He had two favorite phrases to answer every form of objection, every variety of reasoning, every citation of examples.

No matter with what arguments the surviving members of Mrs.Thorpe's family from time to time assailed him, the same two replies were invariably shot back at them in turn from the parental quiver.

Mr.Thorpe calmly--always calmly--said, first, that he "would never compound with vice" (which was what nobody asked him to do), and, secondly, that he would, in no instance, great or small, "consent to act from a principle of expediency:" this last assertion, in the case of Zack, being about equivalent to saying that if he set out to walk due north, and met a lively young bull galloping with his head down, due south, he would not consent to save his own bones, or yield the animal space enough to run on, by stepping aside a single inch in a lateral direction, east or west.
"My son requires the most unremitting parental discipline and control," Mr.Thorpe remarked, in explanation of his motives for forcing Zack to adopt a commercial career.

"When he is not under my own eye at home, he must be under the eyes of devout friends, in whom I can place unlimited confidence.

One of these devout friends is ready to receive him into his counting-house; to keep him industriously occupied from nine in the morning till six in the evening; to surround him with estimable examples; and, in short, to share with me the solemn responsibility of managing his moral and religious training.