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81 " The world has held great Heroes, As history-books have showed; But never a name to go down to fame Compared with that of Toad! 'The clever men at Oxford Know all that there is to be knowed. But they none of them know one half as much As intelligent Mr. Toad! 'The animals sat in the Ark and cried, Their tears in torrents flowed. Who was it said, "There's land ahead?" Encouraging Mr. Toad! 'The army all saluted As they marched along the road. Was it the King? Or Kitchener? No. It was Mr. Toad. 'The Queen and her Ladies-in-waiting Sat at the window and sewed. She cried, "Look! who's that handsome man?" They answered, "Mr. Toad. "
― Kenneth Grahame , The Wind in the Willows
82 " One morning the girl was very thoughtful, and answered at random, and did not seem to Toad to be paying proper attention to his witty sayings and sparkling comments.'Toad,' she said presently, 'just listen, please. I have an aunt who is a washerwoman.''There, there,' said Toad graciously and affably, 'never mind; think no more about it. I have several aunts who ought to be washerwomen. "
83 " Beyond the Wild Wood comes the Wide World,’ said the Rat. ‘And that’s something that doesn’t matter, either to you or me. "
84 " They fell a-twittering among themselves once more, and this time their intoxicating babble was of violet seas, tawny sands, and lizard-haunted walls. "
85 " He did not at all want to abandon the new life and its splendid spaces, to turn his back on sun and air and all they offered him and creep home and stay there; the upper world was all too strong, it called to him still, even down there, and he knew he must return to the larger stage. But it was good to think he had this to come back to; this place, which was all his own, these things which were so glad to see him again and could always be counted upon for the same simple welcome. "
86 " As he did not go into Society himself, he had got an idea that these things belonged to the things that didn’t really matter. (We know of course that he was wrong, and took too narrow a view; because they do matter very much, though it would take too long to explain why.) "
87 " but the wind playing in the reeds and rushes and osiers. "
88 " stopped rowing as the liquid run of that glad piping broke on him like a wave, caught him up, and possessed him utterly. "
89 " Take the Adventure, heed the call, now ere the irrevocable moment passes! "
90 " Rat sculled gently homewards in a dreamy mood, murmuring poetry-things over to himself, "
91 " It [Badger's House] seemed a place where heroes could fitly feast after victory, where weary harvesters could line up in scores along the table and keep their Harvest House with mirth and song, or where two or three friends of simple tastes could sit about as they pleased and eat and smoke and talk in comfort and contentment. The ruddy brick floor smiled up at the smoky ceiling; the oaken settles, shiny with long wear, exchanged cheerful glaces with each other; plates of the dresser grinned at pots on the shelf, and the merry firelight flickered and played over everything without distinction. "
92 " I think we’d had enough of this folly. Who ever heard of a door-mat TELLING anyone anything? They simply don’t do it. They are not that sort at all. Door-mats know their place. "
93 " The stoats are on guard, at every point, and they make the best sentinels in the world. "
94 " you look down flights of stone steps, overhung by great pink tufts of valerian and "
95 " and a barge that sailed into the banqueting-hall with his week’s washing, just as he was giving a dinner-party; and he was "
96 " while a picked body of Toads, known at the Die-hards, or the Death-or-Glory Toads, will storm the orchard and carry everything before "
97 " Indeed, much that he related belonged more properly to the category of what-might-have-happened-had-I-only-thought-of-it-in-time-instead-of ten-minutes-afterwards. Those are always the best and the raciest adventures; and why should they not be truly ours, as much as the somewhat inadequate things that really come off? "
98 " The Mole had long wanted to make the acquaintance of the Badger. He seemed, by all accounts, to be such an important personage and, though rarely visible, to make his unseen influence felt by everybody about the place "
99 " Thank you kindly, dear Mole, for all your pains and trouble tonight, and especially for your cleverness this morning!’ The "
100 " was absorbed and deaf to the world; alternately scribbling and sucking the top of his pencil. It "