"Mum" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... scolded Winona afterwards. "What possessed you to go and say anything at all? Mr. James will never forgive me! I could see it in his eye. And Mrs. James was ice itself! I've never felt so horrible in all my life. If you'd only had the sense to keep mum, they might never have found out. You kids are the most frightful nuisance! If I'd had my choice given me when I was born, I wouldn't ...
— The Luckiest Girl in the School • Angela Brazil
... sickness, and a ten-hour march? No? P'raps you might like a streak o' mutton arterwards! P'raps you might take a notion for a couple o' chickens or so! No? How's that, Ike? What do you think, pardner? (to me) I ain't over and above cruel, mum. I don't think the Bucktails is over and above dishonest to home, mum. But, gosh hang it, I think I would bag a chicken any day! I say ...
— Campaigns of a Non-Combatant, - and His Romaunt Abroad During the War • George Alfred Townsend
... minutes was a medley of questions, of explanations, of promises to keep mum and of expressions of heartfelt thanks from the young couple. The professor was the only one who thought it incumbent to scold them for a silly prank and to point out the serious danger in which they had been involved. It sobered them, and at the ...
— The Mermaid of Druid Lake and Other Stories • Charles Weathers Bump
... I must be mum For how could we do without sugar and rum? Especially sugar, so needful we see; What! Give up our desserts, our coffee ...
— All About Coffee • William H. Ukers
... in a whining voice, "I don't mean you no harm, my pretties, and it's no affair of mine telling the good ladies at Lavender House what I've seen. You cross my hand, dears, each of you, with a bit of silver, and all I'll do is to tell your pretty fortunes, and mum is the word with the gypsy-mother as far as this night's ...
— A World of Girls - The Story of a School • L. T. Meade
... got the jack rigged up!" he whispered presently. "Step in now, Neal, and I'll open it. Have you got your rifle at half-cock? That's right. Be careful. A fellow would need to have his hair parted in the middle in a birch box like this. Remember, mum's ...
— Camp and Trail - A Story of the Maine Woods • Isabel Hornibrook
... make the best of her. I fancy that she was a year or two younger than Wiggs and of rather inferior education. Witness her low innuendo about the Lady Belvane, and the fact that she called a Countess "Mum." ...
— Once on a Time • A. A. Milne
... Pantiles Gazette, Mr. Spring, as gossiping a rag as ever was printed. I expect there will be a fine column in it if ever it gets its prying nose into this day's doings. However, we are mum and her ladyship is mum, and, my word! his lordship is mum, though he did, in his passion, raise the hue and cry on you. Here it is, Mr. Spring, and I'll read it to you while you smoke your pipe. It's dated July of last year, and it ...
— The Last Galley Impressions and Tales - Impressions and Tales • Arthur Conan Doyle
... sadly, and ventured on no rejoinder. After the captain's outburst none of the group dared to utter a word. This pleased him no better; he cursed them all for standing mum; and spent ten minutes in reviling them in turn. Then his passion appeared to have burnt itself out. Turning suddenly to the melancholy mate, he ...
— In Clive's Command - A Story of the Fight for India • Herbert Strang
... poet down the shelves was fumbling In a dim library, just behind the chair From which the ancient poet was mum-mumbling A song about some Lovers at a Fair, Pulling his long white beard and gently grumbling That rhymes were beastly ...
— Fairies and Fusiliers • Robert Graves
... "Oh, mum dear, do let me come back now. I am sure I have learned enough, and oh! how I long for a sight of you and dad, and dear old Jack and Frenchy, and Jim Travers, and all of you in fact. Let me come, oh! ...
— Fifty-Two Stories For Girls • Various
... you into this stunt on the ground floor," went on Logan. "But I will as soon as the turn's over. For all sakes, keep mum while I talk." ...
— Winnie Childs - The Shop Girl • C. N. Williamson
... "Mum's the word," said Thatcher. "I'll not let a soul know till you say 'Let 'er go.' O Lord! I hope the trade goes through. We want a lot more ...
— Blindfolded • Earle Ashley Walcott
... help it, mum,' said Mrs Mosk, beginning to cry. 'I'm sure we must earn our living somehow. This is an 'otel, isn't it? and Mosk's a pop'lar character, ain't he? I'm sure it's hard enough to make ends meet as it is; we owe rent for half a year and can't pay—and won't pay,' wailed Mrs Mosk, 'unless my ...
— The Bishop's Secret • Fergus Hume
... would. Well, now—come closer. Mum's the word, eh? I like you, Harry Brooks; and the boys in this town "—he broke off and cursed horribly—"they're not fit to carry slops to a bear, not one of 'em. But you're different. And, see here: any time you're in trouble, just pay a call on me. Understand? ...
— Poison Island • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (Q)
... a great tease, pretended to think for quite a long time, until his silence had driven the children nearly desperate. "Yes," he then said, "I should, mum, provided you let me find a trustworthy man to go on with the garden. Otherwise I shouldn't dare to face Mrs. ...
— The Slowcoach • E. V. Lucas
... marching on Bloemfontein with a view to expediting our relief by forcing the Boer back to defend his own State. Against this it was maintained that Kimberley was outside the ambit of the army's high and mighty consideration. Others argued that the Colonel's policy of "mum" was mainly intended as a protest against the traffic in "Specials." We were all weary; the strain was weakening our mental faculties; the most sensible and philosophic cherished the queerest thoughts. As ...
— The Siege of Kimberley • T. Phelan
... plenty of comfort, and plenty of hope, too, mum, if you'll only cheer up and trust in me," answered the luminary of Bow Street, with that stolid calmness of manner which seemed as if it would scarcely have been disturbed by an earthquake. "You ...
— Run to Earth - A Novel • M. E. Braddon
... reminded my mother that Noah had been overtaken in a similar manner. He also narrated how a certain field-chaplain Grant, of Desborough's regiment, having after a hot and dusty day drunk sundry flagons of mum, had thereafter sung certain ungodly songs, and danced in a manner unbecoming to his sacred profession. Also, how he had afterwards explained that such backslidings were not to be regarded us faults of the individual, but rather ...
— Micah Clarke - His Statement as made to his three Grandchildren Joseph, - Gervas and Reuben During the Hard Winter of 1734 • Arthur Conan Doyle
... scout; "I have been stationed here, as marshal of the town, to warn people away from the place. You take my advice and go to the creek and plunge in with all your clothes and play for an hour in the water, then dry yourself, go back to camp, and keep mum!" This was the year of the cholera. It started somewhere down south, and many people died from it in the city of St. Louis, and it followed the railway through Kansas to the end of the track. Many soldiers died also at Fort Harker, which was farther ...
— Tales of Aztlan • George Hartmann
... Memorial will not be the most despised among them, for it expresses, even if it over-expresses, a not ignoble idea, and if it somewhat stutters and stammers, it does at last get it out; it does not stand mum, like the different shy, bashful columns stuck here and there, and not able to say what they would ...
— London Films • W.D. Howells
... up—mum's the word hereabouts! The Guv'nor's got a quick eye for a fine young woman—ah, an' so's you an' me, for that matter! An' I tell ye, this 'un's a fine lady, even if a bit frolicsome. So git to your 'osses, Ben—an' ...
— Peregrine's Progress • Jeffery Farnol
... D'Aubigne?" asked La Force, half asleep. "He says," repeated the King of Navarre, who had heard all, that I am a regular miser, and the most ungrateful mortal on the face of the earth." D'Aubigne, somewhat disconcerted, was mum. "But," he adds, "when daylight appeared, this prince, who liked neither rewarding nor punishing, did not for all that look any the more black at me, or give me a quarter-crown more." Thirty years later, in 1617, after ...
— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume V. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot
... "Mum's the word, boys," whispered the old salt who had charge of the party; "the critters are comin', an' England expec's every man for to do his dooty, as ...
— Lost in the Forest - Wandering Will's Adventures in South America • R.M. Ballantyne
... spirited habitudes,' says Mr. Carlyle, after affirming that Nicolai wrote against Kant's philosophy without comprehending it, and judged of poetry, as of Brunswick Mum, by its utility, 'is now by the Germans called a Philister. Nicolai earned for himself the painful pre-eminence of being Erz Philister, Arch Philistine.' 'He, an old enemy of Goethe's,' says Mr. Hill, in explanation of the title in which he appears in the Walpurgisnacht, ...
— The Prose Works of William Wordsworth • William Wordsworth
... sure, my lady; I'll see, if you'll please to walk in," said Martha, a little confused on the score of her kitchen apron, but collected enough to be sure that "mum" was not the right title for this queenly young widow with a carriage and pair. "Will you please to walk in, and I'll go ...
— Middlemarch • George Eliot
... "Mum's the word, sir; but you must stay in the cottage, or others will see you, and it may come ...
— The Children of the New Forest • Captain Marryat
... face And a tender, melancholy grace. Improbable 'twas, no doubt, When you came to think it out, But the fascinated crowd Their deep surprise avowed And all with a single voice averred 'Twas the most amazing thing they'd heard— All save one who spake never a word, But sat as mum As if deaf and dumb, Serene, indifferent and unstirred. Then all the others turned to him And scrutinized him limb from limb— Scanned him alive; But he seemed to thrive And tranquiler grow each minute, As if there were ...
— The Devil's Dictionary • Ambrose Bierce
... yez! Wud I be workin' for the likes of a child like that? No, mum, I ain't no nurse; I'm a cook, and I want a mistress as has got past ...
— Patty at Home • Carolyn Wells
... there is no time to lose. That drunken fool, Furness, proposed throwing me over the bridge. It was lucky for them that they did not try it, or I should have been obliged to settle them both, that they might tell no tales. Where's Mum?" ...
— The Poacher - Joseph Rushbrook • Frederick Marryat
... "Mum!" said Peter. "I forgot; but don't it look as if the river was boiling hot and the steam rising, and the fire that hots it was shining up through the cloud? I say, nobody could hear me ...
— Trapped by Malays - A Tale of Bayonet and Kris • George Manville Fenn
... sickening. Look here, Verney; I feel like telling you about it. I know you won't go bleating all over the shop. No. I said to myself, 'Mum's ...
— The Hill - A Romance of Friendship • Horace Annesley Vachell
... have a song to sing, O! [SHE] Sing me your song, O! [HE] It is sung to the moon By a love-lorn loon, Who fled from the mocking throng, O! It's the song of a merryman, moping mum, Whose soul was sad, whose glance was glum, Who sipped no sup, and who craved no crumb, As he sighed for the love of a ladye. Heighdy! heighdy! Misery me - lackadaydee! He sipped no sup, and he craved no crumb, As he sighed for the ...
— Songs of a Savoyard • W. S. Gilbert
... enumerated in the resolution were agates, or cornelians; ale and beer; almonds; amber (manufactures of); arrowroot; band-string twist; bailey, pearled; bast-ropes; twines, and strands; beads: coral; crystal; jet; beer or mum; blacking; brass manufactures; brass (powder of); brocade of gold or silver; bronze (manufactures of); bronze-powder; buck-wheat: butter; buttons; candles; canes; carriages of all sorts; casks; cassiva-powder; catlings; cheese; china or porcelain; cider; ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan
... first—she always did—"For my part I wish we could study or read something or other that would give us something to talk about when we meet in sewing society and other places. I'm tired going to sewing society and sitting perfectly mum by the side of my next neighbour, because I don't know what under the sun to say. After we have done up the weather and house cleaning and pickling and canning, and said what a sight of work it is, and asked whether the children took the ...
— Divers Women • Pansy and Mrs. C.M. Livingston
... were banded together in this scheme. My name was to be Comings, and I came from New York; that was all settled in my mind; but what was my business there? I expected to be there a few days, and there was the rub; finally, after failing to fix up a story I concluded to "keep mum," entirely. Later you will see the fix which that conclusion came near leading ...
— Between the Lines - Secret Service Stories Told Fifty Years After • Henry Bascom Smith
... to Mount Wilson, fellows. Don't forget that," he warned his passengers. "Stick to it. If they got our number back there we can bluff them into thinking they got it wrong. I'll let yuh out here and you can walk home. Mum's ...
— The Lookout Man • B. M. Bower
... be mum when the occasion needs. Can you tell me further, when the bands now gathering are ...
— The Boy Knight • G.A. Henty
... belts and bayonets, On they swung, the drum a-rolling, Mum and sour. It looked like fighting, And they ...
— Poems by William Ernest Henley • William Ernest Henley
... "Oh no, h'indeed, mum,—no, you won't," put in Mrs. Barrett, who at that moment appeared, gruel-cup in hand. "I don't never let my ladies lie in their berths a moment longer than there is need of. I h'always gets them on deck as soon as possible to get ...
— What Katy Did Next • Susan Coolidge
... I, I says to 'em, 'I don't care about your smart mum-mum-minister and what fine sermons he preaches. Let him BE smart,' I says. Says I, 'Smartness won't g-g-g-git ye into heaven.' ("Amen!") 'No, sirree! it takes more'n that. I've seen smart folks afore and they got c-c-cuk-catched ...
— Keziah Coffin • Joseph C. Lincoln
... and touched his hat. Then he covered his daring swiftly. "Except for the horses I wouldn't cuc-care a hang," he said loudly. "They were the only things mum-money gave me." ...
— Boy Woodburn - A Story of the Sussex Downs • Alfred Ollivant
... see, Master Amos," said the old man, "you want me to be 'mum.' Now, you look here, sir—try now if you can get a word out of me." So saying, Harry closed his lips tight together, stuck his hands in his trousers' pockets, and walked about the pantry with his ...
— Amos Huntingdon • T.P. Wilson
... all heads popped up like so many frisking fish. They darted from bed and commenced in the middle of the chamber, a great pillow-fight amicable and hurtless, but furiously waged, till the approach of a broad footstep sent them scampering back to their couches, mum as mice. Mopsey, well aware of these frisks, tarried till they were blown over, in her own chamber hard by, a dark room, mysterious to the fancy of the children, with spinning wheels, dried gourd-shells hung against the wall, a lady's riding-saddle, now out of use this many ...
— Chanticleer - A Thanksgiving Story of the Peabody Family • Cornelius Mathews
... no kidding! I'm up for auction; 'oo will start the bidding? First Lady. I want a charlady from ten to four, To cook the lunch and scrub the basement floor. Super-Char. Cook? Scrub? Thanks! Nothink doin'! Next, please! You, Mum, What are the dooties you would 'ave me do, Mum? Second Lady. I want a lady who will kindly call And help me dust the dining-room and hall; At tea, if need be, bring an extra cup, And sometimes do a little washing ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Volume 152, Feb. 7, 1917 • Various
... The Holy Prophet speaks his mind) Our True Believer lifts his eyes Devoutly and his prayer applies; But next to Solyman the Great Reveres the idiot's sacred state. Small wonder then, our worthy mute Was held in popular repute. Had he been blind as well as mum, Been lame as well as blind and dumb, No bard that ever sang or soared Could say how he had been adored. More meagerly endowed, he drew An homage less prodigious. True, No soul his praises but did utter— All plied him with devotion's butter, But ...
— Shapes of Clay • Ambrose Bierce
... their track. So at midnight should wait At her garden-gate A carriage to carry the dear, precious freight Of Mrs. McNair who should meet Captain Brown At the Globe Hotel in a neighboring town. A man should be hired To convey the admired. And keep mum as a mouse, and do what ...
— The Feast of the Virgins and Other Poems • H. L. Gordon
... be mum now, no givin' orders to your poor overworked hired help in your brick-fields, not lettin' 'em have even a straw that they begged for to lighten their burden. The descendants of them folks you driv round can stand here and poke fun ...
— Around the World with Josiah Allen's Wife • Marietta Holley
... mum! Here's a hand that knoweth not what doth its fellow—mum, boy, mum!" And tilting back his head he brake forth ...
— Black Bartlemy's Treasure • Jeffrey Farnol
... always does, mum. Many's the poor brakeman's fingers I've saved by rubbin 'em in some one's thick head ...
— Camilla: A Tale of a Violin - Being the Artist Life of Camilla Urso • Charles Barnard
... said Lord Grosville, in evident annoyance. "The rascal hadn't a scratch, but Kitty must needs pick him up and drive him home with a nurse. 'I ain't hurt, mum,' says the boy. 'Oh! but you must be,' said Kitty. I offered to take him to his mother and give him half a crown. 'It's my duty to look after him,' says Kitty. And she lifted him up herself—dirty ...
— The Marriage of William Ashe • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... papa,' cried Biddy. 'I am so glad I thought of him. I was in the kitchen one morning fetching sand for Tweetums's cage and he came in, and cook asked how was his papa, and he said, "Finely better, I thank ye, mum." I think cook said he was a Hirish boy,' Bridget hurried on in her excitement—and when she was excited I am afraid her 'h's' were apt to suffer—Mrs. Vane gasped! 'I am so glad I thought of him. Papa will get better like the potato ...
— The Rectory Children • Mrs Molesworth
... "Quick, mum—quick—rich—rich? will the woman drive me mad?" and Sir Thomas Dillaway, Knight, rattled loose cash in both pockets more vindictively than ever. But the spouse, nothing hurried, still crept on in her ...
— The Complete Prose Works of Martin Farquhar Tupper • Martin Farquhar Tupper
... When the dinner crowd boarded an up-town car, our man paid fare to the same conductor. He wired me from the Hotel Brunswick a few minutes ago. There is some sort of a caucus going on in Hendricks' office in the capitol, and mum-messengers are flying in ...
— The Grafters • Francis Lynde
... "Mum's the word for three minutes," said Dick, pointing to a huge Yankee clock which stood on the chimney-piece, with a model frigate in a glass case, and a painted sea and sky on one side of it, and a model light-vessel in a glass case, and a painted ...
— The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands • R.M. Ballantyne
... have this Business concluded, that I have employ'd my Womans Brother, who is a Lawyer in the Temple, to settle Matters just to your Liking, you are to give your Consent to my Marriage, which is to your self, you know: But Mum, you must take up notice of that. So then I will, that is, with your Leave, put my Writings into his Hands; then to Morrow we come slap upon them with a Wedding, that no body thought on; by which you seize me and my Estate, and I suppose make a Bonfire of ...
— The Busie Body • Susanna Centlivre
... nothing serious, you may be sure of that, or your uncle would have sent for you at once. And, remember, mum's the word." ...
— A Dixie School Girl • Gabrielle E. Jackson
... thing," he assured her. "Of course I knew what was doing. But I kept mum—didn't want to say anything to you till I could say everything. Mildred, I'm free. We can be married to-morrow, ...
— The Price She Paid • David Graham Phillips
... come: wee'll couch i'th Castle-ditch, till we see the light of our Fairies. Remember son Slender, my Slen. I forsooth, I haue spoke with her, & we haue a nay-word, how to know one another. I come to her in white, and cry Mum; she cries Budget, and by that we know ...
— The First Folio [35 Plays] • William Shakespeare
... "Please, mum, one of the vaiters here knows all about them there places as master talks so much on; p'raps Miss Alice would like to ...
— Tales from Blackwood, Volume 7 • Various
... struck dumb, And never answered her a mum: The humble reptile fand some pain, Thus to be bantered wi' disdain. But tent neist time the Ant came by, The worm was grown a Butterfly; Transparent were his wings and fair, Which bare him flight'ring through the air. Upon a flower he stapt ...
— An Elementary Study of Insects • Leonard Haseman
... my confidence and asked for his advice. He pooh-poohed the doctor's statements, but said that he would bring the matter to the attention of the superintendent and let me know the result. I agreed to this, and we parted with the mutual understanding that mum was the word till some official decision had been arrived at. I had not long to wait. At an early day he came in with the information that there had been, as might be expected, a division of opinion ...
— The Golden Slipper • Anna Katharine Green
... I've hit her hard in the boneyard. She's blind and lousy. I'm on the divvy—that's me, and mum's my lay till you ...
— The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Vol. II: In the Midst of Life: Tales of Soldiers and Civilians • Ambrose Bierce
... please, mum," said a servant, entering, "the back yard is that full of water that our kitchen will be ...
— Leslie Ross: - or, Fond of a Lark • Charles Bruce
... have to get it, Miss Betty; Mr. Mahaffy says he don't reckon no one will ever tell who wrote the letter—he 'lows the man who done that will keep pretty mum—he just dassent tell!" the ...
— The Prodigal Judge • Vaughan Kester
... do you think I do not know you by your excellent wit? Can virtue hide itself? Go to, mum, you are he: graces will appear, and ...
— Much Ado About Nothing • William Shakespeare [Knight edition]
... to be," replied Anderson, earnestly. "We're all worried. I'm goin' to let you read over the laws of that I.W.W. organization. You're to keep mum now, mind you. I belong to the Chamber of Commerce in Spokane. Somebody got hold of these by-laws of this so-called labor union. We've had copies made, an' every honest farmer in the Northwest is goin' to read them. But carryin' one around is dangerous, I reckon, these ...
— The Desert of Wheat • Zane Grey
... admitted at once, and announced "a lady to see you, mum," to an elderly lady in black satin and gold spectacles, who was surrounded by several blooming daughters and a young gentleman stretched lazily upon the sofa. Clemence again made known ...
— Clemence - The Schoolmistress of Waveland • Retta Babcock
... shaken men's faith in the durability of the republic. It was therefore adjudged a highly dangerous subject. The political physicians with one accord prescribed on the ounce-of-prevention principle, quiet, SILENCE, and OBLIVION, to be administered in large and increasing doses to both sections. Mum was the word, and mum the country solemnly and suddenly became from Maine to Georgia. But, alas! beneath the ashes of this Missouri business, deep below the unnatural silence and quiet, inextinguishable fires were burning and working again to the surface of politics. In such circumstances ...
— William Lloyd Garrison - The Abolitionist • Archibald H. Grimke
... seized like an epidemical Plague, on all Ranks of Men among us. Even those of the poorer Sort, from a noble Emulation of copying their betters, drink as much Wine as they can; and where their Purses or their Credit will not reach so high, they must have foreign Liquors, tho' they be only Mum or Cyder, Porter or Perry, and seem resolved to shew they are as little afraid of a Jail, as ...
— A Dialogue Between Dean Swift and Tho. Prior, Esq. • Anonymous
... innings, old chap, I think!" he said. "You're mum as a fish this afternoon. I noticed it in there—I thought you'd have lots ...
— Far to Seek - A Romance of England and India • Maud Diver
... me," replied Lisbeth very seriously. "You see, child, he had never seen any women but the washed out, pale things they all are in the north, and a slender, brown, youthful thing like me warmed his heart.—But, mum; you promised, ...
— Poor Relations • Honore de Balzac
... commented Waldron, casting a glance at the retreating chauffeur. "Quick-witted, and mum. Give me a man who knows how to mind and keep still about it, ...
— The Air Trust • George Allan England
... he's ashamed of his writing: I fancy as how his spelling is no better than it should be—but mum's the word. You sees, your honour, the Corporal's got a tarn for conversation-like—he be a mighty fine talker surely! but he be shy of the pen—'tis not every man what talks biggest what's the best schollard ...
— Eugene Aram, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... was sitting at her sewing, some one knocked at the door, and who should come in, but the fat cook, with a great goose, fatter than she was; who cried out: 'Only see what a big goost, mum; and only you and Miss Edith to eat it; besides a beef-steak to brile, and peas ...
— The Little Nightcap Letters. • Frances Elizabeth Barrow
... marriage he is so mum about, bless ye!" said Sir Jeoffry. "And that is not a thing to be hid long. He is to be shortly married, they say. My lady, his mother, has found him a great fortune in a new beauty but just come to town. She hath great ...
— A Lady of Quality • Frances Hodgson Burnett
... the water tank's near empty, so I'll wish ye good-morning, anyhow, mum!' And this valiant man moved ...
— The Record of Nicholas Freydon - An Autobiography • A. J. (Alec John) Dawson
... Alderman, you are deceived; the country party will bring a standing army upon us; whereas, if we chuse my lord and the colonel, we shan't have a soldier in town. But, mum! here are ...
— Miscellanies, Volume 2 (from Works, Volume 12) • Henry Fielding
... wouldn't have me be taking a dinner like that and not thanking you for it," said Julie. "And neither O'Dowd nor I had an inkling! Think of our coming up here Christmas morning and all of you keeping so mum!" ...
— Carl and the Cotton Gin • Sara Ware Bassett
... marm, sit down, an I'll perceed ter divest myself uv w'at little information I've got stored up in my noddle. Ye see, mum, my name's Walsingham Nix, at yer sarvice—Walsingham bein' my great, great grandad's fronticepiece, while Nix war ther hind-wheeler, like nor w'at a he-mule ar' w'en hitched ter a 'schooner.' Ther Nix family were a great one, bet yer false ...
— Deadwood Dick, The Prince of the Road - or, The Black Rider of the Black Hills • Edward L. Wheeler
... to see some of them," putting one hand behind his back and rubbing his fingers together, to signify that there had been a taking of bribes. "But be shady about it. For the sake of the good cause, keep quiet. Mum's the word." ...
— Stories by American Authors (Volume 4) • Constance Fenimore Woolson
... talk to her about that part of the story," said Miss Thackeray sagely. "And as you say, mum's the word. We don't want them to get onto the fact that she's here. That's the idea, ...
— Green Fancy • George Barr McCutcheon
... bull-terrier's head, which was lifted toward him fondly. The anger died out of his face, and he smiled. "I've hearn these-hyar dumb critters git things 'bout right by instinct, somehow. Yer dawg's done fergive me. Won't you-all, mum?" ...
— Heart of the Blue Ridge • Waldron Baily
... might have been mistrustful, mum,' returned Sloppy with submission, 'of standing in Our Johnny's light. There's so much trouble in illness, and so much expense, and she's seen such a lot of its being ...
— Our Mutual Friend • Charles Dickens
... Mum as Manitou! She was asleep; she is my sister. And that is all, till there's need for ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker
... the place of their favourite word as a term of contempt, and they shouted it at each other on all sides; bus-drivers, cabbies and paper sellers using it in and out of season with the keenest relish. For the moment the upper classes lay mum-chance and let the storm blow over. Some of them of course agreed with the condemnation of the Puritans, and many of them felt that Oscar and his associates had been too bold, and ought to ...
— Oscar Wilde, Volume 1 (of 2) - His Life and Confessions • Frank Harris
... asserted as I came in. "You never did know nothin', an' you're never goin' to know nothin'! 'Cause why? 'I'll tell you. Simply because I am goin' to tell! I'm mum, I am! When s'mother gents an' me 'ave business, that's our business—see! None o' your business—'ss our business, an' I'm not goin' to tell you Greeks nothin' about where we're off to, nor why, nor when. An' you put that in ...
— The Ivory Trail • Talbot Mundy
... She's with you every where! Nor play with costarmongers, at mum-chance, tray-trip, God make you rich; (when as your aunt has done it); But keep The gallant'st ...
— The Alchemist • Ben Jonson
... house, and a pink, and a green, and a yellow, and a red; that's the way they arrange in all big schools, and I only hope and pray it won't be my fate to be yellow, or what an image I'll look! Other things being equal, Mum dear, kindly say you think the blue house would be best for my health and morals. I want to live in, you understand, not out— that's one point I ...
— Tom and Some Other Girls - A Public School Story • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey
... 's little I 'll hinder nor interfare wid him nor any other, mum," says I, a kind o' stiff, for I minded me how these French waiters, wid their paper collars and brass rings on their fingers, isn 't company for no gurril brought up dacint ...
— The Universal Reciter - 81 Choice Pieces of Rare Poetical Gems • Various
... contained as many more; yet was it, to my panic-stricken imagination, as if I were the central object in nature, and assembled millions were gazing upon me in breathless expectation. I became dismayed and dumb. My friends cried, 'Hear him!' but there was nothing to hear." He was nicknamed "Orator Mum," and well did he deserve the title until he ventured to stare in astonishment at a speaker who was "culminating chronology by the most preposterous anachronisms." "I doubt not," said the annoyed speaker, "that 'Orator Mum' possesses wonderful talents ...
— Architects of Fate - or, Steps to Success and Power • Orison Swett Marden
... the altar. A housekeeper of one of those fellows if you could pick it out of her. Never pick it out of her. Like getting l.s.d. out of him. Does himself well. No guests. All for number one. Watching his water. Bring your own bread and butter. His reverence: mum's the word. ...
— Ulysses • James Joyce
... resolved that a sum not exceeding five hundred and fifteen thousand pounds should be granted for the support of the civil list for the ensuing year, to be raised by a malt tax and additional duties upon mum sweets, cyder, and perry. They likewise resolved that an additional aid of one shilling in the pound should be laid upon land, as an equivalent for the duty of ten per cent, upon mixed goods. Provision was made for raising one million four hundred thousand pounds by a lottery. The ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett
... Gutter Pup signaling," said Slops, putting his finger over Dink's mouth. "Bundy is snooping around. Mum's the word." ...
— The Varmint • Owen Johnson
... a minute. We kep him in the Bridewell for the night; and he's just been brought over here for the court martial. Don't fret, mum: he slep like a child, and has made a ...
— The Devil's Disciple • George Bernard Shaw
... morning, mum. They're all well now, 'cept Jake, and he'll come out all right, but we had a close call. A war party of Sioux jumped as Wednesday afternoon, and they'd a got away with us but for Lieutenant Dean and his troop. They come ...
— Warrior Gap - A Story of the Sioux Outbreak of '68. • Charles King
... can I," he answered, with a smile; "it sounds to me like 'The first news is um mum, and the second news is mum um mum, and the third ...
— Elsie at Nantucket • Martha Finley
... "Alfred can't spare me half a sovereign for something I want really badly, but he can give seven-and-sixpence to a dirty old woman for a sight of all that muck!" Snatching one of the letters off the table, she began reading aloud: "My dear Mum, I hope that this finds you as well as it does me. We are giving it to the Allemans, as they call them out here, right in the neck." She waved the sheet she was reading and exclaimed, "And then comes four lines so scrubbed ...
— Good Old Anna • Marie Belloc Lowndes
... that I'll give it away. Mum's the word wit' me. But I'm dahmned if I t'ought ye could roide like that. It's jus' in the breed, that's what it is; ye take to it as natural as ducks—" Mike had a habit of springing half-finished sentences on his friends. ...
— Thoroughbreds • W. A. Fraser
... she replied; "his mother is always telling me he has so much mind, and yet he can't say two words; he stands planted before me as mum as ...
— An Old Maid • Honore de Balzac
... his head. "No, I've got to do it," he answered. He turned to Dreer. "Will you promise to keep mum about this?" he asked. "If you don't promise, I ...
— Left Tackle Thayer • Ralph Henry Barbour
... heavily laden and the dog was straining every nerve. A big, powerful looking woman was walking at the side carrying a horse whip, but taking no share in the burden. As the Company passed, our friend remarked "Eh, mum, you've forgotten your spurs!" ...
— The Sherwood Foresters in the Great War 1914 - 1919 - History of the 1/8th Battalion • W.C.C. Weetman
... greenhouse. I am worn out, I really am; it never ends. In a big house like Woborn one is always behindhand. The days aren't long enough, that's the fact of it; when one thinks one is getting through one thing one is called away to another. 'Please, mum, the cook would like to speak with you for a moment.' 'There is no tea in the house, mum.' 'What! is all the tea I gave out last week gone?' 'Yes, mum. There was, you remember, the dressmaker here three ...
— Spring Days • George Moore
... Bud expansively. "If it was any safer you'd hav ter send fer ther perlice. Jes becos we're rough and ain't got on full evenin' dress you musn't think we're dangerous, mum," he went on more gravely. "I'll warrant you'll fin' better fellers right here on ther alkali than on Fit' Avenoo ...
— The Girl Aviators on Golden Wings • Margaret Burnham
... the practical joker of the crew made himself famous by utterly routing an inquisitive old lady, who asked, "What do you do with your prisoners?" The grizzled old tar dropped his voice to a confidential whisper, and, with a look of the utmost frankness, replied, "We biles 'em, mum. We tried a roast, but there ain't a hounce of meat on one o' them Yankee carkages. Yes, mum, we biles 'em." The startled old lady gasped out, "Good lordy," ...
— The Naval History of the United States - Volume 2 (of 2) • Willis J. Abbot
... crowd outside the portico the top-knots of several policemen had appeared. The forces of law and order were trying to elbow their way into the throng. Sh ... h ... h! Tia Picores assumed command. "Back to your stalls, everybody! And mum's the word! Those pretty boys will be in here with their summonses and their papers! Nothing's the matter, remember, everybody, nothing happened at all!" Some one threw a big handkerchief over the ...
— Mayflower (Flor de mayo) • Vicente Blasco Ibanez
... "Here yu, get mum," ordered Buck to the pair. "When this outfit goes after anything it generally gets it. All in favor of kidnappin' that outfit signify di' same by kickin' Billy," whereupon ...
— Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up - Bar-20 • Clarence Edward Mulford
... up he remained convinced that "Da" had done a dreadful thing. Though he did not wish to bear witness against her, he had been compelled, by fear of repetition, to seek his mother and say: "Mum, don't let 'Da' hold me ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy
... to hope she'll stay, mum," quoth he, in reply to an inquisitive neighbor. "And for my part, Miss Prouty," he added, nodding and winking at his questioner, "I'd like to see it fixed so she'd alwus stay; and if the Doctor doos think he can't do no better'n to have her bimeby, when the time comes, who's a right ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 1, Issue 2, December, 1857 • Various
... they denounced the publicity, (for his speech was paraded by the press,) lest the fair name of the queen city should suffer abroad. A beautiful farce followed this grave exposition. The board of aldermen, composed of fourteen men of very general standing, remained mum under the accusation for a long time. Its object was to show up the character of a class of officials, whose character and nefarious arts have long disgraced the city. But in order to make a display of his purity, Mr. C—, a gentleman entitled to high moral ...
— Manuel Pereira • F. C. Adams
... of you and the colonel, mum," said Nancy, who didn't believe half her mistress was saying, but thought it might be for her interest ...
— The Tin Box - and What it Contained • Horatio Alger
... good lawyer that's up to their tricks been hired, they'd have acquitted her, no fear," said Korableva. "There's what's-his-name—that hairy one with the long nose. He'd bring you out clean from pitch, mum, he would. Ah, if we'd ...
— Resurrection • Count Leo Tolstoy
... own cross-examination to begin, according to all precedent, if they were really looking out for themselves. Why didn't they sit up straight and firm, with their hands in their muffs and their eyes on hers, and say with a rising inflection and lips that moved as little as possible,—"What wages, mum?" or ...
— The Other Girls • Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney
... the exceptions. It was only the other day I came across our washerwoman and asked her how she and her husband got on together. He used to be a drunkard, and used her cruelly, but two years ago he took the pledge, and, what is more, he kept it. "Lor', mum," she exclaimed fervently, "we draws nearer every day!" I am afraid not many husbands and ...
— Lazy Thoughts of a Lazy Girl - Sister of that "Idle Fellow." • Jenny Wren
... to the river with hands full of Richmond papers, proposing exchange, Tom flourished a paper also. That was the old signal, and forthwith a raw-boned Alabamian stripped and commenced wading toward a rock that jutted up in the middle of the river. Tom stripped also, and met him at the rock. Mum was the word between them, and each turned for his own shore, the Grey-back with Tom's paper, and Tom with several of the latest Richmond prints. A crowd of Rebel officers met their messenger at the water's edge and received the paper. The one who ...
— Red-Tape and Pigeon-Hole Generals - As Seen From the Ranks During a Campaign in the Army of the Potomac • William H. Armstrong
... Sir Feeb. Mum—no words on't, unless you'll have the Ghost about your Ears; part with your Wife, I say, or else the Devil will ...
— The Works of Aphra Behn, Vol. III • Aphra Behn
... me an easy way to get around," answered Charles Vapp. "I'm Andy Weber, representing the Boxton Seed Company. A seed man can go anywhere, in the city and the country. I got the outfit from old Boxton himself. He thinks it a good joke and he will keep mum. Now, what's ...
— The Mansion of Mystery - Being a Certain Case of Importance, Taken from the Note-book of Adam Adams, Investigator and Detective • Chester K. Steele
... Providence, as you may say, to do otherwise, when good customers, whose money you're sure of, are so scarce. For without The Hard and—to give everyone their due—without the Island also, where would trade have been in Deadham these ten years and more past? Mum's the word, take it from me,"—and each did take it from the other, with rich conviction of successfully making the best of both worlds, securing eternal treasure in Heaven while ...
— Deadham Hard • Lucas Malet
... terrible in their minds, Mrs. Evan, soon after you'd went (their sore knees, I think, also keepin' them in sight of their doings), and they begged me, Mrs. Evan, wouldn't I mend the stockings, which I would most cheerfully, only takin' the same as not to be your idea, mum. So I says, says I, somebody havin' to be punished, your ma's goin' to do it to take the punishment herself, that is, in lest you do it your own selves instead. So, says I, I'll mend one stocking of each if you do the other, Mrs. Evan, ...
— People of the Whirlpool • Mabel Osgood Wright
... wants you to just step into the study. He looks like the dead, mum; I think he's had bad news. You'd best prepare yourself for the worst, 'm—p'raps it's a death in the family or a bank ...
— The Railway Children • E. Nesbit
... wordes but mum My think I heare mast welth cum Knele downe and say sum deuout orison That they may heare vs pray Now Iesu saue Welth, ...
— The Interlude of Wealth and Health • Anonymous
... requested to be allowed to return in it, as the ladies had forgotten some little necessaries, and he proposed to bring out their own boat, the Little Madras, to enable them to procure these trifles as well as the cooking-apparatus which would be useful if they were detained a few days on shore." Mum, mum, mum. "They succeeded in lowering their own boat, with its oars, and by Marshall's advice, brought from their property the carpenter's chest, disguised under the covering of a travelling trunk, with the powder and shot, ropes and straps, ...
— Seven Little People and their Friends • Horace Elisha Scudder
... up a bit, and I think he likes having me with him, but still he's as gloomy and as dull as can be. 'T was only yesterday he took me to the works, and you'd ha' thought us two Quakers as the spirit hadn't moved, all the way down we were so mum. It's a place to craze a man, certainly; such a noisy black hole! There were one or two things worth looking at, the bellows for instance, or the gale they called a bellows. I could ha' stood near it ...
— Mary Barton • Elizabeth Gaskell
... questioned the young fellow about his residence at Kalbsbraten, which has been always since the war a favorite place for our young gentry, and heard with some satisfaction that Potzdorff was married to the Behrenstein, Haabart had left the dragoons, the Crown Prince had broken with the —— but mum! of what interest are all these details to the reader, who has never been at ...
— The Fitz-Boodle Papers • William Makepeace Thackeray
... infra dig. indeed for a student, and one of my comrades said to me that, as I was a foreigner, I was probably not aware of what a fault I had committed, but that in future I must not be seen talking to a soldier. To which I, with a terrible wink, replied, "Mum's the word; that soldier is lieutenant of police in my ward, and I have squared it with him all right, so that if there should be a Bierkrawall (a drunken row) in our quarter he will let me go." This, which appeared as a grand flight ...
— Memoirs • Charles Godfrey Leland
... No, no! Never do sit down in houses,—never, never. Where'll you have it, mum? Where'll ...
— Mercy Philbrick's Choice • Helen Hunt Jackson
... entrance to La Ferte our road was barred by two sentinels, elderly peasants, by their looks. I played mum and tapped ...
— My Home In The Field of Honor • Frances Wilson Huard
... the boy's handsome face became illuminated with an impish devilry which the father had never seen before. With dancing eyes he went on. "It was one of those very games we played so long ago that he wanted to see me about and wanted me to keep mum about, for some of the folks that he played it on were around here now. It was a game we got off on one of the big strike partners long before the strike. I'll tell YOU, dad, for you know what happened afterwards, and you'll be ...
— The Three Partners • Bret Harte
... gone from the air, and George felt greatly relieved when Sweetwater paused in the middle of a long block before a lofty tenement house of mean appearance, and signified that here they were to stop, and that from now on, mum was ...
— Initials Only • Anna Katharine Green
... a silver dollar out of his pocket, and gave it to the old negro. "There now, Auntie," he said, "my job depends upon the lady not knowing about this wine; keep it mum." ...
— Stories by Modern American Authors • Julian Hawthorne
... go after squirrels, Uncle Zack, sure enough I do. But the Colonel and I won't be long, and it's nothing serious, so you just keep mum about it. Whatever you do, don't let Miss ...
— Sunlight Patch • Credo Fitch Harris
... verses. Well, I made a motion to stop the rowing, and was mum for a minute. The men got nervous. They looked at the boat in front of us, and then turned round, as though to see if the 'Dancing Kate' was still in sight. I spoke, and they got more courage. I stood up in the boat, but could see ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker
... thing in the whole world just now is music, my music. It is a little wonderful, isn't it, to have a gift, a real gift, and to know it? Oh, why doesn't Delarey make up his mind and let father know, as he promised!... Here comes daddy, mum. Bother! He's going to shoot, and I hoped he'd ...
— The Black Box • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... be, mum; this clay's that stiff! Lord! folks is almost as much trouble to them as buries as to them as bears 'em; it's all trouble together, to ...
— The Daughters of Danaus • Mona Caird
... it best pure naked. I'd be thankful to 'ee, mum, if ye wouldn't call me Mr. Maine; it ...
— North, South and Over the Sea • M.E. Francis (Mrs. Francis Blundell)
... that he'd sthale, mum, but he's shly. I've coom upon 'im soodent wance or twicet, an' seen 'im shlip something intil 'is pocket, an' 'im toornin' red in the face an' confused like. An' says I, 'Conny, is it something fine ye have?' An' the b'y walked away widout a ...
— Harper's Young People, September 28, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various
... Mysterious-Stranger would be discovered, later on, under the disguise of that nearly stone-deaf old gentleman, his (Caleb's) own dear boy, Edward, supposed to have died in the golden South Americas. Little Caleb's inquiry of Mrs. Peerybingle,—"You couldn't have the goodness to let me pinch Boxer's tail, Mum, for half a moment, could you?" was one of the welcome whimsicalities of the Reading. "Why, Caleb! what a question!" naturally enough was Dot's instant exclamation. "Oh, never mind, Mum!" said the little toy-maker, apologetically, "He mightn't like it ...
— Charles Dickens as a Reader • Charles Kent
... not a very uncommon sight to see a clever man sit mum, abashed by the chatter of a cheery shallow-pate, who is happily unconscious of the oppressive triviality of his own conversation. Norburn's eager flow of words froze at the contact of Dick's small-talk, and he was a discontented auditor of ball-room and club gossip. It amazed him that a ...
— Half a Hero - A Novel • Anthony Hope
... to take a mouthful of supper, mum, an' we'd be proud if you an' the little gal would jine us," remarked my father, with ...
— The Romance of a Plain Man • Ellen Glasgow
... abominably as it went down. Later had followed a pleasant dreamy consciousness of warmth which had brought with it realisation of the fact that previously she had been feeling terribly cold. Then voices again—notably Maria's this time: "She'll do now, Mrs. Hilyard, mum. 'Tis only ...
— The Vision of Desire • Margaret Pedler
... then, that from now till the year is up there shall be no more reference between us to this money, and that we shall go on being good friends as before. Leave it to me to make arrangements to acquit myself honourably of my obligations towards you. I need say no more; till a year's up, mum's ...
— Celebrated Crimes, Complete • Alexandre Dumas, Pere |
