The word or deed should partake of the suddenness of electricity; but we all drawl through it at a snail's pace.

We are supposed to tear ourselves from our friends; but tearing is a process which should be done quickly.

What is so wretched as lingering over a last kiss, giving the hand for the third time, saying over and over again, 'Good-bye, John, God bless you; and mind you write!' Who has not seen his dearest friends standing round the window of a railway carriage, while the train would not start, and has not longed to say to them, 'Stand not upon the order of your going, but go at once!' And of all such farewells, the ship's farewell is the longest and the most dreary.

One sits on a damp bench, snuffing up the odour of oil and ropes, cudgelling one's brains to think what further word of increased tenderness can be spoken.

No tenderer word can be spoken.