"Muss" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... picking up a twin from the doorway to allow Iola and Dick to pass into the inner room. "Ther' now," she continued to Margaret, who was moving about putting things to rights, "don't yeh go tirin' of yerself. I know things is in a muss. Some'ow by Saturday night things piles up terr'ble, an' I'm that tired I don't seem to 'ave no 'eart to straighten 'em up. Jest look at that 'ouse! I sez to John, sez I, 'I cawn't do no 'ousekeepin' with all 'em children 'bout my ...
— The Doctor - A Tale Of The Rockies • Ralph Connor
... Majesty's delicate prejudices are safe. It will be all underground before he comes, and no muss at all." ...
— The Missourian • Eugene P. (Eugene Percy) Lyle
... it was—was exactly on this same muss-up." Mr. Taylor went on: "Your father owned this timber land then, and wanted to borrow money on it. At the time a rascally partner was trying to ruin him; and, in order to prevent his getting this money, which would save him, ...
— The Rules of the Game • Stewart Edward White
... He introduced himself to me, and admitted that the Secretary had not assigned him to duty. I saw at a glance how the land lay. It was Col. A. T. Bledsoe, lately of the University of Virginia; and he had been appointed by the President, not upon the recommendation of the Secretary. Here was a muss not larger than a mustard-seed; but it might grow, for I knew well how sensitive was the nature of the Secretary; and he had not been consulted. And so I took it upon myself to be cicerone to the stranger. He was very grateful,—for ...
— A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital • John Beauchamp Jones
... long enough to pull on a pair of heavy gloves, to muss his hair, and disarrange his collar. Then he stepped into the restaurant, went through, and halted in the door leading into the saloon. His five feet eleven inches and one hundred and eighty pounds were ...
— Desert Gold • Zane Grey
... go anywhere, Daisy," said Preston, impatiently; "they don't care a straw about it, either. All the church they care about is when they get together in somebody's house and make a great muss." ...
— Daisy • Elizabeth Wetherell
... a nature that I need not have come over to England to observe them. I would be the last to deny that the same conveniences for being disagreeable and for getting in the way and for making a general muss of Life can be offered almost any time in my own hopeful ...
— Crowds - A Moving-Picture of Democracy • Gerald Stanley Lee
... John," answered his mother severely. "I am thankful the fire is out, even if you are not." And then she turned away to direct the servants in clearing away the muss that ...
— Young Captain Jack - The Son of a Soldier • Horatio Alger and Arthur M. Winfield
... him here!" he exclaimed. "Shot him down from behind. Look, men. No; stand back, and don't muss up the tracks. There are foot-prints here—Indians, by heaven! Three of ...
— Molly McDonald - A Tale of the Old Frontier • Randall Parrish
... that, lad; stick to that. You will find many temptations, but you set your face hard against them, and except when you come upon a hard man bent on kicking up a muss, you will find folks will think none the worse of you when you say to them straight, 'I am much obliged to you all the same, but I ...
— In The Heart Of The Rockies • G. A. Henty
... fred) due to the commune. But for a long time, the lord himself, if he remained a co-proprietor in the waste land of the commune, submitted in communal affairs to its decisions. Noble or ecclesiastic, he had to submit to the folkmote—Wer daselbst Wasser und Weid genusst, muss gehorsam sein—"Who enjoys here the right of water and pasture must obey"—was the old saying. Even when the peasants became serfs under the lord, he was bound to appear before the folkmote when ...
— Mutual Aid • P. Kropotkin
... to get his hand in there without my knowing it. O, Prudy, where's your wallet? And yours, Dotty? I can carry them as well as not. There's no knowing what kind of a muss you may be getting into ...
— Little Folks Astray • Sophia May (Rebecca Sophia Clarke)
... heads and their hair turned the wrong way, and some crouching at his side as if they were about to spring up and pull him out of his saddle.—"Get out! If you interfere with my business there won't be as many of you to-night as there were this morning. Aha! there's one of you out of the muss already." ...
— George at the Fort - Life Among the Soldiers • Harry Castlemon
... of delight the children clamored to help, or "muss" a little in their own way, a privilege often given them at such times. But Annie sent them out-of-doors again with a tone and manner that caused them to tip-toe back past the parlor with a scared look on their faces, ...
— Opening a Chestnut Burr • Edward Payson Roe
... she joined Mrs. Solomon Black. "It didn't seem no more than right; for even if Ann Whittle doesn't use her parlor, on account of not having it furnished up, she wants it broom-clean. My! You'd ought to have seen the muss we swept out." ...
— An Alabaster Box • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman and Florence Morse Kingsley
... to wash little baby clothes too. I is primp em up so nice. Never did put no starch much in em. I do me best on em en when I ge' t'rough, dey been look too nice to le' de child muss up." ...
— Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves • Works Projects Administration
... mother mind Mr. Trowell's father. His name was Mr. Ben Trowell. I call him, Bub Ben. Bub was for brother. Dat de way we call folks den—didn't call 'em by dere names straight out. Mr. Trowell's mother we call, Muss, for Miss. Sort of a nickname. We call Mr. Harry Fitts ...
— Slave Narratives Vol. XIV. South Carolina, Part 2 • Works Projects Administration
... it. Sarve me dam well right, too! No business to go ag'in me own pore old ship. Look 'ere, Verity, I'm done for! If you get away from this rotten muss, see to my missus an' the girls. ...
— The Stowaway Girl • Louis Tracy
... turning over a new leaf. He was still quite trying sometimes, leaving the milk-room door open when puss was watching for the cream-pot, or slamming the kitchen door with a bang when everybody needed fresh air. He still kept his chamber in a state of confusion,—"muss," Grace called it,—pulling the drawers out of the bureau, and scattering the contents over the floor; dropping his clothes anywhere it happened, and carrying quantities of gravel up ...
— Captain Horace • Sophie May
... am scared myself. Clear up the muss, and be careful next time. Boys, you'll have to do without the preserves. But you can ...
— Out with Gun and Camera • Ralph Bonehill
... down and made up her records for the night nurse. The ward understood, and was perfectly good, trying hard not to muss its pillows or wrinkle the covers. And struggling, too, with a new idea. They were prisoners. No more release cards would brighten the days. For an indefinite period the old Frenchman would moan at night, and Bader the German would snore, and the Chinaman would cough. Indefinitely ...
— Love Stories • Mary Roberts Rinehart
... to tell ye that ye'll have to stop spatterin' yer soup around after this, John, dear. I'm going to have a clean table-cloth on every day, and a clean napkin for him, and as I'm doin' the washing myself ye've got to help an' not muss things. First thing ye know he'll sour on what we are giving him and be goin' off worse than ever, trampin' the streets till all hours of the night." At which John had stretched his big frame and with a prolonged yawn, his arms over his head, had remarked: ...
— Felix O'Day • F. Hopkinson Smith
... muss the house up," begged Prudence, as her father opened the door and pushed her gently out on ...
— Prudence Says So • Ethel Hueston
... "You muss keep up de heart, Massa Benjy. Nobody nebber knows wot may come for to pass. P'r'aps Massa Leo he go to de Nort Pole by hisself. He was allers bery fond o' takin' peepil by surprise. Nebber say die, Massa Benjy, s'long's der's a ...
— The Giant of the North - Pokings Round the Pole • R.M. Ballantyne
... devil!" Mado chuckled. "He gets the idea perfectly. We'll have to muss his hair now and fix him up with a ...
— Creatures of Vibration • Harl Vincent
... lovely Nature, and the spot has snatched a grace from Art. The grounds are laid out after a fashion, and planted with shrubbery. The snowballs are at their snowballiest..... Have you heard or—how many times have you used the simile of some one, Bad-muss or Cadmus, or another hero, who sowed the dragon's teeth, and they came up dragoons a hundred-fold and infantry a thousand-fold? Nil admirari is, of course, my frame of mind; but I own astonishment at the crop of soldiers. They must ripen awhile, perhaps, before they are to be named quite ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 8, No. 46, August, 1861 • Various
... home with her. A beautiful child, with golden curls and great, dancing, black eyes, came running out to meet us, and with all the impulsive joy of childhood threw his arms about her. 'Don't do that, James, you will muss mama's dress.' I knew at once where the trouble lay. In a moment she said: 'Don't twist so, my son;' and 'Don't make such a noise.' Within a few minutes the mother had used 'don't' five times. No wonder when she said, 'Run in the house now, mama will come in ...
— Parent and Child Vol. III., Child Study and Training • Mosiah Hall
... have your note of 29th ult. You will see in the papers of to-day the debate in the House last night, at which I was present, and will have seen what in the H.L. Lord Russell said in reply to Lord Campbell. Thus the French affair remains in a 'muss,' unless the Emperor will show his hand on paper, we shall never know what he really means, or derive any benefit from his private and individual revelations. As things now stand before the public, there can be but one opinion, i.e., that he holds one language in ...
— Great Britain and the American Civil War • Ephraim Douglass Adams
... quick, and he says to Jonathun and tother big officers, says he, 'I ain't a gwyin for to fite that grate big fellah.' And arter that they ups and says, 'We ain't a gwying for to fite um nuther, 'caze he's all kiver'd with sheetirun, and his head's up so high we muss stand a hoss back to reach um!'—the jiunt he ...
— The Wit and Humor of America, Volume VII. (of X.) • Various
... sad at this. "You muss heat," she said quickly, at the same time raking together the embers of the fire, and blowing them up into a flame, over which she placed a large iron pot. "Dick hims always heat well an' keep well. Once me was be sick. Dick him say to me, 'Heat.' Me say, 'No want heat.' Hims say, 'You ...
— The Wild Man of the West - A Tale of the Rocky Mountains • R.M. Ballantyne
... you've been, O House, As noiseless as the well-known mouse, As silent as the tomb. And you've stayed neat, with none on hand To track your floors with mud and sand, To muss your ev'ry room. ...
— Bib Ballads • Ring W. Lardner
... increased gloom in his face and voice. "Breaking bad news to women folks is as nervous a work as dropping a basket of eggs; you never can tell in which direction the lamentations are a-going to spatter and spoil things. I'll go get the worst of the muss over before ...
— Rose of Old Harpeth • Maria Thompson Daviess
... sensibilness is kerrect; don't try to act in a panerammer or enythin' else. Ef ye hed seen yerself with thet tume-stun, er whatever it wus, on yer back, an' wallerin' in thet painted pond, ye'd never went back to Bedford. Ye certainly made a muss of hit." ...
— Watch Yourself Go By • Al. G. Field
... come up an' get killed easy-like;" one called down to the mucker. "We're apt to muss yeh all up down there in the dark with these here axes and crowbars, an' then wen we send yeh home yer pore maw won't know her little ...
— The Mucker • Edgar Rice Burroughs
... Jones. Ye raily must talke ter mi loryer; them matters I leaves 'tirely ter him.' Then I sed I s'posed the niggers war ter bee advertist. 'O yas!' she sed, (an' ye see she know'd a d——d site 'bout thet,) 'all on 'em muss bee solde, 'case ye knows I never did luv the kuntry; 'sides I cuden't karry on the plantashun, no how.' Then sed I: 'The Orleans traders 'ill be thar, an' she wun't sell fur but one use, fur she's hansum yit; an' ma'am, ye wun't leff a 'oman as white as ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2, No. 2, August, 1862 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various
... Ain't I your pal, in spite of all the muss you made of my plans? Why, I'm damned if I'll pay you the charter money at all, after the way ...
— The Lady and the Pirate - Being the Plain Tale of a Diligent Pirate and a Fair Captive • Emerson Hough
... yew wuz ter go on stick iron inter dat ar fish, yew'd fink de hole bottom fell eout kerblunk. W'en I uz young 'n foolish, a finback range 'longside me one day, off de Seychelles. I just done gone miss' a spam whale, and I was kiender mad,—muss ha' bin. Wall, I let him hab it blam 'tween de ribs. If I lib ten tousan year, ain't gwine ter fergit dat ar. Wa'nt no time ter spit, tell ye; eberybody hang ober de side ob de boat. Wiz—poof!—de line all gone. Clar to glory, I neber see it go. Ef it hab ketch anywhar, nobody ...
— The Cruise of the Cachalot - Round the World After Sperm Whales • Frank T. Bullen
... and dare was another man made a Governor, too, and he git a company one night and comed down here; but somebody had tole old massa, and dat day he tell me, and we went down to de riber under de cliff war was some cane and he tole me he was gwine to stay dar, and I muss bring him sometin to eat ebery day, but I musn't tell whar he was, not eben to ole missus, for dey would scare her and make her tell on him. Shore nuff, dat night here dey comed, a many a one on em, and dey went right into de great house and serched it and ebery whar, but dey was ...
— The Memories of Fifty Years • William H. Sparks
... idea what a muss it kicks up in heaven to have anybody swim on Sunday. It fills all the wheeling worlds with sadness to see a boy in a boat, and the attention of the recording secretary is called to it. In a voice of thunder they say, "Upset him!" It sought to annihilate pleasure, to pollute the heart by ...
— Lectures of Col. R. G. Ingersoll - Latest • Robert Green Ingersoll
... und nachdem man Mutter ist, ist Man ein Mensch; die muetterliche Bestimmung aber, oder gar die heeliche, kann nicht die menschliche ueberwiegen oder ersetzen, sondern sie muss das Mittel, nicht der Zweck derselben sein."—J.P.F. ...
— Women and the Alphabet • Thomas Wentworth Higginson
... as blankets, and cloth as they calls cotton, and hatchets, beads, and other things, and they wanted to trade off thar hosses and buffalo robes, and skins of all kinds. That was the protection the traders had; and it warn't very often the Indians fell foul of them, except it might be a muss got ...
— Captain Bayley's Heir: - A Tale of the Gold Fields of California • G. A. Henty
... you remind Aunty Bates to hang up my party dress real carefully? In all the fuss some one's sure to muss ...
— Poor, Dear Margaret Kirby and Other Stories • Kathleen Norris
... "No rod—muss go back," replied Meetuck, turning the dogs in the direction whence they had come, and resuming his ...
— The World of Ice • R.M. Ballantyne
... perfectly legal and operative all over the Union. Although this is not the case, there are almost insuperable obstacles to such a divorce being set aside. For there are no names of witnesses and no records. There is the name of the lawyer; but if a "muss is raised." he is either non est inventus, or his memory is paralyzed. He has no recollection of the names of the witnesses, of the date of the hearing, or indeed of the case. No matter what evidence the injured party might be able to produce, he cannot get an iota of satisfaction ...
— Danger! A True History of a Great City's Wiles and Temptations • William Howe
... he murmured wanly, "you'll muss them. I'm sorting, and I know you'll step in them. Everything always ...
— The Beautiful and Damned • F. Scott Fitzgerald
... deal, all right. It was some jay that stirred up all the muss, howlin' for his coin that he thought he'd lost. But look at the hole I'm in, after bein' so brash to Mr. Pepper about stayin' on the lid, and him lettin' me write my own valuation ticket! How do I square it with him when he comes back and finds I've stood around ...
— Torchy • Sewell Ford
... Christianity of Rome. Since then we have had the Tuebingen School, that resolved everything into myth, and the very many other negative points of view expressed in Nietzsche's supremest condemnation of Jesus as a wretched degenerate, while Wagner's deliberate slogan was, "Das Deutschtum muss das Christentum siegen." ...
— The Menorah Journal, Volume 1, 1915 • Various
... And Frank? The muss, as the boys called it, was over before his senses recovered from their infinite bewilderment. He lay stupefied in his bunk, which went whirling round and round with him, sinking down and down and down, into void and bottomless chaos, where solid earth was none—type of ...
— The Drummer Boy • John Trowbridge |
