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Brave and True Short Stories for Children
BRAVE AND TRUE, BY E DAWSON.
"But I say, Martin, tell us about it! My pater wrote to me that you'd done no end of heroic things, and saved Bullace senior from being killed. His pater told him, so I know it's all right. But wasn't it a joke you two should be on the same ship?"
Martin looked up at his old schoolfellow. He had suddenly become a person of importance in the well-known old haunts where he had learned and played only as one of the schoolboys.
"It wasn't much of a joke sometimes," said he. "I thought at first that I was glad to see a face I knew. But there were lots of times after that when I _didn't_ think it."
"Wasn't old Bullfrog amiable, then?"
"He was never particularly partial to me, you know," answered Martin. "The first term I was at school--before you came--I remember I caught him out at a cricket match. He was always so sure of making top score! He called me an impudent youngster in those days."
"He never was too good to you, I remember. I was one of the chaps he let alone."
"Well, he went on calling me an impudent youngster," continued Martin, "and all that sort of thing--and he tried to set the other fellows against me. Oh, it isn't all jam in the Royal Navy! You haven't left school when you go _there_, and the gunroom isn't always just exactly paradise, you know! And if your seniors try to make it hot for you, why--they can!"
"But I say, Martin, tell us about it! My pater wrote to me that you'd done no end of heroic things, and saved Bullace senior from being killed. His pater told him, so I know it's all right. But wasn't it a joke you two should be on the same ship?"
Martin looked up at his old schoolfellow. He had suddenly become a person of importance in the well-known old haunts where he had learned and played only as one of the schoolboys.
"It wasn't much of a joke sometimes," said he. "I thought at first that I was glad to see a face I knew. But there were lots of times after that when I _didn't_ think it."
"Wasn't old Bullfrog amiable, then?"
"He was never particularly partial to me, you know," answered Martin. "The first term I was at school--before you came--I remember I caught him out at a cricket match. He was always so sure of making top score! He called me an impudent youngster in those days."
"He never was too good to you, I remember. I was one of the chaps he let alone."
"Well, he went on calling me an impudent youngster," continued Martin, "and all that sort of thing--and he tried to set the other fellows against me. Oh, it isn't all jam in the Royal Navy! You haven't left school when you go _there_, and the gunroom isn't always just exactly paradise, you know! And if your seniors try to make it hot for you, why--they can!"
85 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 12, 2012
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About the author
George Manville Fenn
904 books7 followersGeorge Manville Fenn (January 3, 1831, Pimlico - August 26, 1909, Isleworth) was an English novelist, journalist, editor and educationalist.
Fenn, the third child and eldest son of a butler, Charles Fenn, was largely self-educated, teaching himself French, German and Italian. After studying at Battersea Training College for Teachers (1851-4), he became the master of a national school at Alford, Lincolnshire. He later became a printer, editor and publisher of short-lived periodicals, before attracting the attention of Charles Dickens and others with a sketch for All the Year Round in 1864. He contributed to Chambers's Journal and Once a Week. In 1866, he wrote a series of articles on working-class life for the newspaper The Star. These were collected and republished in four volumes. They were followed by a similar series in the Weekly Times.
Meanwhile he was married in 1855 to Susanna Leak, daughter of John Leak of Alford. They had two sons and six daughters.
Fenn's first story for boys, Hollowdell Grange, appeared in 1867. It was followed by countless other novels for juveniles and adults. Over 170 of them are thought to have been published in book form. Having become editor of Cassell's Magazine in 1870, he purchased Once a Week and edited it until it closed in 1879. He also wrote for the theatre.
Fenn and his family lived at Syon Lodge, Isleworth, Middlesex, where he built up a library of 25,000 volumes and took up telescope making. His last book was a biography of a great fellow writer of boys' stories, George Alfred Henty. He died at home on 26 August 1909.
Fenn, the third child and eldest son of a butler, Charles Fenn, was largely self-educated, teaching himself French, German and Italian. After studying at Battersea Training College for Teachers (1851-4), he became the master of a national school at Alford, Lincolnshire. He later became a printer, editor and publisher of short-lived periodicals, before attracting the attention of Charles Dickens and others with a sketch for All the Year Round in 1864. He contributed to Chambers's Journal and Once a Week. In 1866, he wrote a series of articles on working-class life for the newspaper The Star. These were collected and republished in four volumes. They were followed by a similar series in the Weekly Times.
Meanwhile he was married in 1855 to Susanna Leak, daughter of John Leak of Alford. They had two sons and six daughters.
Fenn's first story for boys, Hollowdell Grange, appeared in 1867. It was followed by countless other novels for juveniles and adults. Over 170 of them are thought to have been published in book form. Having become editor of Cassell's Magazine in 1870, he purchased Once a Week and edited it until it closed in 1879. He also wrote for the theatre.
Fenn and his family lived at Syon Lodge, Isleworth, Middlesex, where he built up a library of 25,000 volumes and took up telescope making. His last book was a biography of a great fellow writer of boys' stories, George Alfred Henty. He died at home on 26 August 1909.
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