He's a rock!

     "I - I'm wondering, Minerva," he began slowly. "Tell me again about that nephew of yours."

    She was surprised, but hid it. "John Quincy?" she said. "He's just the usual thing, for Boston. Conventional. His whole life has been planned for him, from the cradle to the grave. So far he's walked the line. The inevitable preparatory school, Harvard, the proper clubs, the family banking house - even gone and got himself engaged to the very girl his mother would have picked for him. There have been times when I hoped he might kick over - the war - but no, he came back and got meekly into the old rut."

    "Then he's reliable - steady?"

    Miss Minerva smiled. "Dan, compared with that boy, Gibraltar wobbles occasionally."

(from The House Without a Key, by Earl Derr Biggers)

Pure bred Boston

 Miss Minerva nodded. "You never met him, did you, Dan? Well, you will, shortly. And he certainly won't approve of you."

"Why not?" Dan Winterslip bristled.

"Because he's proper. He's a dear boy, but oh, so proper. This journey is going to be a great cross for him. He'll start disapproving as soon as he passes Albany, and think of the long weary miles of disapproval he'll have to endure after that."

"Oh, I don't know. He's a Winterslip, isn't he?"

"He is. But the gypsy strain missed him completely. He's all Puritan."

(from The House Without a Key, by Earl Derr Biggers)

Not looking for trouble

 Matt turned, gave a quick glance around the room and went out, looking neither to right nor left. Only a fool goes looking for trouble, and his life had brought him more than enough, and knowing how to recognize possible trouble meant knowing how to avoid it. Even to meet the glance of some men was an invitation to trouble, for to them it was a challenge to which they must respond.

(from The Empty Land, by Louis L'Amour)

Not a good place for a young woman

    He studied her for a moment. "How old are you, Madge?"

    "Nineteen - going on forty. Nobody looks out for a girl alone, Matt. She looks out for herself, and you know what kind of a world it is."

(from The Empty Land, by Louis L'Amour)

   

Not an Absoluter

 Matt Coburn did not believe that it was when his time came that he would die. With the harsh realism that was typical of him, he believed he would cash in his chips whenever he became careless.

(from The Empty Land, by Louis L'Amour)

Sydney Ducks

 In his novel, The Empty Land, Louis L'Amour makes reference to the Sydney Ducks. According to Wikipedia:

The Sydney Ducks was the name given to a gang of criminal immigrants from Australia in San Francisco, during the mid-19th century. Because many of these criminals came from the well-known British penal colonies in Australia, and were known to commit arson, they were blamed for an 1849 fire that devastated the heart of San Francisco, as well as the rampant crime in the city at the time.

The Sydney Ducks were criminals who operated as a gang, in a community that also included sailors, longshoremen, teamsters, wheelwrights, shipwrights, bartenders, saloon keepers, washerwomen, domestic servants, and dressmakers. The largest proportion (44%) were born in Ireland and migrated during the Great Irish Famine, first to Australia as laborers and then to California as part of the Gold Rush.

The criminality of the Sydney Ducks was the catalyst for the formation of the first Committee of Vigilance of 1851. The vigilantes usurped political power from the corrupt or incompetent officials in the city, conducted secret trials, lynchings, and deportations, which effectively decimated the Sydney Ducks. The area where the Sydney Ducks clustered at the base of Telegraph Hill was originally known as "Sydney-Town," but by the 1860s was called exclusively by its better-known name, the Barbary Coast.

Give us men who can think!

     "Fife, I want a city council of responsible men," Felton said. "Will you join us?"

    "It ain't fitten, son. I want to stand clear to call names and tell you when you're wrong. But if you're right, I will say that, too."

    He studied the type through his steel-rimmed glasses, then looked at Felton over them. There's a mighty lot about grammar that I don't know, and a lot of book learnin' I'll never have, but I know what I figure to be honest, and I'll say it."

(from The Empty Land, by Louis L'Amour)