History of a Great City's Wiles and Temptations • William Howe
... when he missed me, he'd fret an' cry so I had ter stay wid him; an' wen he went to school, I had ter carry him in de mornin' and bring him home in de ebenin'. An' I learned him to hunt squirrels, an' rabbits, an' ketch fish, an' set traps for birds. I beliebs he lob'd me better dan any ob his kin'. An' he showed ...
— Iola Leroy - Shadows Uplifted • Frances E.W. Harper
... "Let 'em ketch you with a gun or a piece of paper with writin' on it and he'd whip you like everything. Some of the slaves, if they ever did git a piece of paper, they would keep it and learn a few words. But they didn' want you to know nothin', that's what, nothin' but ...
— Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves. - Texas Narratives, Part 2 • Works Projects Administration
... he regarded the Daughter of Zion with unspeakable rage and disdain. Then, the blood mounting in his face, he gathered himself together, and shouted: "You take yourself off that log and out o' this dooryard double-quick, you imperdent sanct'omus young one! You just let me ketch Bill Perkins' child trying to teach me where I shall go, at my age! Scuttle, I tell ye! And if I see your pious cantin' little mug inside my fence ag'in on sech a business I'll chase ye down the hill or set the dog on ye! SCOOT, I ...
— New Chronicles of Rebecca • Kate Douglas Wiggin
... observing him out of the corners of his eyes, 'that's wot I my own self sometimes ketches in rivers. For strike me blind, my lambs, if I didn't ketch in a river the wery bundle ...
— Our Mutual Friend • Charles Dickens
... boomed Koku, who had been gazing at the photos. "That man steal green glass thing I ketch back!" ...
— Tom Swift and His Giant Telescope • Victor Appleton
... ma say no better hearted man ever live than Massa Tom if you ketch him sober. He give his men a drink whiskey 'round every once in awhile. I don't know what Miss Liza Jane could do 'bout it. She never done nothin' as ever I knowed. They sent apples off to the press and all of us drunk much cider when ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States - Volume II. Arkansas Narratives. Part I • Work Projects Administration
... dignity. A young English peer happened to ask a Chicago servant to clean a pair of boots, and his tone of command was rather pronounced and definite. That young patrician began to doubt his own identity when he was thus addressed—"Ketch on and do them yourself!" There was no redress, no possible remedy, and finally our compatriot humbled himself to a negro, and paid an exorbitant ...
— The Ethics of Drink and Other Social Questions - Joints In Our Social Armour • James Runciman
... groom. "Howsomever we mun contrive to ketch him, or Sir Roaph win send us aw abowt ...
— The Lancashire Witches - A Romance of Pendle Forest • William Harrison Ainsworth
... here as soon as my horse blows a spell and eats his last feed at your feed box, mom. I've got to make it to Meander to ketch the ...
— The Rustler of Wind River • G. W. Ogden
... thoughtfully, rummaging in a drawer, "this Jack's other name is Foe. If it were Ketch, I'd be obliged to you for ringing him up with that message. . . . It's all right. Plenty of time. Breakfast and conversation with the learned prepared for me right on my way to the Seat of Justice. Providence—and you can call ...
— Foe-Farrell • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... of the periodical as perfect as possible, arrangements have been made to secure the critical assistance of John Ketch, Esq., who, from the mildness of the law, and the congenial character of modern literature with his early associations, has been ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, Complete • Various
... day, February 9, 1804, the ketch left Syracuse for Tripoli, accompanied by the Siren, Lieutenant Stewart, to cover the retreat. The weather became so bad that the attempt had to be postponed, since the ketch was sure to be dashed to pieces on the rocks. The impatient crew was compelled ...
— Dewey and Other Naval Commanders • Edward S. Ellis
... pretty cheap at that!" grunted Fritz. "Ketch me tryin' to milk any cow that's got a calf up in the barn. I'd rather face two bulls than one like her. Don't ever mention milk to me again; I know I'll just despise the looks of it from now on. Whew! ...
— Boy Scouts on a Long Hike - Or, To the Rescue in the Black Water Swamps • Archibald Lee Fletcher
... needn't do that," said the boy. "He cut across the fields like a chipmunk—skipped right over the fences! You'd never ketch him, and you needn't try! He's off for the station. I'll tell you all about it," said the boy, turning to his mistress, who had been too much startled to ask any questions. "When he went into the house"—jerking his head in my direction—"I ...
— A Bicycle of Cathay • Frank R. Stockton
... over the limits of propriety, in all similar cases I shall do the same. I do not intend to blackguard the prisoner,—I do not delight in using these epithets. My heart is not locked up; I am no Jack Ketch, prosecuting criminals for ten dollars a head. I sympathize with the wretches brought here; but when I choose to call them by their proper names I am not to be accused of bandying epithets. [The District Attorney then proceeded also at great length, and in a high ...
— Personal Memoir Of Daniel Drayton - For Four Years And Four Months A Prisoner (For Charity's Sake) In Washington Jail • Daniel Drayton
... are a picked lot, "first scholars" and the like, but their business is as unsympathetic as Jack Ketch's. There is nothing humanizing in their relations with their fellow-creatures. They go for the side that retains them. They defend the man they know to be a rogue, and not very rarely throw suspicion on the man they know to be innocent. ...
— The Poet at the Breakfast Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
... no wuss'n whut I do," said Kitty Silver. "An' he ain't got to ketch 'em lookin' at him outen of his kitchen sink—an' he ain't fixin' to be no ...
— Gentle Julia • Booth Tarkington
... there!' he hollored; but I was not in the haltin' bizness, and I made tracks fur Pigeon Crick close by. As I run he fired off his gun; but the light was dim and I was mighty peart, and dodged in time. He called to his bloodhounds and said, 'Sic 'im, Rex; ketch 'im Bull,' but by that time I was wadin' in the crick. I run 'long till I cum to that big white oak which grows by the crick where it makes a turn north, and I jumped and caught a big branch an' pulled myself up into the tree. ...
— The Kentucky Ranger • Edward T. Curnick
... "Huh! first ketch your rabbit before you start cookin' him!" laughed Jud in a jeering fashion, as he waved them a mocking adieu through the broken window, and then ...
— The Banner Boy Scouts Snowbound - A Tour on Skates and Iceboats • George A. Warren
... Mrs. Poteet, "I hope you all know me too well to be a-stan'in' out there makin' excuse. Come right along in, an' take off your things, an' ketch your win'. ...
— Mingo - And Other Sketches in Black and White • Joel Chandler Harris
... that's poor and strong, Hard working and content; Who looks on onger as his lot, In Heaven's wise purpose sent. Who looks on riches as a snare To ketch the worldly wise; And good roast mutton as a dodge, ...
— The Humourous Story of Farmer Bumpkin's Lawsuit • Richard Harris
... Nance, with a strange smile. "Ey ha summat to do first. That cunning fox Demdike has set a trap fo' himsel an aw his followers,—and it's fo' me to ketch 'em. Wait fo' me about a hundert yorts fro' th' ...
— The Lancashire Witches - A Romance of Pendle Forest • William Harrison Ainsworth
... hitched a long white thread to the bumbelbea and let him go and he flew all over the chirch with that long white thread hanging down like a kite tail. everybody laffed and the girls screemed and ducked there heads down and the minister tride a long while to ketch the bumblelbea and finely he cought it by the thred and it clim up the thred and stang him and he sed drat the pesky thing and snaped his fingers and the bea flew out of the window. then the minister sed it was natural for the bea to be scart only he sed terrorfide whitch meens ...
— Brite and Fair • Henry A. Shute
... leg. I'd scorn to pull their tails out by the roots, or to hurt their feelin's by dragging 'em about by the ears. But what's the use? If I was listed, they'd soon find out to holler the hour and to ketch the thieves by steam; yes, and they'd take 'em to court on a railroad, and try 'em with biling water. They'll soon have black locomotives for watchmen and constables, and big bilers for judges and mayors. Pigs will be ketched by steam, and will be biled fit to eat before ...
— The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, February 1844 - Volume 23, Number 2 • Various
... Moon's. Well, last night we hed some horses stray, and I says to him, 'Andy, you get up by daylight and find them.' And he gits. But by seven the horses come in all right of theirselves, and Mr. Leander he was missin'; and says I to myself, 'I'll ketch you, yu' blamed hobo.' And I thought I had ketched him, yu' see. Weren't that reasonable of me? Wouldn't any of you folks hev drawed that conclusion?" The man had fallen into a wheedling tone as he studied their ...
— The Jimmyjohn Boss and Other Stories • Owen Wister
... "Circle Right"—odd numbers'll wheel round and fall in be'ind even ones. Circle Right!... Well, if ever I—I didn't tell yer to fall off be'ind. Ketch your 'orses and stick to 'em next time. Right In-cline! O' course, Mr. JOGGLES, if you prefer takin' that animal for a little ride all by himself, we'll let you out in the streets—otherwise p'raps you'll kindly follow yer leader. Captin CROPPER, ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 99., Dec. 20, 1890 • Various
... amaze, With blood-shot Eyes did round him gaze; At length with many a sigh and groan, He went in search of aged Rhoan; But Rhoan, tho' seldom us'd to faulter, Had fairly this time slipt his Halter; And not content all Night to stay Ty'd up from Fodder, ran away: After my Guide to ketch him ran, And so I lost both Horse and Man: Which Disappointment tho' so great, Did only Mirth and Jests create: Till one more Civil than the rest, In Conversation for the best, Observing that for want of Rhoan, I should be left to walk alone; ...
— The Sot-weed Factor: or, A Voyage to Maryland • Ebenezer Cook
... fine, large lobsters in the basket as Andy ascertained by a peep, and then after thanking the man for them, and making sure that the hatch cover was on tight, the brothers rowed back to their craft. As they sailed away they saw the man carrying a small ketch anchor and placing it on top ...
— Frank and Andy Afloat - The Cave on the Island • Vance Barnum
... down to walk in the garden at White Hall, it being a mighty hot and pleasant day; and there was the King, who, among others, talked to us a little; and among other pretty things, he swore merrily that he believed the ketch that Sir W. Batten bought the last year at Colchester, was of his own getting, it was so thick to its length. Another pleasant thing he said of Christopher Pett, commanding him that he will not alter his moulds of ships upon any man's advice; "as," says he, "Commissioner ...
— The Diary of Samuel Pepys • Samuel Pepys
... looking in at the kitchen window. "It's a real bright day, pretty as any 't ever I see. Don't you worry for fear o' my disturbin' them that's gone, if I do try to ketch at somethin' pleasant. If they're wiser now, I guess they'll be glad I had sense ...
— Meadow Grass - Tales of New England Life • Alice Brown
... sitting on her back porch pretending to knit, but in truth absorbed in a wild game of tag which the children were having on the commons. "That's right," she was calling excitedly—"that's right, Chris Hazy! You kin ketch as good as any of 'em, even if you have got a peg-stick." But when she caught sight of Mary's white, distressed face and Tommy's streaming eyes, she dropped her work and held out her arms. When Mary had finished her story ...
— Lovey Mary • Alice Hegan Rice
... find Tommy nicely coiled on your chest. Then you'd slap Tommy on the floor like a section of large rubber hose. But he bore no malice. Soon's you got asleep he'd be right back again. When the weather got cool he was always under foot. He'd roll beneath you and land you on your scalp-lock, or you'd ketch your toe on him and get a dirty drop. I don't think I ever laughed more in my life than one day when Billy come in with an armful of wood, tripped on Tommy, and come down with a clatter right where Judge Jenkins, the hawk, could reach him. The Judge fastened one claw in Billy's ...
— Red Saunders' Pets and Other Critters • Henry Wallace Phillips
... you that the punch you give Miller was what he deserved. If he and Girty didn't hatch up that trick to ketch Betty, I don't know nothin'. But we can't prove nothin' on him yet. Mebbe he knew about the redskins; mebbe he didn't. Personally, I think he did. But I can't kill a white man because I think somethin'. I'd have to know fer sure. What I want to say is to put ...
— Betty Zane • Zane Grey
... get de lizard cot, Hoo-doo; You mus' kill it on de spot, Hoo-doo; Take de tail an' hang it up, Ketch de blood in a copper cup, An' be sure ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States - From Interviews with Former Slaves - Kentucky Narratives • Works Projects Administration
... knew I should face its realities soon and know all about it. Lots of wimen said that for anybody who lived right on the side of a canal, and had two good, cisterns on the place, and a well, they didn't see why I should feel in a sufferin' condition for any more water; and if I did, why didn't I ketch rain water? ...
— Samantha at Saratoga • Marietta Holley
... think, sir," he said then, "that this is the 'at to go with this 'ere suit? I think as the brown one would be a lot chicker—tone in with the sort of fawn stripe in the blue like, and ketch the note in your tie." He added, while diving into the closet in search of the brown hat and bringing it out, "There's one thing I could say right now, Mr. Rash, and I think ...
— The Dust Flower • Basil King
... holder-on; he handles the dolly and hangs on to the rivets while I swat 'em. The pill over by the furnace is the heater; his name is Pafflow, and his job is warming up the rivets. Just before they begin to sizzle he yanks 'em out with the tongs and throws 'em to you. You ketch 'em in the bucket—I hope, and take 'em out with your tongs and put 'em in the rivet-hole, and then Zupnik and me we do the rest. And what do we call you? Miss Webling is no ...
— The Cup of Fury - A Novel of Cities and Shipyards • Rupert Hughes
... court taking into consideration the premises, and to prevent the like mischief, as by their means is wrought in our land, doth hereby order, and by authority of this court, be it ordered and enacted, that what master or commander of any ship, bark, pink, or ketch, shall henceforth bring into any harbour, creek, or cove, within this jurisdiction, any Quaker or Quakers, or other blasphemous heretics, shall pay, or cause to be paid, the fine of one hundred pounds to the treasurer of the country, except it appear ...
— Fox's Book of Martyrs - Or A History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant - Deaths of the Primitive Protestant Martyrs • John Fox
... "Doggone it, that ain't a bad idea. I've got two box stalls, and there's an old gray horse in the pasture— the same old gray horse that come out uh the wilderness—with a bad case uh string-halt. I'll have some uh the boys ketch him up and you can start ...
— Chip, of the Flying U • B. M. Bower
... it had pleased my Grace, thou, Ned Christian, shouldst have been the Jack Ketch of ...
— Peveril of the Peak • Sir Walter Scott
... fleet were the Lion of forty-four guns, bearing the admiral's flag; the Dort of thirty-six guns, with the commodore's pendant—to which Philip was appointed; the Zuyder Zee of twenty; the Young Frau of twelve, and a ketch of four guns, called ...
— The Phantom Ship • Frederick Marryat
... this here. I've follered yuh all evenin', thinkin' to ketch yuh alone. I gev my word to get it to yuh, fust thing; an' fur my own sake, I tried to do it unbeknownst. But now I must do it anyhow I ken. So take it, an' my compliments, an' I trust yuh to keep mum an' ask no questions, an' furget 'twas me brung it. And I'll keep ...
— Philip Winwood • Robert Neilson Stephens
... woodsman. "Well, now, to ketch beaver sure, make two or three breaks in their dam, an' set the traps jest a leetle ways above the break, on the upper slope, where they're sure to step into 'em when hustlin' round to mend the damage. ...
— The House in the Water - A Book of Animal Stories • Charles G. D. Roberts
... laughed. "Dem no ketch. We com' feefty mile. Dat leetle hoss she damn good hoss. We got de two bes' hoss. We ke'p goin' dey no ketch. 'Spose dey do ketch. Me, A'm tell 'em A'm steal dat hoss an' you not know ...
— The Texan - A Story of the Cattle Country • James B. Hendryx
... a Tory! Wish not Whigs hanged, but pity their hard cases; You women love to see men make wry faces.— Pray, sir, said I, don't think me such a Jew; I say no more, but give the devil his due.— Lenitives, says he, suit best with our condition.— Jack Ketch, says I, is an excellent physician.— I love no blood.—Nor I, sir, as I breathe; But hanging is a fine dry kind of death.— We Trimmers are for holding all things even.— Yes; just like him that hung 'twixt hell ...
— The Works Of John Dryden, Vol. 7 (of 18) - The Duke of Guise; Albion and Albanius; Don Sebastian • John Dryden
... is usually the case, all the shipping in the reach seemed to get into a hopeless tangle. A schooner and a ketch got up a small collision all to themselves right in the middle of the river. It was exciting to watch, and, meantime, our tug remained stopped. Any other ship than that brute could have been coaxed to keep straight for a couple of ...
— A Set of Six • Joseph Conrad |
