One foot in the grave

. . . after all, the old man was in his nineties, and it must be a great ordeal to have to make his way, even being driven, through all the bustle of London on the brink of hostilities. But a glance across the table reassured him — one foot in the grave he might have, and shockingly ravaged he might look, but Sir Harry appeared in no need of consideration. His flushed satyr face was grinning contentedly, his glossy white whiskers and mane shone in the lamplight, which glinted on the mass of bronze and silver and gold miniatures on his breast, and on the orders which hung on ribbons over his massive shoulders.


Mr American, pp.517-18, Pan Books, paperback edition 1982.


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Making gold in a gold rush

    ‘You are the cynic, Abraham,’ says one. ‘What will the Tennessee wiseacres say of the New Eldorado?’
    When the laughter died down, Lincoln shook his head. ‘If they are real Tennessee wiseacres, Senator, they won’t “say nuthin’”. But what they’ll do – if they’re real wiseacres – is buy themselves up every nail, every barrel-stave, every axe-handle, and every shovel they can lay hold on, put ‘em all in a cart with as many barrels of molasses as may be convenient, haul ‘em all up to Independence of the Kanzas, and sell them to the fortunate migrants at ten times their value. That’s how to make gold out of a gold strike.’

Flash For Freedom!, p.130, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1980.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes,Abraham Lincoln, gold rush.