But yet he did all
things magniloquently. The wave of his hand was expansive, his stride
was swaying and decisive, his over-ruling, fraternal faculty was always
in full swing. Viking was his adopted child; so much so that a gentleman
river-driver called it Philippi; and by that name it sometimes went, and
continues still so among those who knew it in the old days.
Others might have doubts as to the proper course to pursue under certain
circumstances; it was not so with Phil. They might argue a thing out
orally, he did so mentally, and gave judgment on it orally. He was
final, not oracular. One of his eyes was of glass, and blue; the other
had an eccentricity, and was of a deep and meditative grey. It was a
wise and knowing eye. It was trained to many things--like one servant in
a large family. One side of his face was solemn, because of the gay but
unchanging blue eye, the other was gravely humourous, shrewdly playful.
His fellow citizens respected him; so much so, that they intended to give
him an office in the new-formed corporation; which means that he had
courage and downrightness, and that the rough, straightforward gospel
of the West was properly interpreted by him.
If a stranger came to the place, Phil was sent first to reconnoitre; if
any function was desirable, Phil was requested to arrange it; if justice
was to be meted out, Phil's opinion had considerable weight--for he had
much greater leisure than other more prosperous men; if a man was taken
ill (this was in the days before a doctor came), Phil was asked to
declare if he would "shy from the finish.
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