hard master

She watched his countenance as if she were particularly wishful to be assured that he took kindly to his reception, she showed every possible desire to conciliate him, and there was an air of humble propitiation in all she did, such as I have seen pervade the bearing of a child towards a hard master.

“They work hard, master the language and are well adopted into the society,” said Satoshi Miyazaki, a linguist at Waseda University and author of “Why Do Foreign Sumo Wrestlers Speak Fluent Japanese?”

The fugitives who arrived in New York told stories replete with accounts of frequent whippings and other brutality; their words of complaint included “great violence,” “badly treated,” “ruff times,” “hard master,” “very severe,” “a very cruel man,” and “much fault to find with their treatment.”

Despite his appearance, he seemed a good sailor, though a hard master to his crew.

After a little silence, “Sometimes,” he added, “I rather regret the science. Happiness is a hard master—particularly other people’s happiness. A much harder master, if one isn’t conditioned to accept it unquestioningly, than truth.”