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Here are the quotations for the coming week (August 5th to 11th): 1. …They have no law. They are outcaste. They have no speech of their own but use the stolen words which they overhear when they listen, and peep, and wait up above in the branches. Their way is not our way. They are without leaders. They have no remembrance. They boast and chatter and pretend that they are a great people about to do great affairs in the jungle, but the falling of a nut turns their mind to laughter and all is forgotten… 2. In a raucous voice he cried aloud little matters, like the hope of Honour and the dream of Glory, that boys do not discuss even with their most intimate equals; cheerfully assuming that, till he spoke, they had never considered these possibilities. He pointed them to shining goals, with finger which smudged out all radiance on all horizons. He profaned the most secret places of their souls with outcries and gesticulations. He bade them consider the deeds of their ancestors in such fashion that they were flushed to their tingling ears… 3. …he stamped his foot. 'Tell them' he cried, 'that if a hair of any one of their heads is touched by any official on any account whatever, all England shall ring with it. Good God ! What callous oppression ! The dark places of the earth are full of cruelty.' He wiped his face, and throwing out his arms cried: 'Tell them, oh ! tell the poor serfs not to be afraid of me. Tell them I come to redress their wrongs - not, heaven knows, to add to their burden. ' The long-drawn gurgle of the practised public speaker pleased them much… The sources of this week's extracts (July 29th to August 4th) are as follows: 1. (...Morning brought the penetrating chill of the Northern December…) This is from 'William the Conqueror' in The Day's Work. 2. (…The green growths in the sides of the ravines burned up to broken wires and curled films of dead stuff…) This is from 'How Fear Came' in The Second Jungle Book. 3. (…the red-hot wind from the westward, was booming among the tinder-dry trees…) This is from 'The Man who Would be King', in 'Wee Willie Winkie. Good wishes to all John R PS In the NRG we have just published notes by Alastair Wilson on the poem "The Destroyers". Also notes by David Page on the fourth and fifth Letters of Marque, and notes by John McGivering on "The Captive" from Traffics and Discoveries. _________________________________________________________________ Got a favourite clothes shop, bar or restaurant? Share your local knowledge http://www.backofmyhand.com