A Rough Shaking

Author : George MacDonald
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9781528275231
Total Pages : 412 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (752 download)

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Download or read book A Rough Shaking (Classic Reprint) written by George MacDonald and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2017-09-17 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from A Rough Shaking Of big trees, with a slope Of green on my left stretching away into the sunny distance, and the shadows of the trees on my right lying below my feet. The earth and the grass and the trees and the air were together weaving a harmony, and the birds were leading the big orchestra which was indeed on the largest scale. For the instru ments were SO different, that some of them only were meant for sound; the part Of others was in Odour, of others yet in Shine, and Of still others in motion; while the birds turned it all as nearly into words as they could. Presently, to complete the score, I heard the tones of a man's voice, both strong and sweet. It was talking to some one in a way I could not understand I do not mean I could not understand the words: I was too far off even to hear them; but I could not understand how the voice came to be so modulated. It was deep, soft, and musical, with something like coaxing in it, and some thing Of tenderness, and the intent Of it puzzled me. For I could not conjecture from it the age, or sex, or relation, or kind of the person to whom the words were spoken. You can tell by the voice when a man is talking to him self; it ought to be evident when he is talking to a woman; and you can, surely, tell when he is talking to a child; you could tell if he were speaking to him who made him; and you would be pretty certain if he was holding communication with his dog: it made me feel strange that I could not tell the kind of ear open to the gentle manly voice saying things which the very sound of them made me long to hear. I confess to hurrying my pace a little, but I trust with no improper curiosity. To see - I cannot say the interlocutors, for I had heard, and still heard, only one voice. About a minute's walk brought me to the corner of the wood where it stopped abruptly, giving way to a field Of beautiful grass; and then I saw something it does not need to be Old to be delighted withal: the boy that would not have taken pleasure in it, I should count half way to the gallows. Up to the edge Of the wood came, I say, a large field - acres on acres of the sweetest grass; and dividing it from both wood and path stood a fence Of three bars, which at the moment separated two as genuine lovers as ever wall of stones with lime and hair knit up could have sundered. On one Side Of the fence stood a man whose face I could not see, and on the other one of the loveliest horses I had ever set eyes upon. I am no better than a middling fair horseman, but, for this horse's sake, I may be allowed to mention that my friends will all have me look at any horse they think of buying. He was over sixteen hands, with well rounded barrel, clean limbs, small head, and broad muzzle; hollows above his eyes of hazy blue, and delicacy of feature, revealed him quite an Old horse. His ears pointed forward and downward, as if they wanted on their own account to get a hold of the man the nose was so busily caressing. Neither, I presume, had heard my approach; for all true love-endearments are Shy, and the man had his arm round the horse's neck, and was caressing his face, talking to him much as Philip Sidney's lady, whose lips seemed at once to kiss and speak, murmured to her pet sparrow, only here the voice was a musical baritone. That there was something between them more than an ordinary person would be likely to understand appeared patent. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com