The Thorogood Family, by R.M. Ballantyne

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Title: The Thorogood Family

Author: R.M. Ballantyne

Illustrator: Henry Austin

Release Date: November 6, 2007 [EBook #23381]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

The Thorogood Family, by R.M. Ballantyne.

CHAPTER ONE.

This family was not only Thorogood but thorough-going. The father was a blacksmith, with five sons and one daughter, and he used to hammer truth into his children's heads with as much vigour as he was wont to hammer the tough iron on his anvil; but he did it kindly. He was not a growly-wowly, cross-grained man, like some fathers we know of--not he. His broad, hairy face was like a sun, and his eyes darted sunbeams wherever they turned. The faces of his five sons were just like his own, except in regard to roughness and hair. Tom, and Dick, and Harry, and Bob, and Jim, were their names. Jim was the baby. Their ages were equally separated. If you began with Jim, who was three, you had only to say--four, five, six, seven--Tom being seven.

These five boys were broad, and sturdy, like their father. Like him, also, they were fond of noise and hammeri

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