"Coon" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... gives to the Disagreeable Girl her opportunity. In the paper box factory she would have to make good; Cluett, Coon & Co. ask for results; the stage demands at least a modicum of intellect, in addition to shape, but society asks for nothing but pretense, and the palm is awarded to palaver. But do not, if you please, imagine that the Disagreeable Girl does not wield an influence. ...
— Love, Life & Work • Elbert Hubbard
... more for the possum and the coon, On the meadow, the hill, and the shore; They sing no more by the glimmer of the moon, On the bench by the old cabin door; The day goes by, like the shadow o'er the heart, With sorrow where all was delight; ...
— The World's Best Poetry, Volume 3 - Sorrow and Consolation • Various
... twistin' pain all through my empty inside! But th' point is that down on that side o' th' mountain there's game; I saw birds, too, but I couldn't make out what they were; an', somehow, it looks different down there. It don't look like these d—n dead places we've been prowlin' through for more'n a coon's age. It looks as if God remembered it, an' it was alive! Why, th' very smell that came up had somethin' good about it; an' there was a different taste to th' air. I tell you, Rayburn, I didn't know what a lonely an' mis'rable an' lost chump sort of a way I was in until I looked over there into ...
— The Aztec Treasure-House • Thomas Allibone Janvier
... the old shop, beneath the tree Of "rusty-coats," as Noey called them, he Next took the boys, to show his favorite new Pet 'coon—pulled rather coyly into view Up through a square hole in the bottom of An old inverted tub he bent above, Yanking a little chain, with "Hey! you, sir! Here's comp'ny come to see you, Bolivur!" Explanatory, he went on to say, "I named ...
— A Child-World • James Whitcomb Riley
... them as a man would do. Said a woman the other day, "I wish I had as many dollars as I have alone killed and dressed hogs." With parents the boy means a "heap" more than the girl. A boy can shoot deer and coon, fox and rabbit, can build cabins, can keep school, and "seems" be a doctor or go to Congress. With this impression, if anybody is clothed and sent to school, it is the boy, while as a rule, the girl is poorly clad and stays at home to do the boy's work, to make "craps," and grow up ...
— American Missionary, Volume 43, No. 2, February, 1889 • Various
... ol' trap' man. Summers, I work here for Monsieur Dunwodee. Verr' reech man, Monsieur Dunwodee. He say, 'Eleazar, you live here, all right.' When winter come I go back in the heel, trap ze fur-r, Madame, ze cat, ze h'ottaire, ze meenk, sometime ze coon, also ze skonk. Pret' soon I'll go h'out for trap ...
— The Purchase Price • Emerson Hough
... buckskin all holler, fur snow. Abe'n me got purty handy contrivin' things that way. An' Abe was right out in the woods about as soon's he was weaned, fishin' in the creek, settin' traps fur rabbits an' muskrats, goin' on coon-hunts with Tom an' me an' the dogs, follerin' up bees to find bee-trees, an' drappin' corn fur his pappy. Mighty interestin' life fur a boy, but thar was a good many chances he wouldn't ...
— The Story of Young Abraham Lincoln • Wayne Whipple
... him in the middle of his arm below the elbow, the point of the spear going right through the arm. Agamemnon was convulsed with pain, but still not even for this did he leave off struggling and fighting, but grasped his spear that flew as fleet as the wind, and sprang upon Coon who was trying to drag off the body of his brother—his father's son—by the foot, and was crying for help to all the bravest of his comrades; but Agamemnon struck him with a bronze-shod spear and killed him as he was dragging the dead body through the press of men under ...
— The Iliad • Homer
... as much curiosity as a pet coon. What special process did their gods use to put the ...
— The Treasure Trail - A Romance of the Land of Gold and Sunshine • Marah Ellis Ryan
... were in a country in which game abounded suggested numerous stories. The delights of cat-hunting by night found an enthusiast in each one present. Every dog in our memory, back to early boyhood, was properly introduced and his best qualities applauded. Not only cat-hounds but coon-dogs had ...
— The Outlet • Andy Adams
... good as fried chicken any day. You cleans de hog, an boils it in salt water til its tender. Den you makes flour gravy, puts it on after de water am drain off; you puts it in de oven wif de lid on an bakes hit a nice brown. No 'em, don' like fish so well, nor coon, nor possum, dey is too greasy. Likes chicken, groundhog an pork." Wid de wild meat you wants plain boiled potatoes, yes'em Irish potatoes, sho enough, ah heard o' eatin skunk, and muskrat, but ah ain't cookin em. But ah tells you dat groun' hog ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves: The Ohio Narratives • Works Projects Administration
... endure that, you know. If I must wear an apron, like a coon, I'll have one that fits. Why do I need it, anyway? This dress is only white pique, and wears like iron. I heard stepmother say so when she gave it to the dressmaker. She never bought me anything but piques and ducks and things ...
— The Brass Bound Box • Evelyn Raymond
... Tennessee. The hills abounded in metals of all sorts, iron in all its combinations, copper, bismuth, gold and silver in small quantities, platinum he—believed, tin, aluminium; it was covered with forests and strange plants; in the woods were found the coon, the opossum, the fox, the deer and many other animals who roamed in the domain of natural history; coal existed in enormous quantity and no doubt oil; it was such a place for the practice of agricultural experiments that any student who had been successful there would ...
— The Gilded Age, Complete • Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner
... coon on Honey," said the young man, after a while—"Honey Creek, San Saba. Kind o' dry creek. Used to flow into ...
— The Jimmyjohn Boss and Other Stories • Owen Wister
... he came bustling along, "and you'll be glad we held up, too, when you set eyes on the bully little smoked ham I bought from a coon this afternoon. I told George it was a shame some of the others couldn't be along to enjoy a slice; and do you know, he took me up like a flash, saying he'd been thinking the same thing. So when we ran across this place ...
— Motor Boat Boys Mississippi Cruise - or, The Dash for Dixie • Louis Arundel
... After the flock had gone to sleep again Henrietta Hen was more than likely to dream that Fatty Coon was in the henhouse. And she would squawk right out ...
— The Tale of Henrietta Hen • Arthur Scott Bailey
... go," Tom concluded. "I'll see if I can give you a pointer or two down near camp in the morning. Ever follow a woodchuck—or a coon? Only I don't want any badge-getter falling down on a trail, if I'm mixed up with it. That's one thing I ...
— Tom Slade on Mystery Trail • Percy Keese Fitzhugh
... keep movin'," one of the policemen growled fiercely. "An' do what we say, or get your head cracked. Out you go, now. Out the door with you. Better tell that coon to stick ...
— Michael, Brother of Jerry • Jack London
... l'arn a whole passel of scripture, she punish de chillun by makin' dem memorize poems an' sich. Sometimes she sont 'em ter bed widout supper, sometimes she make 'em work at night, sometimes she prayed fer 'em, an' once in a coon's age she whupped. Dey said dat she could really hurt when she meant to, but she whupped as de las' thing ter do an' she whupped wid a keen little switch 'stead ...
— Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves, North Carolina Narratives, Part 2 • Works Projects Administration
... thar," answered my host, pointing to a corner of his tree-cabin. I looked and saw the skins of several animals,—among which I recognized those of the "painter," "possum," and "'coon," along with a haunch or two of recently killed venison. "I sell 'em, boy; the skins to the storekeepers, and the deer-meat to anybody as ...
— Our Young Folks—Vol. I, No. II, February 1865 - An Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls • Various
... was about half gone, and the scout looked up at the sky, removed his coon-skin cap, and thoughtfully wrinkled his brows, as though he were solving some ...
— The Cave in the Mountain • Lieut. R. H. Jayne
... had called Mr. Coston "Nig" he would have been running grave risks. A stranger, and a leader of a rival gang, who addressed him as "coon" was more than asking for trouble. He was ...
— Psmith, Journalist • Pelham Grenville Wodehouse
... WEBSTER.—Coons are very fond of fish, and you might bait your trap with salt cod-fish roasted to give it a strong smell. The sense of smell of a coon is very acute, and it will rarely pass a trap baited with any provender it ...
— Harper's Young People, February 10, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various
... where we arrived the morning of October 25th, and we were met with another great reception. Here Clarence Duval turned up, and thereby hangs a story. Clarence was a little darkey that I had met some time before while in Philadelphia, a singer and dancer of no mean ability, and a little coon whose skill in handling the baton would have put to the blush many a bandmaster of national reputation. I had togged him out in a suit of navy blue with brass buttons, at my own expense, and had engaged him as a mascot. He was an ungrateful little rascal, ...
— A Ball Player's Career - Being the Personal Experiences and Reminiscensces of Adrian C. Anson • Adrian C. Anson
... eccentric old coon, Who ate dynamite with a spoon, But when he got loaded The powder exploded— And now there's a coon ...
— Poems for Pale People - A Volume of Verse • Edwin C. Ranck
... all say, 'O, he bound to make a heap.' I could be a conjure doctor and make plenty money, but dat ain't good. In slavery time dey's men like dat 'garded as bein' dangerous. Dey make charms and put bad mouth on you. De old folks wears de rabbit foot or coon foot and sometime a silver dime on a fishin' string to keep off de witches. Some dem old conjure people make lots of money for charm 'gainst ruin or cripplin' or dry up de blood. But I don't take up no truck with ...
— Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves. - Texas Narratives, Part 2 • Works Projects Administration
... he said. "One of my neighbors keeps a pet coon, and in another tent there are a bay horse, two dogs, two sheep and a pair of goats. They sleep with their master like a ...
— Port O' Gold • Louis John Stellman
... had a lot of things, when you come to think of it?" exclaimed Malcolm. "Squirrels, and white mice, and the coon that Uncle Harry brought us, and the ...
— Two Little Knights of Kentucky • Annie Fellows Johnston
... cannon, Massa Tom! Say, looky heah now! You jest take dese primary things from dish yeah coon. I—I'se got t' go!" ...
— Tom Swift and his Giant Cannon - or, The Longest Shots on Record • Victor Appleton
... here!" Reedy half closed his plump eyes and nodded knowingly. "'Course you are goin' to sell—I got to have four more ranches to fill out my farm—and when I want 'em I get 'em, see? As Davy Crockett said to the coon, 'Better come on down before I shoot, and ...
— The Desert Fiddler • William H. Hamby
... to the station gave the Prince an indication of what winter would be like in the prairies, where the wind from the north sweeps down unresisted, and with such a force that it seems to go right through all coats, save the Canadian winter armour of "coon coat" ...
— Westward with the Prince of Wales • W. Douglas Newton
... 1893 R. W. Coon secured the passage in the Senate of a Township Suffrage Bill prepared by the State association. Its members argued that if school offices not named in the constitution are creations of the Legislature, ...
— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV • Various
... sir; he's let the coons go. It come out that Waterman had sneaked out that suit of his golf clothes that Kate Kenner wore in the minstrel show, so he fired them both, and now I got to support 'em, because, as long as we're friends here, I don't mind telling you I egged the coon on to ...
— Ruggles of Red Gap • Harry Leon Wilson
... Zebulin Coon wanted me to carry a new hen-coop of hisen to get it patented. And I thought to myself, I wonder if they'll ask me to ...
— Sweet Cicely - Or Josiah Allen as a Politician • Josiah Allen's Wife (Marietta Holley)
... also the hollow hickory, which, though nearly fallen, was still green, and had the great advantage of being open at both ends. This had long been the residence of one Lotor, a solitary old coon whose ostensible calling was frog-hunting, and who, like the monks of old, was supposed to abstain from all flesh food. But it was shrewdly suspected that he needed but a chance to indulge in a diet of rabbit. When at last one dark night he was killed while raiding ...
— Lobo, Rag and Vixen - Being The Personal Histories Of Lobo, Redruff, Raggylug & Vixen • Ernest Seton-Thompson
... curse the bore Of hunting still the same old coon, And envy him, outside the door, The golden ...
— Masterpieces Of American Wit And Humor • Thomas L. Masson (Editor)
... high tension just now, and the boys have had two or three rows among themselves. Yesterday Fresno tried to 'kid' Willie about The Holy City; said it was written as a coon song, and wasn't sung in good society. If he hadn't been a guest, I guess Willie would ...
— Going Some • Rex Beach
... upwards of sixteen miles. Frequent deep ponds dot this wilderness place, with here and there a stretch of dry soil, but no human being inhabits the malarious extent; even a hunted murderer would shrink from hiding there. Serpents and slimy lizards are the only denizens; sometimes the coon takes refuge in this desert from the hounds, and in the soil mud a thousand odorous muskrats delve, with now and then a tremorous otter. But not even the hunted negro dares to fathom the treacherous clay, nor make himself ...
— The Life, Crime and Capture of John Wilkes Booth • George Alfred Townsend
... seeing her little son opening his mouth and fetching a breath for a fresh effort, the mother, with more decision, added: "No, Bushie, no! Play about the fort as much as you please, but go to the field to-day you must not, and you shall not. There!" And with this she clapped his little coon-skin cap upon his head, and ramming it down to his ears, bid him go and hunt up the other children and play at home, like ...
— Burl • Morrison Heady
... coon, three skunk, a gray fox, and seventeen rabbit skins. All told it ought to bring—-let me see." He relapsed into silence, as he estimated the total, and then he sighed deeply. "Not very much," was his inward comment; ...
— The Boy Scouts of the Geological Survey • Robert Shaler
... the cases federal officials are regarded with aversion by the people they are supposed to serve. It is to be hoped that every Southern white man who hereafter votes the Republican ticket will have his billets de amour clapper-clawed and liberally scented by some big fat coon. ...
— Volume 10 of Brann The Iconoclast • William Cowper Brann
... and Beowulf. Sculptors, painters, architects, and park gardeners who now have their followers by the hundreds will have admirers by the hundred thousand. The voters will respond to the aspirations of these artists as the back-woodsmen followed Poor Richard's Almanac, or the trappers in their coon-skin caps were fired to patriotism ...
— The Art Of The Moving Picture • Vachel Lindsay
... printed in this city. There may be one that, perhaps, comes close down to his ideas of the press of Chicago, but there is only one—a weekly—and I believe it is printed in New York. The reverend gentleman who began the discussion to-night started into this subject very much like a coon, and as we listened, as he went on, we perceived he came out a porcupine. He was scientific in everything he said in favor of the press; unscientific in everything against it. He spoke to you in favor of the suppression of news, which means, I take it, ...
— Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z • Various
... coon ever come into the store," I hear the grocer say with a laugh. "I'd a-slid him out on his ear if ...
— Colonel Carter's Christmas and The Romance of an Old-Fashioned Gentleman • F. Hopkinson Smith
... Goliath? Poor old Philistine, he is a gone coon without his baccy. Fetch him a match somebody." And as Amias feebly protested against this, he went on—"Anna is quite a Bohemian, and rather likes the smell of tobacco. I will have a cigarette to keep you company," and in another minute Amias's broad countenance wore its usual expression ...
— Herb of Grace • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... of anybody going hungry at a party?" Fatty Coon exclaimed. And turning to Mr. Crow, he asked ...
— The Tale of Major Monkey • Arthur Scott Bailey
... he's been sulterin' in ther penitenshery down thar at Frankfort fer nigh on ter two y'ars now. Erbout once in a coon's age I fares me down thar ter fotch him tidin's of his folks. Hit ...
— The Roof Tree • Charles Neville Buck
... child, and food and raiment, You may attend to them, poor drudging fool! When of your Rent and Rates you've made full payment. Yes, Rent and Rates! they are the modern gods, And Moloch's tyranny was not more cruel. With Landlord or with Vestry get at odds, And you're gone coon; they'll soon give you your gruel. Just now Vestrydom's victims are a-howl With rage at skinning; but their indignation Will fade, and they will feed the Official Ghoul Until the next Quinquennial Valuation. ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 99, July 5, 1890 • Various
... wrought these things into his songs of love and tenderness. Friendless and otherwise without companionship he lived in imagination with the beasts and birds of the great out-of-doors; he knew personally Mr. Coon, Brother Rabbit, Mr. 'Possum and their associates of the wild; Judge Buzzard and Sister Turkey appealed to his fancy as offering material for what he supposed to be poetic treatment. Wherever he might find anything in his lowly position which seemed to him truly ...
— Negro Folk Rhymes - Wise and Otherwise: With a Study • Thomas W. Talley
... get such a flashlight," admitted Paul, "because the mink is said to be one of the shyest of all small, fur-bearing animals, even more so than Br'er Fox, and considerably more timid than Br'er 'Coon." ...
— The Banner Boy Scouts Snowbound - A Tour on Skates and Iceboats • George A. Warren
... his success flowed from that. The Street got rattled, as they used to put it, when known that the old man was out with his gun, and often his opponents seemed to surrender as easily as Colonel Crockett's coon in the story. The scheme I am going to describe to you would have occupied most men long enough. Manderson could have plotted the thing, down to the last ...
— Trent's Last Case - The Woman in Black • E.C. (Edmund Clerihew) Bentley
... will not all fire at this animal as we did at Smith's bear. One bullet is enough for him, and if he gets down among us, I think six men will be a match for one 'coon,' so we need not be inhuman through a sense of danger. Whose shot ...
— Wild Northern Scenes - Sporting Adventures with the Rifle and the Rod • S. H. Hammond
... comfortable, that, were it not for the disgusting practice of spitting upon the floors in which the lower classes of Americans indulge, I should greatly prefer them to our own exclusive carriages, denominated in the States "'coon sentry-boxes." Well, we are seated in the cars; a man shouts "Go a-head!" and we are off, the engine ringing its heavy bell, and thus begin my experiences of ...
— The Englishwoman in America • Isabella Lucy Bird
... of Henry Clay, Schurz says that in no presidential canvass has there ever been "less thought." It is likely if there had been no log cabins, no cider, no coon-skins, and no songs, the result would have been the same, for, in the presence of great financial distress, the people seek relief very much as they empty a burning building. But the reader of the Log Cabin will find thought enough. Greeley's ...
— A Political History of the State of New York, Volumes 1-3 • DeAlva Stanwood Alexander
... old colored man on guard at his place," was the answer, and Tom had no difficulty in recognizing the voice of Sid Holton. "The coon throws whitewash all over us. I ...
— Tom Swift and his Electric Runabout - or, The Speediest Car on the Road • Victor Appleton
... the storekeeper growled. "You done first-rate, young man. You tole the ole cuss in plain words what we've bin a- thinkin' fer a coon's age. ...
— Bunch Grass - A Chronicle of Life on a Cattle Ranch • Horace Annesley Vachell
... them make their way to the foot-hills of the mountains, or to the trees that line the banks of the rivers, where some hollow log or trunk may be found. A friend of mine, while out hunting on the San Joaquin, came upon an old coon trap, hidden among some tall grass, near the edge of the river, upon which he sat down to rest. Shortly afterward his attention was attracted to a crowd of angry bees that were flying excitedly about his head, when he discovered that he was sitting upon their ...
— The California Birthday Book • Various
... the top and look down him—a long look, for he was tall and gaunt. His cap in winter was of coon-skin, with the tail of the animal hanging down behind. In summer he wore a misshapen straw hat with no hat-band. His shirt was of linsey-woolsey, above described, and was of no color whatever, unless you call it "the color of ...
— The Life of Abraham Lincoln • Henry Ketcham
... no one ever lived on the place afterward, and in time the farm and house reverted to the town for taxes. It also soon obtained the reputation of being haunted, and no one ever went near it after dark. A couple of 'coon hunters told how they had taken refuge in it from a sudden shower at night, but left in a hurry when they heard some one walking on the chamber floor above. Some one else said they had seen a white figure walking on the ridge-pole just at dusk. All this was current gossip in the town, and believed ...
— Pocket Island - A Story of Country Life in New England • Charles Clark Munn
... Limberlost with his eyes on the stars. Presently he removed his hat, hung it to his belt, and ruffled his hair to the sweep of the night wind. He filled the air all the way with snatches of oratorios, gospel hymns, and dialect and coon songs, in a startlingly varied programme. The one thing Freckles knew that he could do was to sing. The Duncans heard him coming a mile up the corduroy and could not believe their senses. Freckles unfastened ...
— Freckles • Gene Stratton-Porter
... "lives along the heart" of this most stalwart and defiant Kentuckian. He charges critical batteries with the force of Harney's dragoons. We accordingly surrender at discretion. Captain Scott need but to point his rifle, and the coon comes down at once. ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII No. 6 June 1848 • Various
... coon," said Rodney, patting her on the shoulder, in an exuberance of gracious approval and beamingly serene content. "I'll take you in my gig with Red Squirrel," he added, by way of reward ...
— The Other Girls • Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney
... He was anything but handsome. The truth is he was the homeliest, clumsiest-looking fellow in all the Green Forest. He was a little bigger than Bobby Coon and his body was thick and heavy-looking. His back humped up like an arch. His head was rather small for the size of his body, short and rather round. His neck was even shorter. His eyes were small and very dull. It ...
— The Burgess Animal Book for Children • Thornton W. Burgess
... enough frost," she confided to Bobby; "but cheer up, for the worst is yet to come. Your route sheet for the next two months looks like a morgue to me, and unless you interpolate a few coon songs in Tannhaeuser and some song and dance specialties between the acts of Les Huguenots you're gone. You know I used to sing this route in musical comedy, and, on the level, I've got a fine part waiting for me right now in The Giddy Queen. ...
— The Making of Bobby Burnit - Being a Record of the Adventures of a Live American Young Man • George Randolph Chester
... tootem, clear the track! I caught a coon on Kamiak! Colonel Clapp and Uncle Rome Have hired a hack to ...
— The Peter Patter Book of Nursery Rhymes • Leroy F. Jackson
... and fowling there was always ample out-of-door recreation at hand. In addition to the deer-hunts, there were often bear-hunts, and 'possum and 'coon-hunts were popular nighttime sports. On the latter occasions a party of men set out, preferably on a moonlight night, with their dogs. Having entered the woods, the dogs shortly took up the trail of their intended ...
— Domestic Life in Virginia in the Seventeenth Century - Jamestown 350th Anniversary Historical Booklet Number 17 • Annie Lash Jester
... of missing it with my second barrel, sir," said the subaltern. "But for Miss Benson I'd have been a gone coon." ...
— The Jungle Girl • Gordon Casserly
... up the Arkansas to Bayou Meta, and were soon far in the depths of the woods. Though the water of the bayou was very deep, it was so narrow at places that trees and vines had to be cut away so the boat could push her way through. Several weeks were spent in shooting deer and bear, catching coon, opossum and other game. At their manufactured salt licks, they succeeded in taking all the deer they wanted. Boyton's love for pets quickly manifested itself and every odd corner of the little ...
— The Story of Paul Boyton - Voyages on All the Great Rivers of the World • Paul Boyton
... family, his friend or his guest. There is one especially popular resort, a combination of restaurant and vaudeville theater, at which one eats an excellent dinner excellently served, and between courses witnesses the turns of a first-rate variety bill, always with the inevitable team of American coon shouters, either in fast colors or of the burnt-cork variety, sandwiched into the ...
— Europe Revised • Irvin S. Cobb
... rest ov de animil kingdom wuz geddered togedder fur to settle some questions concarnin' de happiness ov de animil kingdom. De first question dat riz befo' de convenchun wuz, how da should vote. Brudder Coon, he took de floah an' moved dat de convenchun vote by raisin' der tails; whereupon Brudder Possum riz wid a grin ov disgust, an' said: 'Mr. Chaiahman, I's unanimous opposed to dat motion: Brudder Coon wants dis couvenchun to vote by raisin' ...
— Gov. Bob. Taylor's Tales • Robert L. Taylor
... seats quite as soft as buttered eels in a mud bank! Look here—isn't it considerable clear they're all funking like burnt Cayenne in a clay pipe; or couldn't they have made a raise some how to get a ship of their own, or borrow one, to send after that caged-up 'coon of a Macleod? It's my notion, and pretty considerable clear to me, they're all bounce, like bad chesnuts, very well to look at, but come to try them at the fire for a roast, and they turn out puff and shell. They talk of war as the boy did of whipping his father, ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, Complete • Various
... de big round moon Comin' up like a balloon, Dis nigger skips fur to kiss de lips Ob his stylish, black-faced coon." ...
— Whirligigs • O. Henry
... Mr. Krebs says," Ralph replied, "that the people ought to put Judd Jason officially in charge. He tells 'em that Jason is probably a more efficient man than Democracy will be able to evolve in a coon's age, that we ought to take him over, instead of ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... an' wan day I gets a letther from me ould friend, Ginger Johnson, who was stationed there tu, tellin' me all th' news. Nobby, sez he, was doin' fine, fat as a hog, an' happy as a coon in a melun patch. Wan day, sez he, a buck av th' name av Wampy Jones comes a runnin' inta th' Post, wid th' face av a ghost an' th' hair av um shtickin shtraight up. Said a Polar bear'd popped out forninst a hummock an' chased um—like tu th' tale av Morley, here. Nobby, sez Johnson, ...
— The Luck of the Mounted - A Tale of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police • Ralph S. Kendall
... Thure, at sight of the wagons and the men. "I'll bet a coon skin that they are bound for Sacramento City and the gold-diggings, too. Come, let's hurry up our horses and see if we can't overtake them. I'll feel a lot safer when we're in with that crowd," and his keen eyes glanced swiftly over the valley in front of them. "There are too ...
— The Cave of Gold - A Tale of California in '49 • Everett McNeil
... enough to suit anybody; and chances are they wouldn't be disturbed in a coon's age," declared Jack. "Our coming here was a freak. It mightn't happen ...
— The Banner Boy Scouts Afloat • George A. Warren
... a tree burdened with a small 'coon which stared at the boy piteously, its eyes green in ...
— Ralestone Luck • Andre Norton
... eat plenty uv em possum. Eve'y one dey is ketch, us parent cook it. Us eat aw kinder wild animal den sech uz coon, possum, rabbit, squirrel en aw dat. Hab plenty uv fish in dem days too. Hab pond right next de white folks house en is ketch aw de fish dere dat we is wan'. Some uv de time dey'ud fry em en den some uv de time dey'ud make uh stew. Dey'ud put uh little salt en onion en grease in ...
— Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves • Works Projects Administration
... — N. diuturnity^; a long time, a length of time; an age, a century, an eternity; slowness &c 275; perpetuity &c 112; blue moon, coon's age [U.S.], dog's age. durableness, durability; persistence, endlessness, lastingness &c adj.^; continuance, standing; permanence &c (stability) 150; survival, survivance^; longevity &c (age) 128; distance of time. ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget
... New York stage. But he confesses that he never could earn the butter to spread on his William S. roles, so he is willing to drop to the ordinary baker's kind, and be satisfied with a 200-mile run behind the medicine ponies. Besides Richard III, he could do twenty-seven coon songs and banjo specialties, and was willing to cook, and curry the horses. We carried a fine line of excuses for taking money. One was a magic soap for removing grease spots and quarters from clothes. One was a Sum-wah-tah, the great Indian Remedy made ...
— Rolling Stones • O. Henry
... petticoat and a jacket. The men wear a turban, a loose robe, and a jacket; they tie up their hair in a knot behind, and tattoo their legs, by pricking their skin, and then putting in black oil. They have the disagreeable custom of smoking, and of chewing a stuff called "coon," which ...
— Far Off • Favell Lee Mortimer
... slep' on pallets on de flo', an' all lived in one long room made out of logs, an' had a dirt flo' an' dirt chimbly. There was a big old iron pot hangin' over de hearth, an' us had 'possum, greens, taters, and de lak cooked in it. Had coon ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves - Mississippi Narratives • Works Projects Administration
... on me there!" he told her. "For I was a gone coon the first time I set eyes on you! But is it the same with pictures? A picture, now, has to be studied; it ain't like the real article," he apologized. "Anyway, if I hadn't kept lookin' at your picture, mebbe things would have been ...
— The Range Boss • Charles Alden Seltzer
... have seen that it was half filled with shells, pieces of rock, and rare plants, gathered during the day—the diurnal storehouse of the geologist, the palaeontologist, and botanist—to be emptied for study and examination by the night camp-fire. Instead of the 'coon-skin cap he wore a white felt hat with broad leaf; and for leggings and mocassins he had trousers of blue cottonade and laced buskins of ...
— Popular Adventure Tales • Mayne Reid
... too, that Melinda Jones' hands were sweeping the keys—and all that Melinda Jones had done for her comfort was forgotten in the deep resentment which heated her blood and flushed her cheek as she listened to "Old Zip Coon," which followed "Money-musk," a shuffling sound of feet telling that somebody's boots were keeping time after a very unorthodox fashion. Next came a song—"Old Folks at Home"—and in spite of her resentment Ethelyn found herself listening intently as James' ...
— Ethelyn's Mistake • Mary Jane Holmes
... what 's the matter with to-morrer night? There 's a good coon show in town. Out o' sight. Let 's ...
— The Sport of the Gods • Paul Laurence Dunbar
... a wry face and started for the sweet clover patch. Hardly was he out of sight when Billy Mink and Bobby Coon came down the Laughing Brook together. They seemed very much excited. When they saw Jerry Muskrat, they beckoned for him to come over where they were, and when he got there, they both talked at once, and it was all about Farmer Brown's boy and ...
— The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat • Thornton W. Burgess
... have been a coon," suggested Charley. "It looked like it to me. We know there are lots of them in ...
— The Young Wireless Operator—As a Fire Patrol - The Story of a Young Wireless Amateur Who Made Good as a Fire Patrol • Lewis E. Theiss
... sets out to do a thing we might as well give her her head. She's like Davy Crockett; and I hope all our folks will come down without being shot, like the historic 'coon." ...
— Wyn's Camping Days - or, The Outing of the Go-Ahead Club • Amy Bell Marlowe
... Ananias-and-Sapphira, using beak and claws, scrambled nimbly to the other shoulder. Then, reaching far around past the Boy's face, she fixed the stranger piercingly with her unwinking gaze, and emitted an ear-splitting shriek of laughter. The little coon's nerves were not prepared for such a strain. In his panic he fairly tumbled from his perch to the floor, and straightway fled for refuge to the broad back of ...
— The Backwoodsmen • Charles G. D. Roberts
... to get money in those days, and the boys were often without it. Once "Huck" Blankenship had the skin of a 'coon he had captured, and offered to sell it to raise capital. At Selms's store, on Wild Cat Corner, the 'coon-skin would bring ten cents. But this was not enough. The boys thought of a plan to make it bring more. Selms's back window was open, and the place where he kept his pelts ...
— The Boys' Life of Mark Twain • Albert Bigelow Paine
... A few coon songs followed, with the four voices, contralto and baritone, tenor and soprano, blending in harmony. Then Etta Clavering drew her fingers across the strings and declared ...
— The Long Trick • Lewis Anselm da Costa Ritchie
... comfortably littered with books and magazines. All the available wall space, from floor to ceiling, was occupied by filled bookshelves. It seemed to Daylight that he had never seen so many books assembled in one place. Skins of wildcat, 'coon, and deer lay about on ...
— Burning Daylight • Jack London
... part of William Tell by shooting with his pistol through an apple placed upon the head of his negro; and if credence is to be given to the stories which are told, even the animals were aware that from him there was no escape. A coon sitting high on a tree was shot at by several hunters in succession, but still remained in its position. Captain Scott came along and took aim, whereupon the coon asked, "Who is that?" The reply was, "My name is Scott." "Scott? what Scott?" continued ...
— Old Fort Snelling - 1819-1858 • Marcus L. Hansen
... places too. My Pa uster come evy Sadday evenin' to chop wood out uv de wood lot and pile up plenty fur Ma till he come agin. On Wensday evenin', Pa uster come after he been huntin' and bring in possum and coon. He sho could get ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves - Georgia Narratives, Part 3 • Works Projects Administration
... marten; you see the hounds all yelping round the foot of a tree, the marten up in it, and in the middle of the hounds the huntsman in top-boots and breeches. You can but smile at it. To Americans it must forcibly recall the treeing of a 'coon. The deer need keep no watch, there are no wolves to pull them down; and it is quite probable that the absence of any danger of that kind is the reason of their tameness even more than the fact that they are not chased by man. Nothing ...
— Field and Hedgerow • Richard Jefferies
... corn and rice and ribbon cane we raised in the bottoms, we had veg'tables and sheep and beef. We dried the beef on scaffolds we built and I used to tend it. But bes' of anythin' to eat, I liked a big, fat coon, and I allus liked honey. Some the niggers had li'l garden ...
— Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves - Texas Narratives, Part 1 • Works Projects Administration
... match, and let's have some light. We'll look this coon over, and see whether we want to take him down to Franklin City with us tomorrow, or give him some grub and ...
— Motor Boat Boys Down the Coast - or Through Storm and Stress to Florida • Louis Arundel
... sitting-room and played something. It was the hymn they had heard in the suburbs. At this there was laughter from the other side of the wall, and Drake, who seemed unable, to lose sight of her, came to the door of his room in his shirt sleeves. To cover up her confusion she sang a "coon" song. The company cheered her, and she sang another, and yet another. Finally she began My Mammie, but floundered, ...
— The Christian - A Story • Hall Caine
... placidly prepared for vague eventualities. Through it all she wondered why she clung to the belief that in another day or two the storm would be forgotten, and people playing quoits on deck, dancing, singing coon songs in the music-room, or grumbling at ...
— The Wings of the Morning • Louis Tracy
... Negro. His lean knees protruded through his trousers,—a mass of patches from under which the original material, like the jackknife in the mental philosophy problem, had wholly disappeared. It was especially noticeable that tufts of white hair found their way through the holes in his coon-skin cap. Across his shoulder he carried a bundle knotted into an old red handkerchief with a ...
— A Lost Hero • Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward and Herbert D. Ward
... so much fun, for the play was just the same. The audience enjoyed it greatly. The Indians were more obstreperous, and sang a hideous song. The vocalists sang many popular songs of the day, "Old Dan Tucker," "Lucy Long," "Zip Coon," and several patriotic songs. There was more dancing than in the afternoon, and the boys enjoyed the Juba in song and dance by a "real slave darkey" who had been made so by a liberal application of burnt cork, and who could clap and pat the ...
— A Little Girl in Old New York • Amanda Millie Douglas
... happened to be the only Grandson of a rugged Early Settler who wore a Coon-Skip Cap and drank Corn Juice out of a Jug. Away back in the Days when every Poor Man had Bacon in the Smoke House, this Pioneer had been soaked in a Trade and found himself loaded up with a Swamp Subdivision in ...
— Knocking the Neighbors • George Ade
... ravines, and occasionally on the roadside, I captured the superb Papilio arjuna, whose wings seem powdered with grains of golden green, condensed into bands and moon-shaped spots; while the elegantly-formed Papilio coon was sometimes to be found fluttering slowly along the shady pathways (see figure at page 201). One day a boy brought me a butterfly between his fingers, perfectly unhurt. He had caught it as it was ...
— The Malay Archipelago - Volume I. (of II.) • Alfred Russel Wallace
... to kill him. My name is Graham. I live a mile up the river and this coon has just about ruined my cornfield," was ...
— Followers of the Trail • Zoe Meyer
... suffered least of all, for he spent his time in eastern Tennessee, in the Great Smoky Mountains, living over the scenes of his childhood. And most pathetic was the melody of his long-forgotten Southern vernacular, as he raved of swimming holes and coon hunts and watermelon raids. It was as Greek to Ruth, but the Kid understood and felt—felt as only one can feel who has been shut out for years from ...
— The Son of the Wolf • Jack London
... He's lyin' down in a hole—a dead man. Golly! but I'se a scared coon, I is!" and Washington looked over his shoulder as though he feared the "ghost" ...
— Lost on the Moon - or In Quest Of The Field of Diamonds • Roy Rockwood
... easy to tell. Thar's somethin' on foot among 'em—some darned Injun trick. Clar as I kin see, that big chief wi' the red cross on his ribs, air him they call the Horned Lizard; an' ef it be, thar ain't a cunniner coon on all this contynent. He's sharp enough to contrive some tight trap for us. The dose we've gin the skunks may keep 'em off for a while—not long, I reck'n. Darnation! Thar's five o' our fellows wiped out already. It looks ugly, an' ...
— The Lone Ranche • Captain Mayne Reid
... passed the great hollow tree Bobby Coon put his head out. "Where are you going in such a hurry?" ...
— Boys and Girls Bookshelf (Vol 2 of 17) - Folk-Lore, Fables, And Fairy Tales • Various
... some cannibals com to dis island, And brenging some frends just to make little stew. Dese frends dey ant lak to be made into cooking, And von faller dodge dis har cannibal crew. His name it ban Friday. He ban a gude coon, And Crusoe and he start to eat ...
— The Norsk Nightingale - Being the Lyrics of a "Lumberyack" • William F. Kirk
... absolutely perfect snapshot of a 'coon. It seems as if every one has some kind of a blemish; and I told myself that while we were up here at Cabin Point that fault must be remedied if I tried a dozen times. And judging from the tracks of this fellow I think he must be a dandy. I only hope his barred tail shows ...
— The Outdoor Chums at Cabin Point - or The Golden Cup Mystery • Quincy Allen
... invite, see? Up to you, matey. Out with the oof. Two bar and a wing. You larn that go off of they there Frenchy bilks? Won't wash here for nuts nohow. Lil chile velly solly. Ise de cutest colour coon down our side. Gawds teruth, Chawley. We are nae fou. We're nae tha fou. Au reservoir, ...
— Ulysses • James Joyce
... story about Crossman's orchard! Making believe she never fibbed, when she did the same thing as that, and she knew she did. Running off to play when grandma wished her to stay with Flyaway. Feeding Zip Coon with plum cake to see him wag his tail, and never telling but it was brown bread. Getting angry with the chairs and tables, and people. Doing ...
— Dotty Dimple at Her Grandmother's • Sophie May
... a time, 'twuz er ole Rabbit an' er ole Fox and er ole Coon: an' dey all lived close togedder; an' de ole Fox he had him er mighty fine goober-patch, w'at he nuber 'low nobody ter tech; an' one mornin' atter he git up, an' wuz er walkin' 'bout in his gyarden, he seed tracks, an' he foller de tracks, an' he see whar sumbody ben er grabbin' ...
— Diddie, Dumps & Tot - or, Plantation child-life • Louise-Clarke Pyrnelle
... him. He never worked and he went up for his provisions. He was sold over and over and over. His master learnt him in books and to how to cuss. He learnt him how to trick the dogs and tap trees like a coon. At the end of the trail the dogs would turn on the huntsman. Uncle Frank was active when he was old. He was hired out to race other boys sometimes. He never wore glasses. He could see well when he was old. He told me he was raised out from ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States - Volume II. Arkansas Narratives. Part I • Work Projects Administration
... the serious tone of this speech with the hard cider and coon-skin buncombe of the Harrison campaign of 1840, and its lofty philosophical thought with the humorous declamation of the Taylor campaign of 1848, the speaker's advance in mental development at once becomes apparent. In this single effort Mr. Lincoln ...
— A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln - Condensed from Nicolay & Hay's Abraham Lincoln: A History • John G. Nicolay
... cheated or deceived him, of people with whom he had had nothing in common. The red wagon and the pair of little longtailed stallions, which he had driven for six years, were bought by the owner of a rival flour-mill in the parish of Vilray; but his best sleigh, with its coon-skin robes, was bought by the widow of Palass Poucette, who bought also the famous bearskin which Dolores had given her at Jean Jacques' expense, and had been returned by her to its proper owner. The silver fruitdish, once (it was said) the property of the Baron of Beaugard, ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker
... footing beside the track was good. Here I could catch my freight as it pulled slowly up the hill, and here I found half a dozen hoboes waiting for the same purpose. Several were playing seven-up with an old pack of cards. I took a hand. A coon began to shuffle the deck. He was fat, and young, and moon-faced. He beamed with good-nature. It fairly oozed from him. As he dealt the first card to me, he paused ...
— The Road • Jack London
... you don't mind, why do you descend on a peaceful community and stir it all up because of the derelictions of an absent coon? And why do you set such store by your travelling bag? And why do you weep in the face of high heaven and outraged manhood? And why do you want to find Hooper's ranch? And why are you and your vaudeville ...
— The Killer • Stewart Edward White
... mills were fast advancing towards completion. Some few of the settlers grew wheat sufficient for their own consumption, and a little to sell; but the squirrels, racoons, and pigeons were very destructive to the grain of the early settlers. A dog that was trained for hunting the racoons, or a 'coon dog,' as they were called, was of great value, and the young lads, for many years after, used to make coon parties on fine moonlight nights, and go from farm to farm, killing those animals; and, although the necessity has long passed away, these parties still ...
— The Loyalists of America and Their Times, Vol. 2 of 2 - From 1620-1816 • Edgerton Ryerson
... don't catch dis coon in any mo' airships. Mah mule am good enough fo' me!" shouted Eradicate from the safe ...
— Tom Swift in the Caves of Ice • Victor Appleton
... is a bad one; ef I don't do something for you, and dat pretty quick, you'll be a gone coon, and dat's sartin." At this the man appeared frightened, and inquired what was the matter with him, in ...
— Clotelle - The Colored Heroine • William Wells Brown
... came down on a dog-team. He looked over our shaft. He wore a coon coat, with a cap of beaver, and huge fur mits hung by a cord around his neck. He was massive and impassive. Spiky icicles ...
— The Trail of '98 - A Northland Romance • Robert W. Service
... My impression of the animal was that he and a spruce tree that grew near enough for ready comparison were approximately of the same stature. We returned to the grass park. After some difficulty we found a clear footprint. It was a little larger than that made by a good-sized coon. ...
— The Forest • Stewart Edward White
... that of the last vote the convention had taken that day. The leaders of the procession set a brisk pace, and who could have set any other kind of a pace when on parade to the strains of such a band, playing such a tune as "A New Coon in Town," with all ...
— The Gentleman From Indiana • Booth Tarkington
... considerable contempt. When all was said, this was no small wonder, for that quintet of long-eared canines would have tried the patience of a saint. Old Moze was a Missouri hound that Jones had procured in that State of uncertain qualities; and the dog had grown old over coon-trails. He was black and white, grizzled and battlescarred; and if ever a dog had an evil eye, Moze was that dog. He had a way of wagging his tail—an indeterminate, equivocal sort of wag, as if he realized his ugliness ...
— The Last of the Plainsmen • Zane Grey
... — N. diuturnity[obs3]; a long time, a length of time; an age, a century, an eternity; slowness &c. 275; perpetuity &c. 112; blue moon, coon's age [U.S.], dog's age. durableness, durability; persistence, endlessness, lastingness &c. adj[obs3].; continuance, standing; permanence &c. (stability) 150 survival, survivance[obs3]; longevity &c. (age) 128; distance of time. protraction of time, prolongation of time, extension of time; ...
— Roget's Thesaurus
... Kentucky to Illinois, wrote to Thomas Lincoln, urging him to move to that State. Acting on the advice, Mr. Lincoln removed to Illinois and settled at a point some ten miles west of Decatur. Abraham Lincoln drove the ox team which hauled the household effects of the family, and wearing a coon-skin cap, jean jacket, and a pair of buckskin trousers, he entered the State poor, friendless, and unknown. Thirty years later he left Illinois the foremost man in the nation, and known to all the world. He ...
— Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 4 of 8 • Various
... all the arrangements that afternoon. There was a buck coon from Georgia in Salvador who had drifted down there from a busted-up coloured colony that had been started on some possumless land in Mexico. As soon as he heard us say 'barbecue' he wept for joy and groveled on the ground. He dug his ...
— Roads of Destiny • O. Henry
... loved the country beyond anything. We disliked the city. We were always wildly eager to get to the country when spring came, and very sad when in the late fall the family moved back to town. In the country we of course had all kinds of pets—cats, dogs, rabbits, a coon, and a sorrel Shetland pony named General Grant. When my younger sister first heard of the real General Grant, by the way, she was much struck by the coincidence that some one should have given him the same name as the pony. (Thirty years later my own children had their pony Grant.) In ...
— Theodore Roosevelt - An Autobiography by Theodore Roosevelt • Theodore Roosevelt
... a long spell of grey, cloudy days, which just suited felling trees and underbrushing. Have got our patch of wheat well fenced in, not to keep cattle out, there are none near us, but to help to keep a covering of snow on the wheat. Bobbie trapped a coon that haunted the barn and it made fine eating. He says the pelt will make a neck-wrap for ...
— The Narrative of Gordon Sellar Who Emigrated to Canada in 1825 • Gordon Sellar |
