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+ page-break-after: always; } + div.titlepage p {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; + line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 3em; } + .ph2 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; + page-break-before: always; } + .double {border-style: double;border-width: 4px; padding: 1em; clear: both; } + .x-ebookmaker p.dropcap:first-letter { float: left; } + </style> + </head> + <body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78166 ***</div> + +<div class='tnotes covernote'> + +<p class='c000'><strong>Transcriber’s Note:</strong></p> + +<p class='c000'>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.</p> + +</div> + +<div class=' double titlepage'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div>“<i>Familiar in their Mouths as HOUSEHOLD WORDS.</i>”—<span class='sc'>Shakespeare.</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div> + <h1 class='c002'>HOUSEHOLD WORDS.<br> <span class='xlarge'>A WEEKLY JOURNAL</span></h1> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div><span class='large'>CONDUCTED BY CHARLES DICKENS.</span></div> + <div class='c001'>N<sup>o.</sup>3.]      SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1850.      [<span class='sc'>Price</span> 2<i>d.</i></div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span> + <h2 class='c003'>THE HOUSEHOLD NARRATIVE.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c004'>We take this opportunity of announcing a +design, closely associated with our Household +Words, which we have now matured, +and which we hope will be acceptable to our +readers.</p> + +<p class='c005'>We purpose publishing, at the end of each +month as a supplementary number to the +monthly part of Household Words, a comprehensive +Abstract or History of all the +occurrences of that month, native and foreign, +under the title of <span class='sc'>The Household Narrative +of Current Events</span>.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The size and price of each of these numbers +will be the same as the size and price of +the present number of Household Words. +Twelve numbers will necessarily be published +in the course of the year—one for each month—and +on the completion of the Annual +Volume, a copious Index will appear, and a +title-page for the volume; which will then be +called <span class='sc'>The Household Narrative</span> of such a +year. It will form a complete Chronicle of +all that year’s events, carefully compiled, +thoroughly digested, and systematically arranged +for easy reference; presenting a vast +mass of information that must be interesting +to all, at a price that will render it accessible +to the humblest purchasers of books, and at +which only our existing machinery in connexion +with this Work would enable us to +produce it.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The first number of <span class='sc'>The Household Narrative</span> +will appear as a supplement to the +first monthly part of Household Words, +published at the end of the present month of +<span class='sc'>April</span>. As the Volume for 1850 would be +incomplete (in consequence of our not having +commenced this publication at the beginning +of a year) without a backward reference to +the three months of <span class='sc'>January</span>, <span class='sc'>February</span>, +and <span class='sc'>March</span>, a similar number of <span class='sc'>The +Household Narrative</span> for each of those +months will be published before the year +is out.</p> + +<p class='c005'>It is scarcely necessary to explain that it is +not proposed to render the purchase of <span class='sc'>The +Household Narrative</span> compulsory on the +purchasers of Household Words; and that +the supplementary number, though always +published at the same time as our monthly +part, will therefore be detached from it, and +published separately.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Nor is it necessary for us, we believe, to +expatiate on our leading reasons for adding +this new undertaking to our present enterprise. +The intimate connexion between the +facts and realities of the time, and the means +by which we aim, in Household Words, to +soften what is hard in them, to exalt what is +held in little consideration, and to show the +latent hope there is in what may seem unpromising, +needs not to be pointed out. All +that we sought to express in our Preliminary +Word, in reference to this work, applies, we +think, to its proposed companion. As another +humble means of enabling those who accept +us for their friend, to bear the world’s rough-cast +events to the anvil of courageous duty, +and there beat them into shape, we enter +on the project, and confide in its success.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>THE TROUBLED WATER QUESTION.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c004'>My excellent and eloquent friend, Lyttleton, +of Pump Court, Temple, barrister-at-law, disturbed +me on a damp morning at the end of +last month, to bespeak my company to a meeting +at which he intended to hold forth. ‘It +is,’ he said, ‘the Great Water Supply Congress, +which assembles to-morrow.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Do you know anything of the subject?’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘A vast deal both practically and theoretically. +Practically, I pay for my little box in +the Regent’s Park, twice the price for water +our friend Fielding is charged, and both supplies +are derived from the same Company. +Yet his is a mansion, mine is a cottage; his +rent more than doubles mine in amount, and +his family trebles mine in number. So much +for the consistency and exactions of an irresponsible +monopoly. Practically, again, there +are occasions when my cisterns are without +water. So much for deficient supply.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Is your water bad?’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Not absolutely unwholesome; but I have +drunk better.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Now then, Theoretically.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Theoretically, I learn from piles of blue +books—a regular blue mountain of parliamentary +inquiry instituted in the years 1810, +1821, 1827, 1828, 1834, 1840, and 1845—from +a cloud of prospectuses issued by embryo +<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>Water Companies, from a host of pamphlets +<i>pro</i> and <i>con</i>, and from the reports of the +Board of Health, that of the 300,000 houses +of which London is said to consist, 70,000 +are without the great element of suction +and cleanliness; I find also that the supply, +such as it is, is derived from nine water companies +all linked together to form a giant +monopoly; and that, in consequence, the +charge for water is in some instances excessive; +that six of these companies draw their +water from the filthy Thames;—and the same +number, including those which use the Lea +and New River water, have no system of +filtration—hence it is unwholesome: that in +short, the public of the metropolis are the +victims of dear, insufficient and dirty water. +Like Tantalus of old they are denied much +of the great element of life, although it flows +within reach of their parched and thirsty lips. +And by whom? By that many-headed Cerberus—that +nine gentlemen in one—the great +monopolist Water Company combination of +London! Unless, therefore, we bestir ourselves +in the great cause for which this +numerous, enlightened, and respectable meeting +have assembled here this day—’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘You forget; you have only two listeners at +present—myself and my spaniel. I can suggest +a more profitable morning’s amusement +than a rehearsal of your speech.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘What?’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Your theoretical knowledge is, I doubt +not, very comprehensive and varied. But +second-hand information is not to be trusted +too implicitly. Every statement of fact, like +every story, gains something in exaggeration, +or loses something in accuracy by repetition +from book to book, or from book to +mouth.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Granted; but what do you suggest?’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Ocular demonstration. Let us at once +visit and minutely inspect the works of one of +the Companies. I am sure they will let us in +at the Grand Junction, for I have already +been over their premises.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘A capital notion! Agreed.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>The preliminaries—consisting of the hasty +bundling up of Mr. Lyttleton’s notes for the +morrow’s oration, and the hire of a Hansom +cab—were adjusted in a few minutes.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The order to drive to Kew Bridge, was +obeyed in capital style; for in three-quarters +of an hour we were deposited on the towing +path on the Surrey side of the Thames, opposite +the King of Hanover’s house, and a quarter +of a mile west of Kew Bridge.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Here,’ I explained, ‘is the spot whence +the Grand Junction Company derive their +water. In the bed of the river is an enormous +culvert pipe laid parallel to this path. Its +mouth—open towards Richmond—is barred +across with a grating, to intercept stray fish, +murdered kittens, or vegetable impurities, and—except +now and then the intrusion edgeways +of a small flounder, or the occasional slip of +an erratic eel—it admits nothing into the pipe +but what is more or less fluid. The culvert +then takes a bend round the edge of the islet +opposite to us; burrows beneath the Brentford +road, and delivers its contents into a well +under that tall chimney and taller iron “stand-pipe” +which you see on the other side of the +river.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘And is <i>this</i> the stuff I have to pay four +pounds ten a year for?’ exclaimed Mr. Lyttleton, +contemplating the opaque fluid; part +of which was then making its way into the +cisterns of Her Majesty’s lieges.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Certainly; but it is purified first. We +will now cross the bridge to the Works.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>Those of my readers who make prandial +expeditions to Richmond, must have noticed +at the beginning of Old Brentford, a little +beyond where they turn over Kew Bridge, +an immensely tall thin column that shoots +up into the air like an iron mast unable +to support itself, and seems to require +four smaller, thinner, and not much shorter +props to keep it upright. This, with the +engine and engine-houses, is all they can see of +the Grand Junction Waterworks from the +road. It is only when one gets inside, that +the whole extent of the aquatic apparatus is +revealed.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Determined to follow the water from the +Thames till it began its travels to London, +we entered the edifice, went straight to the +well, and called for a glass of water. Our +hosts—who had received our visit without +hesitation—supplied us. ‘That,’ remarked +one of them, as he held the half-filled tumbler +up to the light, ‘is precisely the state of the +water as emptied from the Thames into the +well.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>It looked like a dose of weak magnesia, +or that peculiar London liquid known as +‘skim-sky-blue,’ but deceitfully sold under +the name of milk.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘The analysis of Professor Brande,’ said +Lyttleton, ‘gives to every gallon of Thames +water taken from Kew Bridge, 19·2 parts of +solid matter; but the water, I apprehend, in +which he experimented must have been taken +from the river on a serener occasion than this. +To-day’s rain appears to have drained away +the chalk—so as to give in this specimen a +much larger proportion of solids to fluids than +his estimate.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘In this impure state,’ one of the engineers +told us, ‘the water is pumped by steam power +into the reservoirs to which you will please +to follow me.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>Passing out of the building and climbing a +sloping bank, we now saw before us an +expanse of water covering 3½ acres; but +divided into two sections. Into the larger, +the pump first delivers the water, that so +much of the impurity as will form sediment +may be precipitated. It then slowly glides +through a small opening into the lesser +section, which is a huge filter.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘The impurities of water,’ said the barrister, +assuming an oratorical attitude, to give +<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>us a taste of his ‘reading up,’ ‘are of two +kinds; first, such as are mechanically suspended—say +earth, chalk, sand, clay, dead +vegetation or decomposed cats; and secondly, +such as are dissolved or chemically combined—like +salt, sugar, or alkali. Separation in the +one case is easy, in the other it involves a +chemical process. If you throw a pinch of +sand into a tumbler of water, and stir it +about, you produce a turbid mixture; but to +render the fluid clear again you have only to +adopt the simple process of letting it alone; +for on setting the tumbler down for awhile, the +particles—which, from their extreme minuteness, +were easily disturbed and distributed +amidst the fluid—being heavier than water, +are precipitated, or in other words, fall to the +bottom, leaving the liquid translucent. This +is what is happening in the larger section of +the reservoir to the chalky water of which +we drank. I think I am correct?’ asked the +speaker, angling for a single ‘cheer’ from the +Engineer.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Quite so,’ replied that gentleman.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Provided the water could remain at rest +long enough—which the insatiable maw of the +modern Babylon does not allow,’—continued +the honourable orator, rehearsing a bit more +of his speech, ‘this mode of cleansing would +be perfectly effectual. In proof of which +I may only allude to Nature’s mode of depuration, +as shown in lakes—that of Geneva +for instance. The waters of the Rhone enter +that expansive reservoir from the Valais in a +very muddy condition; yet, after reposing in +the lake, they issue at Geneva as clear as +crystal. But so incessant is the London +demand, that scarcely any time can be afforded +for the impurities of the Thames, the Lea, or +the New River to separate themselves from +the water by mere deposition.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘True,’ interjected one of the superintendants. +‘It is for that reason that our +water is passed afterwards into the filtering +bed, which is four feet thick.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘How do you make up this enormous bed?’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘The water rests upon, and permeates +through, 1st, a surface of fine sand; 2d, a +stratum of shells; 3d, a layer of garden +gravel; and 4th, a base of coarse gravel. It +thence falls through a number of ducts into +cisterns, whence it is pumped up so as to +commence its travels to town through the +conduit-pipe.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>We were returning to the engine-house, +when Lyttleton asked the Engineer, ‘Does +your experience generally, enable you to say +that water as supplied by the nine companies, +is tolerably pure?’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Upon the whole, yes,’ was the answer.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Indeed!’ ejaculated the orator, sharply. +‘If that be true,’ he whispered to me, in a +rueful tone, ‘I shall be cut out of one of the +best points in my speech.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Of course,’ continued the Engineer, ‘purity +entirely depends upon the source, and the +means of cleansing.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Then, as to the source—how many companies +take their supplies from the Thames, +near to, and after it has received the contents +of, the common sewers?’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘No water is taken from the Thames below +Chelsea, except that of the Lambeth Company, +which is supplied from between Waterloo +and Hungerford Bridges; an objectionable +source, which they have obtained an act to +change to Thames Ditton. The Chelsea +Waterworks have a most efficient system of +filtration; as also have the Southwark and +Vauxhall Company; both draw their water +from between the Red House, Battersea, and +Chelsea Hospital. The other companies do +not filter. The West Middlesex sucks up +some of Father Thames as he passes Barnes +Terrace. Except the lowest of these sources, +Thames water is nearly as pure as that of +other rivers.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Perhaps it is,’ was the answer; ‘but the +unwholesomeness arises from contaminations +received during its course; we don’t object to +the “Thames,” but to its “tributaries,” such as +the black contents of common sewers, and the +refuse of gut, glue, soap, and other nauseous +manufactures; to say nothing of animal and +vegetable offal, of which the river is the sole +receptacle. Brande shows that, while the +solid matter contained in the river at Teddington +is 17·4, that which the water has +contracted when it flows past Westminster +is 24·4, and the City of London, 28·0.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘But,’ said the Engineer, ‘these adulterations +are only mechanically suspended in the +fluid, and are, as you shall see presently, +totally separated from it by our mode of +filtration.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Which brings us to your second point, +as to efficient cleansing; you admit that +without filtration this is impossible, and also +that only three companies filter; the deduction, +therefore, is that two-thirds of the +water supplied to Londoners is insufficiently +cleansed. This indeed, is not a mere inference; +we know it for a fact, we see it in +our ewers, we taste it out of our caraffes.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘But this does not wholly arise from the +inefficient filtration of the six companies,’ +returned an officer of this Company, ‘the +public is much to blame—though, when +agitating against an abuse, it never thinks of +blaming itself. Half the dirt, dust, and +animalculæ found at table are introduced +after the water has been delivered to the +houses. Impurity of all sorts finds its way +into out-door cisterns, even when covered, +and few of them, open or closed, are often +enough cleansed. In some neighbourhoods +water-butts are always uncovered, and hardly +ever cleaned out. The water is foul, and the +companies are blamed.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘The blame belongs to the system,’ said the +barrister. ‘Domestic reservoirs are not only +an evil but an unnecessary expense. Besides +filth, they cause waste and deficient supply: +they should be abolished; for continuous +<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>supply is the real remedy. Let the pipes +be always full, and the water would be +always ready, always fresh, and could never +acquire new impurities. Still, despite all you +say, I am bound to conclude that although +one-third of the water may arrive in the +domestic cisterns of the metropolis in a pellucid +state, the other two-thirds does not.’ +Mr. L. then inscribed this calculation in his +note book, whispering to me that his pet +‘dirty water point’ would come out even +stronger than he had expected.</p> + +<p class='c005'>We had now returned to one of the engine-rooms.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘You have tasted the water before, I now +present you with some of it after, filtration,’ +said the chief engineer, handing us a tumbler. +‘This is exactly the condition in which we +deliver it to our customers.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>It was clear to the eye, and to the taste +innocuous; but Lyttleton (who I should mention, +occasionally turns on powerful streams +of oratory at Temperance meetings, and is a +judge of the article,) complained that the +liquid wanted ‘flavour.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘In other words, then it wants <i>impurity</i>’ +replied one of our cicerones with alacrity, ‘for +perfectly pure water is quite tasteless. Indeed, +water may be too pure. Distilled water +which contains no salt, is insipid, and tends +to indigestion. It is a wise provision of +Nature, that waters should contain a greater +or less quantity of foreign ingredients; for +without these water is dangerous to drink. +It never fails to take up from the atmosphere +a certain proportion of carbonic acid +gas, and when passing through lead pipes it +imbibes enough carbonate of lead to constitute +poison. Dr. Christison mentions several severe +cases of lead (or painter’s) cholic, which +arose chiefly in country houses to which water +was supplied from springs through lead pipes. +The most remarkable case was that at Claremont, +where the ex-king of the French and +several members of his family were nearly +poisoned by pure spring water conveyed to +the mansion through lead pipes.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Mercy!’ I exclaimed, with all the energy +of despair that a mere water-drinker is +capable of, ‘if river water be unwholesome, +and pure water poison, what <i>is</i> to become of +every temperance pledgee?’</p> + +<p class='c005'>The Engineer relieved me: ‘All the Chemists,’ +he stated, ‘have agreed that a water containing +from eight to ten grains of sulphate of +magnesia or soda, to the imperial gallon, +is best suited for alimentary, lavatory, and +other domestic purposes.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>We were now introduced to the great +engine. What a monster! Imagine an +enormous see-saw, with a steam engine at +one end, and a pump at the other. Fancy +this ‘beam,’ some ten yards long, and twenty-eight +tons in weight, moving on a pivot in the +middle, the ends of which show a circumference +greater than the crown of the biggest +hat ever worn. See, with what earnest +deliberation the ‘see,’ or engine, pulls up +the ‘saw,’ or balance-box of the pump, which +then comes down upon the water-trap with +the ferocious <i>àplomb</i> of 49 tons, sending 400 +gallons of water in one tremendous squirt +nearly the twentieth part of a mile high;—that +is to the top of the stand-pipe.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘We have a smaller engine which “does” +150 gallons per stroke,’ remarked our informant: +‘each performs 11 strokes, and +forces up 4400 gallons of water per minute, +and thus our average delivery per diem +throughout the year is from 4,000,000, to +5,000,000 gallons.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘What proportion of London do you +supply?’ asked Mr. Lyttleton.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘The quadrangle included between Oxford +Street, Wardour Street, Pall-Mall, and Hyde +Park; besides the whole of Notting-hill, +Bayswater, and Paddington. We serve 14,058 +houses, to each of which we supply 225 gallons +per day, or, taking the average number +of persons per house at nine, 25 gallons a head; +besides public services, such as baths, watering +streets, or manufactories; making our +total daily delivery at the rate of 252 gallons +per house. This delivery is performed through +80 miles of service pipes, whose diameter varies +from 3 to 30 inches.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Now,’ said my companion, sharpening his +pencil, ‘to go into the question of supply.’ +He then unfolded his pocket soufflet, and +brought out a calculation, of quantities derived, +he said, from parliamentary returns and other +authorities more or less reliable:—</p> + +<table class='table0'> + <tr> + <th class='c006'></th> + <th class='c007'>Gals. daily.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'>New River Company</td> + <td class='c007'>20,000,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'>Chelsea Company</td> + <td class='c007'>3,250,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'>West Middlesex Company</td> + <td class='c007'>3,650,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'>Grand Junction Company</td> + <td class='c007'>3,500,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'>East London Company</td> + <td class='c007'>7,000,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'>South Lambeth Company</td> + <td class='c007'>2,500,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'>South London Company and Southwark Company</td> + <td class='c007'>3,000,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'>Hampstead Company</td> + <td class='c007'>400,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'>Kent Company</td> + <td class='c007'>1,200,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'> </td> + <td class='c007'><hr></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'> </td> + <td class='c007'>44,500,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'>Artesian Wells</td> + <td class='c007'>8,000,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'>Land-spring Pumps</td> + <td class='c007'>3,000,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'>“Catch” rain water (say)</td> + <td class='c007'>1,000,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'> </td> + <td class='c007'><hr></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'>Making a total quantity supplied daily to London, from all sources, of</td> + <td class='c007'>56,500,000</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class='c005'>‘An abundant supply,’ said an engineer +eagerly, ‘for as the present population of the +metropolis is estimated at 2,336,000, the total +affords about 24 gallons of water per day, for +every man, woman, and child.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Admitted,’ rejoined Lyttleton; ‘but we +have to deal with large deductions; first, nearly +half this quantity runs to waste, chiefly in +consequence of the intermittent system. I live +in a small house with proportionately small +cisterns, which are filled no more than three +times a week; now, as my neighbours have +<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>larger houses and larger reservoirs, the water +when turned on runs for as long a time into my +small, as it does into their capacious cisterns, +and consequently, if my stop-taps be in the +least out of order, a greater quantity descends +the waste pipe than remains behind. This is +universally the case in similar circumstances.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘<i>We</i> supply water daily, Sundays excepted,’ +remarked the Engineer.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Then you are wiser than your neighbours. +But every inconvenience and nearly all the +waste, would be saved by the adoption of the +continuous system of supply. Secondly, a +large quantity of water is consumed by +cattle, breweries, baths, public institutions, +for putting out fires, and for laying dust. +The lieges of London have only, therefore, to +divide between them some 10 gallons of water +each per day; and, as it is generally admitted +that a sixth part of their habitations are +without water at all, the division must be +most unequally made. That such is the fact +is shown by your own figures—your customers +get 25 gallons each per day, or more than +double their share. For this excess, some in +poorer districts get none at all.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘That is no fault of the existing companies. +As sellers of an article, they are but too happy +to get as many customers for it as possible; +but poor tenants cannot, and their landlords +will not, afford the expense. If the companies +were to make the outlay necessary to +connect the houses with their mains, they +would have no legal power to recover the +money so expended—nor indeed is it clear, +that were they inclined to run the risk, the +parties would avail themselves of it. In one +instance, the Southwark and Vauxhall Company +offered to construct a tank which would +give continuous supply to a block of 100 small +houses, at the rate of 50 gallons per diem to +each—if the proprietor would pay an additional +rate sufficient to yield 5 per cent. on +the outlay, such additional rate not exceeding +one half-penny per week for each house, but +the offer was declined.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘That is an extreme case of cheapness on +the one side, and of stupidity on the other,’ +said the barrister. ‘Other landlords will not +turn on water for their tenants, because of +the expense; not only of the “plant,” in the +first instance, but of the after water-rent. +I find, by the account rendered to the House +of Commons in 1834, that the South London +Company (since incorporated with the +Southwark, as the “Southwark and Vauxhall,”—the +very Company you mention,) +charged considerably less than any other. +The return shows that while they obtained +only 15<i>s.</i> per 1000 hogsheads; the West Middlesex +(the highest) exacted 48<i>s.</i>, 6<i>d.</i> for the +same quantity; consequently, had the houses +of the foolish landlord who refused one half-penny +per week for water, stood in northwestern +instead of southern London, he would +have had to pay more than treble, or a fraction +above three half-pence per week.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Allowing for difference of level,’ I remarked, +‘and other interferences with the +cheap delivery of water; the disparity in the +charges of the different companies, and even +by the same company to different customers, +is unaccountable: they are guided by no +principle. You have mentioned the extreme +points of the scale of rates; the remaining +companies charged at the time you mention, +respectively per 1000 hogsheads, 17<i>s.</i>, 17<i>s.</i>, 2<i>d.</i>, +21<i>s.</i>, 28<i>s.</i>, 29<i>s.</i>, and 45<i>s.</i> The only companies +whose charges are limited by act of parliament +are the Grand Junction, the East +London, the Southwark and Vauxhall, and +the Lambeth. The others exact precisely +what they please.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘And,’ interposed Lyttleton, ‘there is no +redress: the only appeal we, the taxed, have, +is to our taxers, and the monopoly is so tight +that—as is my case—although your next door +neighbour is supplied from a cheaper company, +you are not allowed to change.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘The companies were obliged to combine, to +save themselves from ruin and the public from +extreme inconvenience,’ said our informant; +‘during the competition streets were torn +up, traffic was stopped, and confusion was +worse confounded in the districts where the +opposition raged.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘But what happened when the war ceased, +and the general peace was concluded?’ said +Lyttleton, chuckling. ‘To show how ill some +of the companies manage their affairs, I could +cite some laughable cases. When the combination +commenced, some of them forgot to +stop off their mains, and supplied water to +customers whom they had previously turned +over to their quondam rivals; so that one company +gave the water, and the other pocketed +the rent. This, in some instances, went on +for years.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>Here the subject branched off into other +topics. It is worthy of notice that the conversation +was carried on by the side of the +enormous Cornish engine, that was driving +4400 gallons per minute 218 feet high.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘It is marvellous,’ I remarked, ‘that so +much power can be exercised with so little +noise and vibration.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘That’s owing to the patent valves in the +pump,’ said the stoker.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Taking a last look at the monster, we went +outside to view the stand-pipe. Being, we +were told, 218 feet high, it tops the Monument +in Fish Street-hill by 16 feet. Within it is +performed the last stroke of hydraulic art +which is needed; for nature does the rest. The +water, sent up through the middle or thickest +of the tubes, falls over into the open mouths +of the smaller ones—(which most people mistake +for supports)—descends through all four +at once into the conduit-pipe, and travels of its +own accord leisurely to London. In obedience +to the law of levels, it rises without further +trouble to the tops of the tallest houses on +the highest spots in the Company’s district. In +its way it fills a large reservoir on Camden-hill. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>The iron conduit-pipe ends at Poland street, +Oxford street, and is 7½ miles long.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Our inspection was now terminated. We +took a parting glass of water with our intelligent +and communicative hosts, and returned +to town.</p> + +<p class='c005'>I firmly believe that the success of Lyttleton’s +speech at the great meeting next day, +was very much owing to this visit. The +room was crowded in every part. His tone +was moderate. He avoided the extravagant +exaggerations of the more fiery order of water +spouters. Neither was he too tame; he was +not—as Moore said of a tory orator—like an</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c008'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in14'>‘awkward thing of wood</div> + <div class='line'>Which up and down its clumsy arm doth move;</div> + <div class='line'>And only spout, and spout, and spout away,</div> + <div class='line'>In one weak, washy, everlasting flood,’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>but he came out capitally in the hard, argumentative +style. His oration bristled with +logic and statistics to a degree of which I +cannot pretend to give the faintest notion.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Sipping inspiration out of a tumbler filled +with the flowing subject of discussion, Mr. +Lyttleton commenced by declaring his conviction +that the water supplied to the metropolis +was, generally speaking, bad in quality, +extravagantly dear, and, from excessive waste, +deficient in quantity. In order to remedy +those defects an efficient control was essential. +Continuous supply, filtration, and a uniform +scale of rates must be enforced. Some of +the companies were pocketing enormous dividends, +and was it a fair argument to retort, +that they are now being reimbursed for +periods of no dividend at all? Are we of +the present day to be mulcted to cover losses +occasioned because the early career of some of +these companies was marked by the ignorance, +imprudence, and reckless extravagance, which +he (Mr. Lyttleton) could prove it was? If +our wine merchant, or coal merchant, or +baker, began business badly and with loss, +would he be tolerated, if, when he grew wiser +and more prosperous, he tried to exact large +prices to cover the consequences of his previous +mismanagement? Mr. Lyttleton apprehended +not. With this branch of the question—he +proceeded to remark—the important subjects +of distribution and supply were intimately +connected. It had been ascertained that a +vast proportion of the poor had no water in +their houses. Why? Partly because it was +too dear; but partly he (the learned speaker) +was bound to say from the parsimony of +landlords. He had pointed out a remedy +for the first evil; for the second he would +propose that every house owner should be +bound to introduce pipes into every house. +The law was stringent on him as to sewers and +party-walls, and why should not a water supply +be enforced on him also?—In dealing with +the whole question of supply—the honourable +gentleman went on to say, he could +not agree with those who stated that the delivery +of it was deficient. A moderate calculation +estimated the quantity running through +the underground net-work of London pipes +at 56,000,000 of gallons per day. Waste (of +which there is a prodigious amount), steam-engines, +cattle, public baths and other supplies +deducted, left more than 10 gallons per +diem per head for the whole population,—that +is supposing these gallons were equitably distributed; +but they are not,—the rich get an +excess, and the poor get none at all. He (the +learned barrister) was not prepared to say +that 10 or 20 gallons per head daily were +sufficient for all the purposes of life in this +or in any other city, great or small; but +this he would say, that under proper management +the existing supply might be made +ample for present wants;—whether for the +requirements of augmenting population and +increased cleanliness we need not discuss +now. What was wanted at this time was a +better distribution rather than a greater supply; +but what was wanted most of all was +united action and one governing body. Without +this, confusion, extravagance, and waste, +would inevitably continue.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Mr. Lyttleton wound up with a peroration +that elicited very general applause. +‘Although we must,’ he said, ‘establish an +efficient control over the existing means +of water supply, we must neither wholly +despise nor neglect them, nor blindly rush +into new and ruinous schemes. We must +remove the onus of payment from the poorer +tenants to their landlords, and into whatever +central directing power the Waterworks +of this great city shall pass,’ concluded +the learned orator, with energetic unction, ‘our +motto must be “continuous supply, uniform +rates, and universal filtration!”’</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHEAPNESS.</h2> +</div> +<h3 class='c010'>THE LUCIFER MATCH.</h3> + +<p class='c011'>Some twenty years ago the process of obtaining +fire, in every house in England, with +few exceptions, was as rude, as laborious, and +as uncertain, as the effort of the Indian to +produce a flame by the friction of two dry +sticks.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The nightlamp and the rushlight were +for the comparatively luxurious. In the bedrooms +of the cottager, the artisan, and the +small tradesman, the infant at its mother’s +side too often awoke, like Milton’s nightingale, +‘darkling,’—but that ‘nocturnal note’ +was something different from ‘harmonious +numbers.’ The mother was soon on her +feet; the friendly tinder-box was duly sought. +Click, click, click; not a spark tells upon the +sullen blackness. More rapidly does the flint +ply the sympathetic steel. The room is +bright with the radiant shower. But the +child, familiar enough with the operation, is +impatient at its tediousness, and shouts till +the mother is frantic. At length one lucky +spark does its office—the tinder is alight. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>Now for the match. It will not burn. A +gentle breath is wafted into the murky box; +the face that leans over the tinder is in a glow. +Another match, and another, and another. +They are all damp. The toil-worn father +‘swears a prayer or two’; the baby is inexorable; +and the misery is only ended when the +goodman has gone to the street door, and +after long shivering has obtained a light from +the watchman.</p> + +<p class='c005'>In this, the beginning of our series of Illustrations +of Cheapness, let us trace this antique +machinery through the various stages of its +production.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The tinder-box and the steel had nothing +peculiar. The tinman made the one as he +made the saucepan, with hammer and shears; +the other was forged at the great metal +factories of Sheffield and Birmingham; and +happy was it for the purchaser if it were something +better than a rude piece of iron, very uncomfortable +to grasp. The nearest chalk quarry +supplied the flint. The domestic manufacture +of the tinder was a serious affair. At due +seasons, and very often if the premises were +damp, a stifling smell rose from the kitchen, +which, to those who were not intimate with +the process, suggested doubts whether the +house were not on fire. The best linen rag +was periodically burnt, and its ashes deposited +in the tinman’s box, pressed down with a +close fitting lid upon which the flint and +steel reposed. The match was chiefly an +article of itinerant traffic. The chandler’s +shop was almost ashamed of it. The mendicant +was the universal match-seller. The girl +who led the blind beggar had invariably a +basket of matches. In the day they were +vendors of matches—in the evening manufacturers. +On the floor of the hovel sit two or +three squalid children, splitting deal with a +common knife. The matron is watching a +pipkin upon a slow fire. The fumes which it +gives forth are blinding as the brimstone is +liquifying. Little bundles of split deal are +ready to be dipped, three or four at a time. +When the pennyworth of brimstone is used +up, when the capital is exhausted, the night’s +labour is over. In the summer, the manufacture +is suspended, or conducted upon fraudulent +principles. Fire is then needless; so +delusive matches must be produced—wet +splints dipped in powdered sulphur. They +will never burn, but they will do to sell to +the unwary maid-of-all-work.</p> + +<p class='c005'>About twenty years ago Chemistry discovered +that the tinder-box might be abolished. +But Chemistry set about its function with +especial reference to the wants and the means +of the rich few. In the same way the first +printed books were designed to have a great +resemblance to manuscripts, and those of the +wealthy class were alone looked to as the +purchasers of the skilful imitations. The +first chemical light-producer was a complex +and ornamental casket, sold at a guinea. In +a year or so, there were pretty portable cases +of a phial and matches, which enthusiastic +young housekeepers regarded as the cheapest +of all treasures at five shillings. By-and-bye +the light-box was sold as low as a shilling. +The fire revolution was slowly approaching. +The old dynasty of the tinder-box maintained +its predominance for a short while in kitchen +and garret, in farmhouse and cottage. At +length some bold adventurer saw that the +new chemical discovery might be employed +for the production of a large article of trade—that +matches, in themselves the vehicles of +fire without aid of spark and tinder, might +be manufactured upon the factory system—that +the humblest in the land might have a +new and indispensable comfort at the very +lowest rate of cheapness. When Chemistry +saw that phosphorus, having an affinity for +oxygen at the lowest temperature, would +ignite upon slight friction,—and so ignited +would ignite sulphur, which required a much +higher temperature to become inflammable, +thus making the phosphorus do the work of +the old tinder with far greater certainty; or +when Chemistry found that chlorate of potash +by slight friction might be exploded so as to +produce combustion, and might be safely used +in the same combination—a blessing was bestowed +upon society that can scarcely be +measured by those who have had no former +knowledge of the miseries and privations of +the tinder-box. The Penny Box of Lucifers, +or Congreves, or by whatever name called, is +a real triumph of Science, and an advance in +Civilisation.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Let us now look somewhat closely and +practically into the manufacture of a Lucifer match.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The combustible materials used in the +manufacture render the process an unsafe +one. It cannot be carried on in the heart of +towns without being regarded as a common +nuisance. We must therefore go somewhere +in the suburbs of London to find such a trade. +In the neighbourhood of Bethnal Green there +is a large open space called Wisker’s Gardens. +This is not a place of courts and alleys, but a +considerable area, literally divided into small +gardens, where just now the crocus and the +snowdrop are telling hopefully of the springtime. +Each garden has the smallest of cottages—for +the most part wooden—which have +been converted from summer-houses into +dwellings. The whole place reminds one of +numberless passages in the old dramatists, in +which the citizens’ wives are described in +their garden-houses of Finsbury, or Hogsden, +sipping syllabub and talking fine on summer +holidays. In one of these garden-houses, not +far from the public road, is the little factory +of ‘Henry Lester, Patentee of the Domestic +Safety Match-box,’ as his label proclaims. +He is very ready to show his processes, +which in many respects are curious and interesting.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Adam Smith has instructed us that the +business of making a pin is divided into about +<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>eighteen distinct operations; and further, that +ten persons could make upwards of forty-eight +thousand pins a day with the division of +labour; while if they had all wrought independently +and separately, and without any of +them having been educated to this peculiar +business, they certainly could not each of +them have made twenty. The Lucifer Match +is a similar example of division of labour, +and the skill of long practice. At a separate +factory, where there is a steam engine, not +the refuse of the carpenter’s shop, but the +best Norway deals are cut into splints by +machinery, and are supplied to the matchmaker. +These little pieces, beautifully accurate +in their minute squareness, and in +their precise length of five inches, are made +up into bundles, each of which contains +eighteen hundred. They are daily brought +on a truck to the dipping-house, as it is called—the +average number of matches finished off +daily requiring two hundred of these bundles. +Up to this point we have had several hands +employed in the preparation of the match, in +connection with the machinery that cuts the +wood. Let us follow one of these bundles +through the subsequent processes. Without +being separated, each end of the bundle is +first dipped into sulphur. When dry, the +splints, adhering to each other by means of the +sulphur, must be parted by what is called +dusting. A boy sitting on the floor, with a +bundle before him, strikes the matches with +a sort of a mallet on the dipped ends till +they become thoroughly loosened. In the +best matches the process of sulphur-dipping +and dusting is repeated. They have now +to be plunged into a preparation of phosphorus +or chlorate of potash, according to +the quality of the match. The phosphorus +produces the pale, noiseless fire; the chlorate +of potash the sharp cracking illumination. +After this application of the more inflammable +substance, the matches are separated, and +dried in racks. Thoroughly dried, they are +gathered up again into bundles of the same +quantity; and are taken to the boys who +cut them; for the reader will have observed +that the bundles have been dipped at each +end. There are few things more remarkable +in manufactures than the extraordinary +rapidity of this cutting process, and that +which is connected with it. The boy stands +before a bench, the bundle on his right hand, +a pile of half opened empty boxes on his left, +which have been manufactured at another +division of this establishment. These boxes +are formed of scale-board, that is, thin slices +of wood, planed or scaled off a plank. The +box itself is a marvel of neatness and cheapness. +It consists of an inner box, without +a top, in which the matches are placed, and +of an outer case, open at each end, into which +the first box slides. The matches, then, are +to be cut, and the empty boxes filled, by one +boy. A bundle is opened; he seizes a portion, +knowing by long habit the required +number with sufficient exactness; puts them +rapidly into a sort of frame, knocks the +ends evenly together, confines them with +a strap which he tightens with his foot, +and cuts them in two parts with a knife +on a hinge, which he brings down with +a strong leverage: the halves lie projecting +over each end of the frame; he grasps the +left portion and thrusts it into a half open +box, which he instantly closes, and repeats +the process with the matches on his right +hand. This series of movements is performed +with a rapidity almost unexampled; for in +this way, two hundred thousand matches are +cut, and two thousand boxes filled in a day, +by one boy, at the wages of three half-pence +per gross of boxes. Each dozen boxes is +then papered up, and they are ready for the +retailer. The number of boxes daily filled at +this factory is from fifty to sixty gross.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The <i>wholesale</i> price per dozen boxes of the +best matches, is <span class='sc'>Fourpence</span>, of the second +quality, <span class='sc'>Threepence</span>.</p> + +<p class='c005'>There are about ten Lucifer Match manufactories +in London. There are others +in large provincial towns. The wholesale +business is chiefly confined to the supply of +the metropolis and immediate neighbourhood +by the London makers; for the railroad +carriers refuse to receive the article, which +is considered dangerous in transit. But we +must not therefore assume that the metropolitan +population consume the metropolitan +matches. Taking the population at upwards +of two millions, and the inhabited houses at +about three hundred thousand, let us endeavour +to estimate the distribution of these +little articles of domestic comfort.</p> + +<p class='c005'>At the manufactory at Wisker’s Gardens +there are fifty gross, or seven thousand two +hundred boxes, turned out daily, made from +two hundred bundles, which will produce +seven hundred and twenty thousand matches. +Taking three hundred working days in the +year, this will give for one factory, two hundred +and sixteen millions of matches annually, +or two millions one hundred and sixty +thousand boxes, being a box of one hundred +matches for every individual of the +London population. But there are ten other +Lucifer manufactories, which are estimated +to produce about four or five times as many +more. London certainly cannot absorb ten +millions of Lucifer boxes annually, which +would be at the rate of thirty three boxes to +each inhabited house. London, perhaps, demands +a third of the supply for its own consumption; +and at this rate the annual retail +cost for each house is eightpence, averaging +those boxes sold at a half-penny, and those at +a penny. The manufacturer sells this article, +produced with such care as we have described, +at one farthing and a fraction per +box.</p> + +<p class='c005'>And thus, for the retail expenditure of +three farthings per month, every house in +London, from the highest to the lowest, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>may secure the inestimable blessing of constant +fire at all seasons, and at all hours. +London buys this for ten thousand pounds +annually.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The excessive cheapness is produced by the +extension of the demand, enforcing the factory +division of labour, and the most exact +saving of material. The scientific discovery +was the foundation of the cheapness. But +connected with this general principle of cheapness, +there are one or two remarkable points, +which deserve attention.</p> + +<p class='c005'>It is a law of this manufacture that the +demand is greater in the summer than in the +winter. The old match maker, as we have +mentioned, was idle in the summer—without +fire for heating the brimstone—or engaged in +more profitable field-work. A worthy woman +who once kept a chandler’s shop in a village, +informs us, that in summer she could buy no +matches for retail, but was obliged to make +them for her customers. The increased +summer demand for the Lucifer Matches +shows that the great consumption is amongst +the masses—the labouring population—those +who make up the vast majority of the contributors +to duties of customs and excise. In +the houses of the wealthy there is always fire; +in the houses of the poor, fire in summer is a +needless hourly expense. Then comes the +Lucifer Match to supply the want; to light +the candle to look in the dark cupboard—to +light the afternoon fire to boil the kettle. +It is now unnecessary to run to the neighbour +for a light, or, as a desperate resource, +to work at the tinder-box. The Lucifer +Matches sometimes fail, but they cost little, +and so they are freely used, even by the +poorest.</p> + +<p class='c005'>And this involves another great principle. +The demand for the Lucifer Match is always +continuous, for it is a perishable article. The +demand never ceases. Every match burnt +demands a new match to supply its place. +This continuity of demand renders the supply +always equal to the demand. The peculiar +nature of the commodity prevents any accumulation +of stock; its combustible character—requiring +the simple agency of friction to ignite +it—renders it dangerous for large quantities +of the article to be kept in one place. +Therefore no one makes for store, but all +for immediate sale. The average price, +therefore, must always yield a profit, or +the production would altogether cease. But +these essential qualities limit the profit. The +manufacturers cannot be rich without secret +processes or monopoly. The contest is to +obtain the largest profit by economical management. +The amount of skill required in +the labourers, and the facility of habit, which +makes fingers act with the precision of +machines, limit the number of labourers, and +prevent their impoverishment. Every condition +of this cheapness is a natural and +beneficial result of the laws that govern production.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>THE AMUSEMENTS OF THE PEOPLE.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c004'>Mr. Whelks being much in the habit of +recreating himself at a class of theatres called +‘Saloons,’ we repaired to one of these, not long +ago, on a Monday evening; Monday being a +great holiday-night with <span class='sc'>Mr. Whelks</span> and his +friends.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The Saloon in question is the largest in +London (that which is known as The Eagle, +in the City Road, should be excepted from the +generic term, as not presenting by any means +the same class of entertainment), and is situate +not far from Shoreditch Church. It announces +‘The People’s Theatre,’ as its second name. +The prices of admission are, to the boxes, a +shilling; to the pit, sixpence; to the lower +gallery, fourpence; to the upper gallery and +back seats, threepence. There is no half-price. +The opening piece on this occasion was described +in the bills as ‘the greatest hit of the +season, the grand new legendary and traditionary +drama, combining supernatural +agencies with historical facts, and identifying +extraordinary superhuman causes with material, +terrific, and powerful effects.’ All the +queen’s horses and all the queen’s men could +not have drawn <span class='sc'>Mr. Whelks</span> into the place +like this description. Strengthened by lithographic +representations of the principal superhuman +causes, combined with the most popular +of the material, terrific, and powerful effects, +it became irresistible. Consequently, we had +already failed, once, in finding six square inches +of room within the walls, to stand upon; and +when we now paid our money for a little stage +box, like a dry shower-bath, we did so in the +midst of a stream of people who persisted in +paying their’s for other parts of the house +in despite of the representations of the +Money-taker that it was ‘very full, everywhere.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>The outer avenues and passages of the +People’s Theatre bore abundant testimony to +the fact of its being frequented by very dirty +people. Within, the atmosphere was far from +odoriferous. The place was crammed to excess, +in all parts. Among the audience were a large +number of boys and youths, and a great many +very young girls grown into bold women +before they had well ceased to be children. +These last were the worst features of the +whole crowd, and were more prominent there +than in any other sort of public assembly +that we know of, except at a public execution. +There was no drink supplied, beyond +the contents of the porter-can (magnified +in its dimensions, perhaps), which may be +usually seen traversing the galleries of the +largest Theatres as well as the least, and +which was here seen everywhere. Huge ham-sandwiches, +piled on trays like deals in a +timber-yard, were handed about for sale to +the hungry; and there was no stint of oranges, +cakes, brandy-balls, or other similar refreshments. +The Theatre was capacious, with a +very large capable stage, well lighted, well +<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>appointed, and managed in a business-like, +orderly manner in all respects; the performances +had begun so early as a quarter past +six, and had been then in progress for three-quarters +of an hour.</p> + +<p class='c005'>It was apparent here, as in the theatre we +had previously visited, that one of the reasons +of its great attraction was its being directly +addressed to the common people, in the provision +made for their seeing and hearing. +Instead of being put away in a dark gap in +the roof of an immense building, as in our +once National Theatres, they were here in +possession of eligible points of view, and +thoroughly able to take in the whole performance. +Instead of being at a great disadvantage +in comparison with the mass of +the audience, they were here <i>the</i> audience, +for whose accommodation the place was made. +We believe this to be one great cause of the +success of these speculations. In whatever +way the common people are addressed, whether +in churches, chapels, schools, lecture-rooms, +or theatres, to be successfully addressed +they must be directly appealed to. No matter +how good the feast, they will not come to it +on mere sufferance. If, on looking round us, +we find that the only things plainly and personally +addressed to them, from quack medicines +upwards, be bad or very defective things,—so +much the worse for them and for all of +us, and so much the more unjust and absurd +the system which has haughtily abandoned a +strong ground to such occupation.</p> + +<p class='c005'>We will add that we believe these people +have a right to be amused. A great deal that +we consider to be unreasonable, is written and +talked about not licensing these places of entertainment. +We have already intimated that +we believe a love of dramatic representations +to be an inherent principle in human nature. +In most conditions of human life of which we +have any knowledge, from the Greeks to the +Bosjesmen, some form of dramatic representation +has always obtained.<a id='r1'></a><a href='#f1' class='c012'><sup>[1]</sup></a> We have a +vast respect for county magistrates, and for +the lord chamberlain; but we render greater +deference to such extensive and immutable +experience, and think it will outlive the whole +existing court and commission. We would +assuredly not bear harder on the fourpenny +theatre, than on the four shilling theatre, or +the four guinea theatre; but we would decidedly +interpose to turn to some wholesome +account the means of instruction which it has +at command, and we would make that office +of Dramatic Licenser, which, like many other +offices, has become a mere piece of Court +favour and dandy conventionality, a real, +responsible, educational trust. We would +have it exercise a sound supervision over the +lower drama, instead of stopping the career +of a real work of art, as it did in the case of +Mr. Chorley’s play at the Surrey Theatre, +but a few weeks since, for a sickly point of +form.</p> + +<div class='footnote' id='f1'> +<p class='c005'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. In the remote interior of Africa, and among the North +American Indians, this truth is exemplified in an equally +striking manner. Who that saw the four grim, stunted, +abject Bush-people at the Egyptian Hall—with two natural +actors among them out of that number, one a male and the +other a female—can forget how something human and imaginative +gradually broke out in the little ugly man, when he +was roused from crouching over the charcoal fire, into giving +a dramatic representation of the tracking of a beast, the +shooting of it with poisoned arrows, and the creature’s +death?</p> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>To return to <span class='sc'>Mr. Whelks</span>. The audience, +being able to see and hear, were very attentive. +They were so closely packed, that they +took a little time in settling down after any +pause; but otherwise the general disposition +was to lose nothing, and to check (in no choice +language) any disturber of the business of the +scene.</p> + +<p class='c005'>On our arrival, <span class='sc'>Mr. Whelks</span> had already +followed Lady Hatton the Heroine (whom we +faintly recognised as a mutilated theme of the +late <span class='sc'>Thomas Ingoldsby</span>) to the ‘Gloomy Dell +and Suicide’s Tree,’ where Lady H. had encountered +the ‘apparition of the dark man of +doom,’ and heard the ‘fearful story of the +Suicide.’ She had also ‘signed the compact +in her own Blood;’ beheld ‘the Tombs rent +asunder;’ seen ‘skeletons start from their +graves, and gibber Mine, mine, for ever!’ +and undergone all these little experiences, +(each set forth in a separate line in the bill) +in the compass of one act. It was not yet over, +indeed, for we found a remote king of England +of the name of ‘Enerry,’ refreshing himself +with the spectacle of a dance in a Garden, +which was interrupted by the ‘thrilling appearance +of the Demon.’ This ‘superhuman +cause’ (with black eyebrows slanting up into +his temples, and red-foil cheekbones,) brought +the Drop-Curtain down as we took possession +of our Shower-Bath.</p> + +<p class='c005'>It seemed, on the curtain’s going up again, +that Lady Hatton had sold herself to the +Powers of Darkness, on very high terms, and +was now overtaken by remorse, and by jealousy +too; the latter passion being excited by the +beautiful Lady Rodolpha, ward to the king. +It was to urge Lady Hatton on to the +murder of this young female (as well as we +could make out, but both we and <span class='sc'>Mr. +Whelks</span> found the incidents complicated) that +the Demon appeared ‘once again in all his +terrors.’ Lady Hatton had been leading a +life of piety, but the Demon was not to have +his bargain declared off, in right of any such +artifices, and now offered a dagger for the +destruction of Rodolpha. Lady Hatton hesitating +to accept this trifle from Tartarus, the +Demon, for certain subtle reasons of his own, +proceeded to entertain her with a view of the +‘gloomy court-yard of a convent,’ and the +apparitions of the ‘Skeleton Monk,’ and the +‘King of Terrors.’ Against these superhuman +causes, another superhuman cause, to +wit, the ghost of Lady H.’s mother came into +play, and greatly confounded the Powers of +Darkness, by waving the ‘sacred emblem’ over +the head of the else devoted Rodolpha, and +causing her to sink into the earth. Upon this +<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>the Demon, losing his temper, fiercely invited +Lady Hatton to ‘Be-old the tortures of the +damned!’ and straightway conveyed her to a +‘grand and awful view of Pandemonium, and +Lake of Transparent Rolling Fire,’ whereof, +and also of ‘Prometheus chained, and the +Vulture gnawing at his liver,’ <span class='sc'>Mr. Whelks</span> +was exceedingly derisive.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The Demon still failing, even there, and +still finding the ghost of the old lady greatly +in his way, exclaimed that these vexations had +such a remarkable effect upon his spirit as to +‘sear his eyeballs,’ and that he must go ‘deeper +down,’ which he accordingly did. Hereupon +it appeared that it was all a dream on Lady +Hatton’s part, and that she was newly +married and uncommonly happy. This put +an end to the incongruous heap of nonsense, +and set <span class='sc'>Mr. Whelks</span> applauding mightily; +for, except with the lake of transparent rolling +fire (which was not half infernal enough for +him), <span class='sc'>Mr. Whelks</span> was infinitely contented +with the whole of the proceedings.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Ten thousand people, every week, all the +year round, are estimated to attend this place +of amusement. If it were closed to-morrow—if +there were fifty such, and they were all +closed to-morrow—the only result would be +to cause that to be privately and evasively +done, which is now publicly done; to render +the harm of it much greater, and to exhibit +the suppressive power of the law in an oppressive +and partial light. The people who +now resort here, <i>will be</i> amused somewhere. +It is of no use to blink that fact, or to make +pretences to the contrary. We had far better +apply ourselves to improving the character +of their amusement. It would not be exacting +much, or exacting anything very difficult, +to require that the pieces represented in +these Theatres should have, at least, a good, +plain, healthy purpose in them.</p> + +<p class='c005'>To the end that our experiences might not +be supposed to be partial or unfortunate, we +went, the very next night, to the Theatre +where we saw <span class='sc'>May Morning</span>, and found +<span class='sc'>Mr. Whelks</span> engaged in the study of an +‘Original old English Domestic and Romantic +Drama,’ called ‘<span class='sc'>Eva the Betrayed, +or The Ladye of Lambythe</span>.’ We proceed +to develope the incidents which gradually +unfolded themselves to <span class='sc'>Mr. Whelks’s</span> understanding.</p> + +<p class='c005'>One Geoffrey Thornley the younger, on a +certain fine morning, married his father’s +ward, Eva the Betrayed, the Ladye of Lambythe. +She had become the betrayed, in +right—or in wrong—of designing Geoffrey’s +machinations; for that corrupt individual, +knowing her to be under promise of marriage +to Walter More, a young mariner (of whom +he was accustomed to make slighting mention, +as ‘a minion’), represented the said More +to be no more, and obtained the consent of +the too trusting Eva to their immediate +union.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Now, it came to pass, by a singular coincidence, +that on the identical morning of the +marriage, More came home, and was taking +a walk about the scenes of his boyhood—a +little faded since that time—when he rescued +‘Wilbert the Hunchback’ from some very +rough treatment. This misguided person, in +return, immediately fell to abusing his preserver +in round terms, giving him to understand +that he (the preserved) hated ‘manerkind, +wither two eckerceptions,’ one of them +being the deceiving Geoffrey, whose retainer +he was, and for whom he felt an unconquerable +attachment; the other, a relative, whom, +in a similar redundancy of emphasis, adapted +to the requirements of <span class='sc'>Mr. Whelks</span>, he +called his ‘assister.’ This misanthrope also +made the cold-blooded declaration, ‘There +was a timer when I loved my fellow keretures +till they deserpised me. Now, I live only +to witness man’s disergherace and woman’s +misery!’ In furtherance of this amiable +purpose of existence, he directed More to +where the bridal procession was coming +home from church, and Eva recognised +More, and More reproached Eva, and there +was a great to-do, and a violent struggling, +before certain social villagers who were celebrating +the event with morris-dances. Eva +was borne off in a tearing condition, and +the bill very truly observed that the end of +that part of the business was ‘despair and +madness.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>Geoffrey, Geoffrey, why were you already +married to another! Why could you not be +true to your lawful wife Katherine, instead of +deserting her, and leaving her to come tumbling +into public-houses (on account of weakness) +in search of you! You might have known +what it would end in, Geoffrey Thornley! +You might have known that she would come +up to your house on your wedding day with +her marriage-certificate in her pocket, determined +to expose you. You might have +known beforehand, as you now very composedly +observe, that you would have ‘but +one course to pursue.’ That course clearly is +to wind your right hand in Katherine’s long +hair, wrestle with her, stab her, throw down +the body behind the door (Cheers from <span class='sc'>Mr. +Whelks</span>), and tell the devoted Hunchback to +get rid of it. On the devoted Hunchback’s +finding that it is the body of his ‘assister,’ +and taking her marriage-certificate from her +pocket and denouncing you, of course you +have still but one course to pursue, and that +is to charge the crime upon him, and have +him carried off with all speed into the ‘deep +and massive dungeons beneath Thornley +Hall.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>More having, as he was rather given to +boast, ‘a goodly vessel on the lordly Thames,’ +had better have gone away with it, weather +permitting, than gone after Eva. Naturally, +he got carried down to the dungeons too, for +lurking about, and got put into the next +dungeon to the Hunchback, then expiring +from poison. And there they were, hard and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>fast, like two wild beasts in dens, trying to get +glimpses of each other through the bars, to +the unutterable interest of <span class='sc'>Mr. Whelks</span>.</p> + +<p class='c005'>But when the Hunchback made himself +known, and when More did the same; and +when the Hunchback said he had got the certificate +which rendered Eva’s marriage illegal; +and when More raved to have it given to +him, and when the Hunchback (as having +some grains of misanthropy in him to the last) +persisted in going into his dying agonies in a +remote corner of his cage, and took unheard-of +trouble not to die anywhere near the bars +that were within More’s reach; <span class='sc'>Mr. Whelks</span> +applauded to the echo. At last the Hunchback +was persuaded to stick the certificate +on the point of a dagger, and hand it in; +and that done, died extremely hard, knocking +himself violently about, to the very last gasp, +and certainly making the most of all the life +that was in him.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Still, More had yet to get out of his den +before he could turn this certificate to any +account. His first step was to make such a +violent uproar as to bring into his presence a +certain ‘Norman Free Lance’ who kept watch +and ward over him. His second, to inform +this warrior, in the style of the Polite Letter-Writer, +that ‘circumstances had occurred’ +rendering it necessary that he should be immediately +let out. The warrior declining to +submit himself to the force of these circumstances, +Mr. More proposed to him, as a gentleman +and a man of honour, to allow him to +step out into the gallery, and there adjust an +old feud subsisting between them, by single +combat. The unwary Free Lance, consenting +to this reasonable proposal, was shot from +behind by the comic man, whom he bitterly +designated as ‘a snipe’ for that action, and +then died exceedingly game.</p> + +<p class='c005'>All this occurred in one day—the bridal +day of the Ladye of Lambythe; and now +<span class='sc'>Mr. Whelks</span> concentrated all his energies +into a focus, bent forward, looked straight in +front of him, and held his breath. For, the +night of the eventful day being come, <span class='sc'>Mr. +Whelks</span> was admitted to the ‘bridal chamber +of the Ladye of Lambythe,’ where he beheld a +toilet table, and a particularly large and desolate +four-post bedstead. Here the Ladye, +having dismissed her bridesmaids, was interrupted +in deploring her unhappy fate, by the +entrance of her husband; and matters, under +these circumstances, were proceeding to very +desperate extremities, when the Ladye (by +this time aware of the existence of the certificate) +found a dagger on the dressing-table, +and said, ‘Attempt to enfold me in thy pernicious +embrace, and this poignard—!’ &c. He +did attempt it, however, for all that, and he +and the Ladye were dragging one another +about like wrestlers, when Mr. More broke +open the door, and entering with the whole +domestic establishment and a Middlesex magistrate, +took him into custody and claimed +his bride.</p> + +<p class='c005'>It is but fair to <span class='sc'>Mr. Whelks</span> to remark on +one curious fact in this entertainment. When +the situations were very strong indeed, they +were very like what some favourite situations +in the Italian Opera would be to a profoundly +deaf spectator. The despair and +madness at the end of the first act, the +business of the long hair, and the struggle in +the bridal chamber, were as like the conventional +passion of the Italian singers, as the +orchestra was unlike the opera band, or its +‘hurries’ unlike the music of the great composers. +So do extremes meet; and so is there +some hopeful congeniality between what will +excite <span class='sc'>Mr. Whelks</span>, and what will rouse a +Duchess.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>SONNET</h2> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div>TO LORD DENMAN.</div> + <div class='c013'><i>Retiring from the Chief Justiceship of England.</i></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c014'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>There is a solemn rapture in the Hail</div> + <div class='line'>With which a nation blesses thy repose,</div> + <div class='line'>Which proves thy image deathless—that the close</div> + <div class='line'>Of man’s extremest age whose boyhood glows</div> + <div class='line'>While pondering o’er thy lineaments, shall fail</div> + <div class='line'>To delegate to cold historic tale</div> + <div class='line'>What <span class='sc'>Denman</span> was; for dignity which flows</div> + <div class='line'>Not in the moulds of compliment extern,</div> + <div class='line'>But from the noble spirit’s purest urn</div> + <div class='line'>Springs vital; justice kept from rigour’s flaw</div> + <div class='line'>By beautiful regards; and thoughts that burn</div> + <div class='line'>With generous ire, no form but thine shall draw</div> + <div class='line'>Within the soul, when distant times would learn</div> + <div class='line'>The bodied majesty of England’s Law.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>LIZZIE LEIGH.</h2> +</div> +<h3 class='c010'>IN FOUR CHAPTERS.—CHAPTER III.</h3> + +<p class='c011'>That night Mrs. Leigh stopped at home; +that only night for many months. Even Tom, +the scholar, looked up from his books in +amazement; but then he remembered that +Will had not been well, and that his mother’s +attention having been called to the circumstance, +it was only natural she should stay to +watch him. And no watching could be more +tender, or more complete. Her loving eyes +seemed never averted from his face; his +grave, sad, care-worn face. When Tom went +to bed the mother left her seat, and going +up to Will where he sat looking at the fire, +but not seeing it, she kissed his forehead, and +said,</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Will! lad, I’ve been to see Susan Palmer!’</p> + +<p class='c005'>She felt the start under her hand which +was placed on his shoulder, but he was silent +for a minute or two. Then he said,</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘What took you there, mother?’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Why, my lad, it was likely I should wish +to see one you cared for; I did not put myself +forward. I put on my Sunday clothes, and tried +to behave as yo’d ha liked me. At least I remember +trying at first; but after, I forgot +all.’</p> + +<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>She rather wished that he would question +her as to what made her forget all. But he +only said,</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘How was she looking, mother?’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Will, thou seest I never set eyes on her +before; but she’s a good gentle looking +creature; and I love her dearly, as I’ve +reason to.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>Will looked up with momentary surprise; +for his mother was too shy to be usually taken +with strangers. But after all it was natural +in this case, for who could look at Susan without +loving her? So still he did not ask any +questions, and his poor mother had to take +courage, and try again to introduce the subject +near to her heart. But how?</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Will!’ said she (jerking it out, in sudden +despair of her own powers to lead to what she +wanted to say), ‘I telled her all.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Mother! you’ve ruined me,’ said he +standing up, and standing opposite to her +with a stern white look of affright on his +face.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘No! my own dear lad; dunnot look so +scared, I have not ruined you!’ she exclaimed, +placing her two hands on his shoulders and +looking fondly into his face. ‘She’s not one to +harden her heart against a mother’s sorrow. +My own lad, she’s too good for that. She’s +not one to judge and scorn the sinner. She’s +too deep read in her New Testament for +that. Take courage, Will; and thou mayst, +for I watched her well, though it is not +for one woman to let out another’s secret. +Sit thee down, lad, for thou look’st very +white.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>He sat down. His mother drew a stool +towards him, and sat at his feet.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Did you tell her about Lizzie, then?’ asked +he, hoarse and low.</p> + +<p class='c005'>“I did, I telled her all; and she fell a +crying over my deep sorrow, and the poor +wench’s sin. And then a light comed into her +face, trembling and quivering with some new +glad thought; and what dost thou think it +was, Will, lad? Nay, I’ll not misdoubt but +that thy heart will give thanks as mine did, +afore God and His angels, for her great goodness. +That little Nanny is not her niece, +she’s our Lizzie’s own child, my little grandchild.” +She could no longer restrain her tears, +and they fell hot and fast, but still she looked +into his face.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Did she know it was Lizzie’s child? I do +not comprehend,’ said he, flushing red.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘She knows now: she did not at first, but +took the little helpless creature in, out of her +own pitiful loving heart, guessing only that it +was the child of shame, and she’s worked for +it, and kept it, and tended it ever sin’ it were +a mere baby, and loves it fondly. Will! +won’t you love it?’ asked she beseechingly.</p> + +<p class='c005'>He was silent for an instant; then he said, +‘Mother, I’ll try. Give me time, for all these +things startle me. To think of Susan having +to do with such a child!’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Aye, Will! and to think (as may be yet) +of Susan having to do with the child’s mother! +For she is tender and pitiful, and speaks hopefully +of my lost one, and will try and find her +for me, when she comes, as she does sometimes, +to thrust money under the door, for +her baby. Think of that, Will. Here’s +Susan, good and pure as the angels in heaven, +yet, like them, full of hope and mercy, and +one who, like them, will rejoice over her as +repents. Will, my lad, I’m not afeared of +you now, and I must speak, and you must +listen. I am your mother, and I dare to +command you, because I know I am in the +right and that God is on my side. If He +should lead the poor wandering lassie to +Susan’s door, and she comes back crying and +sorrowful, led by that good angel to us once +more, thou shalt never say a casting-up +word to her about her sin, but be tender +and helpful towards one “who was lost and +is found,” so may God’s blessing rest on thee, +and so mayst thou lead Susan home as thy +wife.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>She stood, no longer as the meek, imploring, +gentle mother, but firm and dignified, as if the +interpreter of God’s will. Her manner was +so unusual and solemn, that it overcame all +Will’s pride and stubbornness. He rose softly +while she was speaking, and bent his head +as if in reverence at her words, and the solemn +injunction which they conveyed. When she +had spoken, he said in so subdued a voice +that she was almost surprised at the sound, +‘Mother, I will.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘I may be dead and gone,—but all the same,—thou +wilt take home the wandering sinner, +and heal up her sorrows, and lead her to her +Father’s house. My lad! I can speak no +more; I’m turned very faint.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>He placed her in a chair; he ran for water. +She opened her eyes and smiled.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘God bless you, Will. Oh! I am so happy. +It seems as if she were found; my heart is so +filled with gladness.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>That night Mr. Palmer stayed out late and +long. Susan was afraid that he was at his +old haunts and habits,—getting tipsy at some +public-house; and this thought oppressed her, +even though she had so much to make her +happy, in the consciousness that Will loved +her. She sat up long, and then she went +to bed, leaving all arranged as well as she +could for her father’s return. She looked at +the little rosy sleeping girl who was her bedfellow, +with redoubled tenderness, and with +many a prayerful thought. The little arms +entwined her neck as she lay down, for Nanny +was a light sleeper, and was conscious that +she, who was loved with all the power of that +sweet childish heart, was near her, and by +her, although she was too sleepy to utter any +of her half-formed words.</p> + +<p class='c005'>And by-and-bye she heard her father come +home, stumbling uncertain, trying first the +windows, and next the door-fastenings, with +many a loud incoherent murmur. The little +Innocent twined around her seemed all the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>sweeter and more lovely, when she thought +sadly of her erring father. And presently he +called aloud for a light; she had left matches +and all arranged as usual on the dresser, but, +fearful of some accident from fire, in his +unusually intoxicated state, she now got up +softly, and putting on a cloak, went down to +his assistance.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Alas! the little arms that were unclosed +from her soft neck belonged to a light, easily +awakened sleeper. Nanny missed her darling +Susy, and terrified at being left alone in the +vast mysterious darkness, which had no +bounds, and seemed infinite, she slipped out +of bed, and tottered in her little night-gown +towards the door. There was a light below, +and there was Susy and safety! So she went +onwards two steps towards the steep abrupt +stairs; and then dazzled with sleepiness, she +stood, she wavered, she fell! Down on her +head on the stone floor she fell! Susan flew +to her, and spoke all soft, entreating, loving +words; but her white lids covered up the +blue violets of eyes, and there was no murmur +came out of the pale lips. The warm tears +that rained down did not awaken her; she +lay stiff, and weary with her short life, on +Susan’s knee. Susan went sick with terror. +She carried her upstairs, and laid her tenderly +in bed; she dressed herself most hastily, with +her trembling fingers. Her father was asleep +on the settle down stairs; and useless, and +worse than useless if awake. But Susan flew +out of the door, and down the quiet resounding +street, towards the nearest doctor’s house. +Quickly she went; but as quickly a shadow +followed, as if impelled by some sudden terror. +Susan rung wildly at the night-bell,—the +shadow crouched near. The doctor looked +out from an upstairs window.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘A little child has fallen down stairs at +No. 9, Crown-street, and is very ill,—dying +I’m afraid. Please, for God’s sake, sir, come +directly. No. 9, Crown-street.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘I’ll be there directly,’ said he, and shut the +window.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘For that God you have just spoken about,—for +His sake,—tell me are you Susan +Palmer? Is it my child that lies a-dying?’ +said the shadow, springing forwards, and +clutching poor Susan’s arm.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘It is a little child of two years old,—I do +not know whose it is; I love it as my own. +Come with me, whoever you are; come with +me.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>The two sped along the silent streets,—as +silent as the night were they. They entered +the house; Susan snatched up the light, and +carried it upstairs. The other followed.</p> + +<p class='c005'>She stood with wild glaring eyes by the +bedside, never looking at Susan, but hungrily +gazing at the little white still child. She +stooped down, and put her hand tight on her +own heart, as if to still its beating, and bent +her ear to the pale lips. Whatever the +result was, she did not speak; but threw off +the bed-clothes wherewith Susan had tenderly +covered up the little creature, and felt its +left side.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Then she threw up her arms with a cry of +wild despair.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘She is dead! she is dead!’</p> + +<p class='c005'>She looked so fierce, so mad, so haggard, +that for an instant Susan was terrified—the +next, the holy God had put courage into her +heart, and her pure arms were round that +guilty wretched creature, and her tears were +falling fast and warm upon her breast. But +she was thrown off with violence.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘You killed her—you slighted her—you +let her fall down those stairs! you killed +her!’</p> + +<p class='c005'>Susan cleared off the thick mist before her, +and gazing at the mother with her clear, +sweet, angel-eyes, said mournfully—</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘I would have laid down my own life for +her.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Oh, the murder is on my soul!’ exclaimed +the wild bereaved mother, with the fierce +impetuosity of one who has none to love her +and to be beloved, regard to whom might +teach self-restraint.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Hush!’ said Susan, her finger on her lips. +‘Here is the doctor. God may suffer her +to live.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>The poor mother turned sharp round. The +doctor mounted the stair. Ah! that mother +was right; the little child was really dead +and gone.</p> + +<p class='c005'>And when he confirmed her judgment, the +mother fell down in a fit. Susan, with her +deep grief, had to forget herself, and forget +her darling (her charge for years), and question +the doctor what she must do with the +poor wretch, who lay on the floor in such +extreme of misery.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘She is the mother!’ said she.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Why did not she take better care of her +child?’ asked he, almost angrily.</p> + +<p class='c005'>But Susan only said, ‘The little child slept +with me; and it was I that left her.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘I will go back and make up a composing +draught; and while I am away you must get +her to bed.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>Susan took out some of her own clothes, +and softly undressed the stiff, powerless, form. +There was no other bed in the house but the +one in which her father slept. So she +tenderly lifted the body of her darling; and +was going to take it down stairs, but the +mother opened her eyes, and seeing what she +was about, she said,</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘I am not worthy to touch her, I am so +wicked; I have spoken to you as I never +should have spoken; but I think you are +very good; may I have my own child to lie +in my arms for a little while?’</p> + +<p class='c005'>Her voice was so strange a contrast to what +it had been before she had gone into the fit +that Susan hardly recognised it; it was now +so unspeakably soft, so irresistibly pleading, +the features too had lost their fierce expression, +and were almost as placid as death. Susan +could not speak, but she carried the little +<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>child, and laid it in its mother’s arms; then +as she looked at them, something overpowered +her, and she knelt down, crying aloud,</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Oh, my God, my God, have mercy on her, +and forgive, and comfort her.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>But the mother kept smiling, and stroking +the little face, murmuring soft tender words, +as if it were alive; she was going mad, Susan +thought; but she prayed on, and on, and ever +still she prayed with streaming eyes.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The doctor came with the draught. The +mother took it, with docile unconsciousness +of its nature as medicine. The doctor sat by +her; and soon she fell asleep. Then he rose +softly, and beckoning Susan to the door, he +spoke to her there.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘You must take the corpse out of her +arms. She will not awake. That draught +will make her sleep for many hours. I will +call before noon again. It is now daylight. +Good-bye.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>Susan shut him out; and then gently extricating +the dead child from its mother’s +arms, she could not resist making her own +quiet moan over her darling. She tried to +learn off its little placid face, dumb and pale +before her.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c008'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Not all the scalding tears of care</div> + <div class='line in2'>Shall wash away that vision fair;</div> + <div class='line'>Not all the thousand thoughts that rise,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Not all the sights that dim her eyes,</div> + <div class='line in4'>Shall e’er usurp the place</div> + <div class='line in4'>Of that little angel-face.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>And then she remembered what remained +to be done. She saw that all was right in +the house; her father was still dead asleep on +the settle, in spite of all the noise of the +night. She went out through the quiet +streets, deserted still although it was broad +daylight, and to where the Leighs lived. +Mrs. Leigh, who kept her country hours, was +opening her window shutters. Susan took +her by the arm, and, without speaking, went +into the house-place. There she knelt down +before the astonished Mrs. Leigh, and cried +as she had never done before; but the +miserable night had overpowered her, and +she who had gone through so much calmly, +now that the pressure seemed removed could +not find the power to speak.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘My poor dear! What has made thy +heart so sore as to come and cry a-this-ons. +Speak and tell me. Nay, cry on, poor +wench, if thou canst not speak yet. It +will ease the heart, and then thou canst tell +me.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Nanny is dead!’ said Susan. ‘I left her +to go to father, and she fell down stairs, and +never breathed again. Oh, that’s my sorrow! +but I’ve more to tell. Her mother is come—is +in our house! Come and see if it’s your +Lizzie.’ Mrs. Leigh could not speak, but, +trembling, put on her things, and went +with Susan in dizzy haste back to Crown-street.</p> + +<h3 class='c015'>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + +<p class='c011'>As they entered the house in Crown-street, +they perceived that the door would not open +freely on its hinges, and Susan instinctively +looked behind to see the cause of the obstruction. +She immediately recognised the appearance +of a little parcel, wrapped in a scrap of +newspaper, and evidently containing money. +She stooped and picked it up. ‘Look!’ said +she, sorrowfully, ‘the mother was bringing +this for her child last night.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>But Mrs. Leigh did not answer. So near to +the ascertaining if it were her lost child or no, +she could not be arrested, but pressed onwards +with trembling steps and a beating, fluttering +heart. She entered the bed-room, dark and +still. She took no heed of the little corpse, +over which Susan paused, but she went +straight to the bed, and withdrawing the +curtain, saw Lizzie,—but not the former Lizzie, +bright, gay, buoyant, and undimmed. This +Lizzie was old before her time; her beauty +was gone; deep lines of care, and alas! of +want (or thus the mother imagined) were +printed on the cheek, so round, and fair, and +smooth, when last she gladdened her mother’s +eyes. Even in her sleep she bore the look of +woe and despair which was the prevalent expression +of her face by day; even in her sleep +she had forgotten how to smile. But all these +marks of the sin and sorrow she had passed +through only made her mother love her the +more. She stood looking at her with greedy +eyes, which seemed as though no gazing could +satisfy their longing; and at last she stooped +down and kissed the pale, worn hand that lay +outside the bed-clothes. No touch disturbed +the sleeper; the mother need not have laid +the hand so gently down upon the counterpane. +There was no sign of life, save only +now and then a deep sob-like sigh. Mrs. +Leigh sat down beside the bed, and, still +holding back the curtain, looked on and on, as +if she could never be satisfied.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Susan would fain have stayed by her darling +one; but she had many calls upon her time +and thoughts, and her will had now, as ever, +to be given up to that of others. All seemed +to devolve the burden of their cares on her. +Her father, ill-humoured from his last night’s +intemperance, did not scruple to reproach her +with being the cause of little Nanny’s death; +and when, after bearing his upbraiding meekly +for some time, she could no longer restrain +herself, but began to cry, he wounded her +even more by his injudicious attempts at comfort: +for he said it was as well the child was +dead; it was none of theirs, and why should +they be troubled with it? Susan wrung her +hands at this, and came and stood before her +father, and implored him to forbear. Then +she had to take all requisite steps for the +coroner’s inquest; she had to arrange for the +dismissal of her school; she had to summon a +little neighbour, and send his willing feet on +a message to William Leigh, who, she felt, +ought to be informed of his mother’s whereabouts, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>and of the whole state of affairs. She +asked her messenger to tell him to come and +speak to her,—that his mother was at her +house. She was thankful that her father +sauntered out to have a gossip at the nearest +coach-stand, and to relate as many of the +night’s adventures as he knew; for as yet he +was in ignorance of the watcher and the +watched, who silently passed away the hours +upstairs.</p> + +<p class='c005'>At dinner-time Will came. He looked red, +glad, impatient, excited. Susan stood calm +and white before him, her soft, loving eyes +gazing straight into his.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Will,’ said she, in a low, quiet voice, ‘your +sister is upstairs.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘My sister!’ said he, as if affrighted at the +idea, and losing his glad look in one of gloom. +Susan saw it, and her heart sank a little, but +she went on as calm to all appearance as +ever.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘She was little Nanny’s mother, as perhaps +you know. Poor little Nanny was killed last +night by a fall down stairs.’ All the calmness +was gone; all the suppressed feeling was displayed +in spite of every effort. She sat down, +and hid her face from him, and cried bitterly. +He forgot everything but the wish, the longing +to comfort her. He put his arm round +her waist, and bent over her. But all he +could say, was, ‘Oh, Susan, how can I comfort +you! Don’t take on so,—pray don’t!’ He +never changed the words, but the tone varied +every time he spoke. At last she seemed to +regain her power over herself; and she wiped +her eyes, and once more looked upon him with +her own quiet, earnest, unfearing gaze.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Your sister was near the house. She came +in on hearing my words to the doctor. She is +asleep now, and your mother is watching her. +I wanted to tell you all myself. Would you +like to see your mother?’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘No!’ said he. ‘I would rather see none +but thee. Mother told me thou knew’st all.’ +His eyes were downcast in their shame.</p> + +<p class='c005'>But the holy and pure, did not lower or vail +her eyes.</p> + +<p class='c005'>She said, ‘Yes, I know all—all but her +sufferings. Think what they must have +been!’</p> + +<p class='c005'>He made answer low and stern, ‘She deserved +them all; every jot.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘In the eye of God, perhaps she does. He +is the judge: we are not.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Oh!’ she said with a sudden burst, ‘Will +Leigh! I have thought so well of you; don’t +go and make me think you cruel and hard. +Goodness is not goodness unless there is +mercy and tenderness with it. There is your +mother who has been nearly heart-broken, +now full of rejoicing over her child—think +of your mother.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘I do think of her,’ said he. ‘I remember +the promise I gave her last night. Thou +shouldst give me time. I would do right in +time. I never think it o’er in quiet. But I +will do what is right and fitting, never fear. +Thou hast spoken out very plain to me; and +misdoubted me, Susan; I love thee so, that +thy words cut me. If I did hang back a bit +from making sudden promises, it was because +not even for love of thee, would I say what I +was not feeling; and at first I could not feel +all at once as thou wouldst have me. But +I’m not cruel and hard; for if I had been, +I should na’ have grieved as I have done.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>He made as if he were going away; and +indeed he did feel he would rather think it +over in quiet. But Susan, grieved at her incautious +words, which had all the appearance +of harshness, went a step or two nearer—paused—and +then, all over blushes, said in a +low soft whisper—</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Oh Will! I beg your pardon. I am very +sorry—won’t you forgive me?’</p> + +<p class='c005'>She who had always drawn back, and been +so reserved, said this in the very softest +manner; with eyes now uplifted beseechingly, +now dropped to the ground. Her sweet confusion +told more than words could do; and +Will turned back, all joyous in his certainty +of being beloved, and took her in his arms +and kissed her.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘My own Susan!’ he said.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Meanwhile the mother watched her child +in the room above.</p> + +<p class='c005'>It was late in the afternoon before she +awoke; for the sleeping draught had been +very powerful. The instant she awoke, her +eyes were fixed on her mother’s face with a +gaze as unflinching as if she were fascinated. +Mrs. Leigh did not turn away; nor move. +For it seemed as if motion would unlock the +stony command over herself which, while so +perfectly still, she was enabled to preserve. +But by-and-bye Lizzie cried out in a piercing +voice of agony—</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Mother, don’t look at me! I have been +so wicked!’ and instantly she hid her face, +and grovelled among the bed-clothes, and lay +like one dead—so motionless was she.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Mrs. Leigh knelt down by the bed, and +spoke in the most soothing tones.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Lizzie, dear, don’t speak so. I’m thy +mother, darling; don’t be afeard of me. I +never left off loving thee, Lizzie. I was +always a-thinking of thee. Thy father forgave +thee afore he died.’ (There was a little +start here, but no sound was heard). ‘Lizzie, +lass, I’ll do aught for thee; I’ll live for thee; +only don’t be afeard of me. Whate’er thou +art or hast been, we’ll ne’er speak on’t. +We’ll leave th’ oud times behind us, and go +back to the Upclose Farm. I but left it to +find thee, my lass; and God has led me to +thee. Blessed be His name. And God is +good too, Lizzie. Thou hast not forgot thy +Bible, I’ll be bound, for thou wert always a +scholar. I’m no reader, but I learnt off them +texts to comfort me a bit, and I’ve said them +many a time a day to myself. Lizzie, lass, +don’t hide thy head so, it’s thy mother as +is speaking to thee. Thy little child clung to +me only yesterday; and if it’s gone to be an +<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>angel, it will speak to God for thee. Nay, +don’t sob a that ‘as; thou shalt have it again +in Heaven; I know thou’lt strive to get +there, for thy little Nancy’s sake—and listen! +I’ll tell thee God’s promises to them that are +penitent—only doan’t be afeard.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>Mrs. Leigh folded her hands, and strove to +speak very clearly, while she repeated every +tender and merciful text she could remember. +She could tell from the breathing that her +daughter was listening; but she was so +dizzy and sick herself when she had ended, +that she could not go on speaking. It was +all she could do to keep from crying aloud.</p> + +<p class='c005'>At last she heard her daughter’s voice.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Where have they taken her to?’ she +asked.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘She is down stairs. So quiet, and peaceful, +and happy she looks.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Could she speak? Oh, if God—if I might +but have heard her little voice! Mother, I +used to dream of it. May I see her once +again—Oh mother, if I strive very hard, and +God is very merciful, and I go to heaven, I +shall not know her—I shall not know my +own again—she will shun me as a stranger +and cling to Susan Palmer and to you. Oh +woe! Oh woe!’ She shook with exceeding +sorrow.</p> + +<p class='c005'>In her earnestness of speech she had uncovered +her face, and tried to read Mrs. +Leigh’s thoughts through her looks. And +when she saw those aged eyes brimming full +of tears, and marked the quivering lips, she +threw her arms round the faithful mother’s +neck, and wept there as she had done in many +a childish sorrow; but with a deeper, a more +wretched grief.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Her mother hushed her on her breast; and +lulled her as if she were a baby; and she +grew still and quiet.</p> + +<p class='c005'>They sat thus for a long, long time. At +last Susan Palmer came up with some tea and +bread and butter for Mrs. Leigh. She +watched the mother feed her sick, unwilling +child, with every fond inducement to eat +which she could devise; they neither of them +took notice of Susan’s presence. That night +they lay in each other’s arms; but Susan +slept on the ground beside them.</p> + +<p class='c005'>They took the little corpse (the little unconscious +sacrifice, whose early calling-home +had reclaimed her poor wandering mother,) +to the hills, which in her life-time she had +never seen. They dared not lay her by the +stern grand-father in Milne-Row churchyard, +but they bore her to a lone moorland graveyard, +where long ago the quakers used to +bury their dead. They laid her there on the +sunny slope, where the earliest spring-flowers +blow.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Will and Susan live at the Upclose Farm. +Mrs. Leigh and Lizzie dwell in a cottage so +secluded that, until you drop into the very +hollow where it is placed, you do not see it. +Tom is a schoolmaster in Rochdale, and he +and Will help to support their mother. I only +know that, if the cottage be hidden in a green +hollow of the hills, every sound of sorrow in +the whole upland is heard there—every call +of suffering or of sickness for help is listened +to, by a sad, gentle looking woman, who rarely +smiles (and when she does, her smile is more +sad than other people’s tears), but who comes +out of her seclusion whenever there’s a +shadow in any household. Many hearts bless +Lizzie Leigh, but she—she prays always and +ever for forgiveness—such forgiveness as +may enable her to see her child once more. +Mrs. Leigh is quiet and happy. Lizzie is to +her eyes something precious,—as the lost +piece of silver—found once more. Susan is +the bright one who brings sunshine to all. +Children grow around her and call her blessed. +One is called Nanny. Her, Lizzy often takes +to the sunny graveyard in the uplands, and +while the little creature gathers the daisies, +and makes chains, Lizzie sits by a little grave, +and weeps bitterly.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>THE SEASONS.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c014'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A blue-eyed child that sits amid the noon,</div> + <div class='line in2'>O’erhung with a laburnum’s drooping sprays,</div> + <div class='line'>Singing her little songs, while softly round</div> + <div class='line in2'>Along the grass the chequered sunshine plays.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>All beauty that is throned in womanhood,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Pacing a summer garden’s fountained walks,</div> + <div class='line'>That stoops to smooth a glossy spaniel down,</div> + <div class='line in2'>To hide her flushing cheek from one who talks.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A happy mother with her fair-faced girls,</div> + <div class='line in2'>In whose sweet spring again her youth she sees,</div> + <div class='line'>With shout and dance and laugh and bound and song,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Stripping an autumn orchard’s laden trees.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>An aged woman in a wintry room;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Frost on the pane,—without, the whirling snow;</div> + <div class='line'>Reading old letters of her far-off youth,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Of pleasures past and joys of long ago.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>SHORT CUTS ACROSS THE GLOBE.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c004'>To a person who wishes to sail to California +an inspection of the map of the world reveals +a provoking peculiarity. The Atlantic Ocean—the +highway of the globe—being separated +from the Pacific by the great western +continent, it is impossible to sail to the opposite +coasts without going thousands of miles +out of his way; for he must double Cape +Horn. Yet a closer inspection of the map +will discover that but for one little barrier of +land, which is in size but as a grain of sand +to the bed of an ocean, the passage would be +direct. Were it not for that small neck of +land, the Isthmus of Panama (which narrows in +one place to twenty-eight miles) he might save +a voyage of from six to eight thousand miles, +and pass at once into the Pacific Ocean. +Again, if his desires tend towards the East, +he perceives that but for the Isthmus of Suez, +he would not be obliged to double the Cape +of Good Hope. The Eastern difficulty has +<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>been partially obviated by the overland route +opened up by the ill-rewarded Waghorn. +The western barrier has yet to be broken +through.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Now that we can shake hands with Brother +Jonathan in twelve days by means of weekly +steamers; travel from one end of Great +Britain to another, or from the Hudson to the +Ohio, as fast as the wind, and make our words +dance to distant friends upon the magic tight +wire a great deal faster—now that the European +and Columbian Saxon is spreading his +children more or less over all the known +habitable world: it seems extraordinary that +the simple expedient of opening a twenty-eight +mile passage between the Pacific and +Atlantic Oceans, to save a dangerous voyage +of some eight thousand miles, has not been +already achieved. In this age of enterprise +that so simple a remedy for so great an evil +should not have been applied appears astonishing. +Nay, we ought to feel some shame +when we reflect that evidences in the neighbourhood +of both Isthmuses exist of such +junctions having existed, in what we are +pleased to designate ‘barbarous’ ages.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Does nature present insurmountable engineering +difficulties to the Panama scheme? +By no means: for after the Croton aqueduct, +our own railway tunnelling and the Britannia +tubular bridge, engineering difficulties have +become obsolete. Are the levels of the Pacific +and the Gulph of Mexico, which should be +joined, so different, that if one were admitted +the fall would inundate the surrounding +country? Not at all. Hear Humboldt on +these points.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Forty years ago he declared it to be his firm +opinion that ‘the Isthmus of Panama is suited +to the formation of an oceanic canal—one +with fewer sluices than the Caledonian Canal—capable +of affording an unimpeded passage, +at all seasons of the year, to vessels of that +class which sail between New York and Liverpool, +and between Chili and California.’ In +the recent edition of his ‘Views of Nature,’ +he ‘sees no reason to alter the views he has +always entertained on this subject.’ Engineers, +both British and American, have +confirmed this opinion by actual survey. +As, then, combination of British skill, capital, +and energy, with that of the most ‘go-ahead’ +people upon earth, have been dormant, +whence the secret of the delay? The answer +at once allays astonishment:—Till the present +time, the speculation would not have ‘paid.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>Large works of this nature, while they +create an inconceivable development of commerce, +must have a certain amount of a +trading population to begin upon. A goldbeater +can cover the effigy of a man on +horseback with a sovereign; but he must +have the sovereign first. It was not merely +because the full power of the iron rail to +facilitate the transition of heavy burdens had +not been estimated, and because no Stephenson +had constructed a ‘Rocket engine,’ that a +railway with steam locomotives was not +made from London to Liverpool before +1836. Until the intermediate traffic between +these termini had swelled to a sufficient +amount in quantity and value to bear reimbursement +for establishing such a mode of +conveyance, its execution would have been +impossible, even though men had known how +to set about it.</p> + +<p class='c005'>What has been the condition of the countries +under consideration? In 1839, the +entire population of the tropical American +isthmus, in the states of central America +and New Grenada did not exceed three +millions. The number of the inhabitants +of pure European descent did not exceed +one hundred thousand. It was only +among this inconsiderable fraction that anything +like wealth, intelligence, and enterprise, +akin to that of Europe, was to be found; the +rest were poor and ignorant aboriginals and +mixed races, in a state of scarcely demi-civilisation. +Throughout this thinly-peopled and +poverty-stricken region, there was neither +law nor government. In Stephens’s ‘Central +America,’ may be found an amusing account +of a hunt after a government, by a luckless +American diplomatist, who had been sent to +seek for one in central America. A night +wanderer running through bog and brake +after a will-o’-the-wisp could not have encountered +more perils, or in search of a +more impalpable phantom. In short, there +was nobody to trade with. To the south +of the Isthmus, along the Pacific coast of +America, there was only one station to +which merchants could resort with any fair +prospect of gain—Valparaiso. Except Chili, +all the Pacific states of South America were +retrograding from a very imperfect civilisation, +under a succession of petty and aimless +revolutions. To the north of the Isthmus +matters were little, if anything, better. Mexico +had gone backwards from the time of its +revolution; and, at the best, its commerce in +the Pacific had been confined to a yearly +ship between Acapulco and the Philippines. +Throughout California and Oregon, with the +exception of a few European and half-breed +members, there were none but savage aboriginal +tribes. The Russian settlements in the +far north had nothing but a paltry trade in furs +with Kamschatka, that barely defrayed its own +expenses. Neither was there any encouragement +to make a short cut to the innumerable +islands of the Pacific. The whole of Polynesia +lay outside of the pale of civilisation. +In Tahiti, the Sandwich group, and the +northern peninsula of New Zealand, missionaries +had barely sowed the first seeds +of morals and enlightenment. The limited +commerce of China and the Eastern Archipelago +was engrossed by Europe, and took +the route of the Cape of Good Hope, with +the exception of a few annual vessels that +traded from the sea-board States of the +North American Union to Valparaiso and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>Canton. The wool of New South Wales was +but coming into notice, and found its way to +England alone round the Cape of Good Hope. +An American fleet of whalers scoured the +Pacific, and adventurers of the same nation +carried on a desultory and inconsiderable +traffic in hides with California, in tortoise-shell +and mother of pearl with the Polynesian +Islands.</p> + +<p class='c005'>What then would have been the use of +cutting a canal, through which there would +not have passed five ships in a twelvemonth? +But twenty years have worked a wondrous +revolution in the state and prospects of these +regions.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The traffic of Chili has received a large +development, and the stability of its institutions +has been fairly tried. The resources of +Costa Rica, the population of which is mainly +of European race, is steadily advancing. +American citizens have founded a state in +Oregon. The Sandwich Islands have become +for all practical purposes an American colony. +The trade with China—to which the proposed +canal would open a convenient avenue by a +western instead of the present eastern route—is +no longer restricted to the Canton river, but +is open to all nations as far north as the Yangtse-Kiang. +The navigation of the Amur has +been opened to the Russians by a treaty, and +cannot long remain closed against the English +and American settlers between Mexico and +the Russian settlements in America. Tahiti +has become a kind of commercial emporium. +The English settlements in Australia and New +Zealand have opened a direct trade with the +Indian Archipelago and China. The permanent +settlements of intelligent and enterprising +Anglo-Americans and English in +Polynesia, and on the eastern and western +shores of the Pacific, have proved so many +<i>depôts</i> for the adventurous traders with its +innumerable islands, and for the spermaceti +whalers. Then the last, but greatest addition +of all, is California: a name in the world of +commerce and enterprise to conjure with. +There gold is to be had for fetching. Gold, +the main-spring of commercial activity, the +reward of toil—for which men are ready to +risk life, to endure every sort of privation; +sometimes, alas! to sacrifice every virtue; one +most especially, and that is Patience. They +will away with her now.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Till the discovery of the new Gold country +how contentedly they dawdled round Cape +Horn; creeping down one coast and up +another; but now such delay is not to be +thought of. Already, indeed, Panama has +become the seat of a great increasing and +perennial transit trade. This cannot fail to +augment the settled population of the region, +its wealth and intelligence. Upon these facts +we rest the conviction that the time has +arrived for realising the project of a ship +canal there or in the near neighbourhood.</p> + +<p class='c005'>That a ship canal, and not a railway, is +what is first wanted (for very soon there will +be both), must be obvious to all acquainted +with the practical details of commerce. The +delay and expense to which merchants are +subjected, when obliged to ‘break bulk’ repeatedly +between the port whence they sail +and that of their destination, is extreme. The +waste and spoiling of goods, the cost of the +operation, are also heavy drawbacks, and to +these they are subject by the stormy passage +round Cape Horn.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Two points present themselves offering +great facilities for the execution of a ship +canal. The one is in the immediate vicinity +of Panama; where the many imperfect observations +which have hitherto been made, are +yet sufficient to leave no doubt that, as the +distance is comparatively short, the summit +levels are inconsiderable, and the supply of +water ample. The other is some distance to +the northward. The isthmus is there broader, +but is in part occupied by the large and deep +fresh-water lakes of Nicaragua and Naragua. +The lake of Nicaragua communicates with the +Atlantic by a copious river, which may either +be rendered navigable, or be made the source +of supply for a side canal. The space between +the two lakes is of inconsiderable extent, and +presents no great engineering difficulties. The +elevation of the lake of Naragua above the +Pacific is inconsiderable; there is no hill range +between it and the gulph of Canchagua; and +Captain Sir Edward Belcher carried his surveying +ship <i>Sulphur</i> sixty miles up the Estero +Real, which rises near the lake, and falls into +the gulf. The line of the Panama canal presents, +as Humboldt remarks, facilities equal to +those of the line of the Caledonian canal. The +Nicaragua line is not more difficult than that +of the canal of Languedoc, a work executed +between 1660 and 1682, at a time when the +commerce to be expedited by it did not exceed—if +it equalled—that which will find its +way across the Isthmus; when great part of +the maritime country was as thinly inhabited +by as poor a population as the Isthmus now +is; and when the last subsiding storms of +civil war, and the dragonnades of Louis XIV., +unsettled men’s minds and made person and +property insecure.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The cosmopolitan effects of such an undertaking, +if prosecuted to a successful close, it is +impossible even approximatively to estimate. +The acceleration it will communicate to the +already rapid progress of civilisation in the +Pacific is obvious. And no less obvious are +the beneficial effects it will have upon the +mutual relations of civilised states, seeing that +the recognition of the independence and neutrality +in times of general war of the canal +and the region through which it passes, is +indispensable to its establishment.</p> + +<p class='c005'>We have dwelt principally on the commercial, +the economical considerations of the +enterprise, for they are what must render it +possible. But the friends of Christian missions, +and the advocates of Universal Peace +among nations, have yet a deeper interest in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>it. In the words used by Prince Albert at the +dinner at the Mansion House respecting the +forthcoming great Exhibition of Arts and +Industry, ‘Nobody who has paid any attention +to the particular features of our present +era, will doubt for a moment that we are +living at a period of most wonderful transition, +which tends rapidly to accomplish that +great end—to which indeed all history points—the +realisation of the unity of mankind. +Not a unity which breaks down the limits and +levels the peculiar characteristics of the different +nations of the earth, but rather a unity +the result and product of those very national +varieties and antagonistic qualities. The +distances which separated the different nations +and parts of the globe are gradually vanishing +before the achievements of modern invention, +and we can traverse them with incredible +speed; the languages of all nations are known, +and their acquirements placed within the +reach of everybody; thought is communicated +with the rapidity, and even by the power of +lightning.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>Every short cut across the globe brings man +in closer communion with his distant brotherhood, +and results in concord, prosperity, and +peace.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>THE TRUE STORY OF A COAL FIRE.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div>IN FOUR CHAPTERS.—CHAPTER II.</div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c004'>Down the lower shaft the young man continued +to descend in silence and darkness. +He did not know if he descended slowly or +rapidly. The sense of motion had become +quite indefinite. There was a horrible +feathery ease about it, as though he were +being softly taken down to endless darkness, +with an occasional tantalising waft upwards, +and then a lower descent, which made his +whole soul sink within him. But he grasped +the chain in front of him with all his remaining +force, as his only hold on this world—which +in fact it <i>was</i>.</p> + +<p class='c005'>From this condition of helpless dismay and +apprehension, poor Flashley was suddenly +aroused by a violent and heavy bump on the +top of his iron umbrella! He thought it +must be some falling miner, or perhaps his +ponderous-footed elfin abductor, who had +leaped down after him. It was only the +accidental fall of a loose brick from above, +somewhere; but the dead bang of the sound, +coming upon the previous silence, was tremendous. +The missile shot off slanting from +the iron umbrella—seemed to dash its brains +out against the side of the shaft—and then flew +down before him, like a lost soul.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Flashley now felt a wavering motion in his +descent, while an increasing current of air +rose to meet him; and almost immediately +after, he heard strange and confused sounds +beneath. Looking down into the darkness, +he not only saw a reddening light, but, as he +stared down, it became brighter, until he saw +the gleam of flames issuing from one side of +the shaft. He fully expected to descend into +the midst, and ‘there an end;’ but he speedily +found he was reserved for some other fate. +The fire was placed in a large chasm, and +appeared to have a steep red pathway sloping +away behind it. He passed it safely. From +this moment he felt no current of air, but his +ears were assailed with a variety of noises, in +which he could distinguish the gush of waters, +the lumbering of wood, the clank and jar of +chains, and the voices of men—or something +worse. Three black figures were distinctly +visible.</p> + +<p class='c005'>In a few seconds more, his feet touched +earth—which seemed to give a heave, in +answer. His descent from the upper surface +had not occupied longer time than has been +necessary to describe it, but this was greatly +magnified to his imagination by the number, +novelty, and force of the emotions and +thoughts that had attended it. He was now +at the bottom of the William Pitt Coal Mine, +nine hundred and thirty feet below the surface +of the earth.</p> + +<p class='c005'>A man all black with coal-dust, and naked +from the waist upwards, took hold of Flashley, +and extricating him from the chain girdle and +iron umbrella, led him away into the darkness, +lighted only by a candle stuck in a +lump of clay which his conductor held in the +other hand.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Over all the various sounds, that of rushing +waters predominated at this spot; and very +soon they turned an angle which enabled +Flashley to descry a black torrent spouting +from a narrow chasm, and rushing down a +precipitous gully on one side of them to +seek some still lower abyss. Another angle +was turned; the torrent was no longer seen +and its noise grew fainter almost at every +step.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The passage through which they were +advancing was cut out of the solid coal. It +was just high enough for the man to walk +upright, though with the danger of striking +his head occasionally against some wedge of +rock, stone, or block of coal, projected downwards +from the roof. In width the sides +could be reached by the man’s extended hands. +They were sometimes supported by beams, +and sometimes by a wall of brick, and the +roof was frequently sustained by upright +timbers, and limbs or trunks of trees. In +one place, where the roofing had evidently +sunk, there stood an irregular row of stunted +oak trunks, of grotesque shapes and shadows, +many of which were cracked and gaping in +ragged flaws from the crushing pressure they +had resisted; showing that, without them, +the roof would certainly have fallen, and +rendering the passage more ‘suggestive’ than +agreeable to a stranger beneath. Here and +there, at considerable distances, candles stuck +in clay were set in gaps of the coaly walls, in +the sandstone, or against the logs and trunks. +The pathway was for the most part a slush of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>coal-dust, mixed with mud and slates, varied +with frequent nobs and snaggs of rock and +iron-stone. In this path of intermittent ingredients, +a tram-road had been established, +the rails of which had been laid down at not +more than 15 inches asunder; and moving +above this at no great distance, Flashley now +saw a dull vapoury light, and next descried a +horse emerging from the darkness ahead of +them. It seemed clear that nothing could +save them from being run over, unless <i>they</i> +could run over the horse. However, his +guide made him stand with his back flat +against one side of the passage—and presently +the long, hot, steamy body of the horse moved +by, just moistening his face and breast in +passing. He had never before thought a +horse’s body was so long. At the creature’s +heels a little low black waggon followed with +docility. The wheels were scarcely six inches +high. Its sides were formed by little black +rails. It was full of coals. A boy seemed to be +driving, whose voice was heard on the other +side of the horse, or else from beneath the +animal’s body, it was impossible to know +which.</p> + +<p class='c005'>They had not advanced much further when +they came to a wooden barricade, which +appeared to close their journey abruptly. +But it proved to be a door, and swung open +of its own accord as they approached. No +sooner were they through, than the door again +closed, apparently of its own careful good will +and pleasure. The road was still through +cuttings in the solid coal, varied occasionally +with a few yards of red sandstone, or with +brick walls and timbers as previously described. +Other horses drawing little black +coal-waggons were now encountered; sometimes +two horses drawing two or more +waggons, and these passed by in the same +unpleasant proximity. More <i>Sesame</i> doors +were also opened and shut as before; but +Flashley at length perceived that this was +not effected by any process of the black art, as +he had imagined, but by a very little and very +lonely imp, who was planted behind the door in +a toad-squat, and on this latter occasion was +honoured by his guide with the title of an +‘infernal small <i>trapper</i>,’ in allusion to some +neglect of duty on a previous occasion. It was, +in truth, a poor child of nine years of age, one +of the victims of poverty, of bad parents, and +the worst management, to whose charge the +safety of the whole mine, with the lives of all +within it, was committed; the requisite ventilation +depending on the careful closing of these +doors by the trapper-boys, after anybody has +passed.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Proceeding in this way, they arrived at a +side-working close upon the high-road, in +which immense ledges of rocks and stones +projected from the roof, being embedded in +the coal. In cutting away the coal there was +danger of loosening and bringing down some +of these stones, which might crush the miners +working beneath. A ‘council’ was now +being held at the entrance, where seven +experienced ‘undergoers’ were lying flat on +the ground, smoking, with wise looks, in +Indian fashion, and considering the best +mode of attack, whereby they might bring +down the coals without being ‘mashed up’ +by the premature fall of the rocks and stones +together with the black masses in which they +were embedded.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Among all the gloomy and oppressive +feelings induced by this journey between +dismal walls—faintly lighted, at best, so as to +display a most forbidding succession of ugly +shadows and grotesque outlines—and sometimes +not lighted at all for a quarter of a mile; +there was nothing more painful than the long +pauses of silence; a silence only broken by +the distant banging of the trappers’ doors, or +by an avalanche of coal in some remote +working. After advancing in a silence of +longer duration than any that had preceded +it, Flashley’s dark conductor paused every +now and then, and listened—then advanced; +then stopped again thoughtfully, and listened. +At length he stopped with gradual paces, and +turning to Flashley, said in a deep tone, the +calmness of which added solemnity to the +announcement,—</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘We are now walking beneath the bed of +the sea!—and ships are sailing over our +heads!’</p> + +<p class='c005'>Several horses and waggons were met and +passed after the fashion already described. +On one occasion, the youth who drove the +horse, walked in front, waving his candle in +the air, and causing it to gleam upon a black +pool in a low chasm on one side, which would +otherwise have been invisible. He was totally +without clothing, and of a fine symmetrical +form, like some young Greek charioteer doing +penance on the borders of Lethe for careless +driving above ground. As he passed the pool +of water, he stooped with his candle. Innumerable +bubbles of gas were starting to the +surface. The instant the flame touched them, +they gave forth sparkling explosions, and +remained burning with a soft blue gleam. It +continued visible a long time, and gave the +melancholy idea of some spirit, once beautiful, +which had gone astray, and was for ever +lost to its native region. It was as though +the youth had written his own history in +symbol, before he passed away into utter +darkness.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘You used to be fond,’ observed Flashley’s +companion, with grim ironical composure, +after one of these close encounters with horseflesh—‘You +<i>used</i> to be fond of horses.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>Flashley made no reply, beyond a kind of +half-suppressed groan of fatigue and annoyance.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Well, then,’ said the other, appearing to +understand the smothered groan as an acquiescence—‘we +will go and look at the stables.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>He turned off at the next corner on the +left, and led the way up a narrow and steep +path of broken brick and sandstone, till they +arrived at a bank of rock and coal, up which +<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>they had to clamber, Flashley’s guide informing +him that it would save a mile of circuitous +path. Arriving at the top, they soon came to +a narrow door, somewhat higher than any +they had yet seen. It opened by a long iron +latch, and they entered the ‘mine stables.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>A strong hot steam and most oppressive +odour of horses, many of whom were asleep +and snoring, was the first impression. The +second, was a sepulchral Davy-lamp hanging +from the roof, whose dull gleam just managed +to display the uplifting of a head and inquiring +ears in one place, the contemptuous whisking +of a tail in another, and a large eye-ball +gleaming through the darkness, in another! +The stalls were like a succession of narrow +black dens, at each side of a pathway of broken +brick and sand. In this way sixty or seventy +horses were ‘stabled.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘This is a prince of a mine!’ said the guide; +‘we have seven hundred people down here, +and a hundred and fifty horses.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>They emerged at the opposite end, which +led up another steep path towards a shaft (for +the mine now had four or five) which was +used for the ascent and descent of horses. +They were just in time to witness the arrival +of a new-comer,—a horse who had never before +been in a mine.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The animal’s eyes and ears became more +frightfully expressive, as with restless anticipatory +limbs and quivering flesh he swung +round in his descending approach to the +earth. When his hoofs touched, he made +a plunge. But though the band and chain +confined him, he appeared yet more restrained +by the appalling blackness. He made a second +plunge, but with the same result. He then +stood stock-still, glared round at the black +walls and the black faces and figures that surrounded +him, and instantly fainted.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The body of the horse was speedily dragged +off on a sort of sledge, by a tackle. The +business of the mine could not wait for his +recovery. He was taken to be ‘fanned.’ +Flashley of course understood this as a mine +joke; but it was not entirely so. A great iron +wheel, with broad fans, was often worked rapidly +in a certain place, to create a current of +air and to drive it on towards the fire in the +up-cast shaft, assisting by this means the ventilation +of the mine; and thither, or at all +events, in that direction, the poor horse was +dragged, amidst the laughter and jokes of the +miners and the shouts and whistles of the boys.</p> + +<p class='c005'>How silent the place became after they +were gone! Flashley stepped forwards towards +the spot immediately beneath the +shaft. It was much nearer to the surface +than any of the other shafts, and the daylight +from above ground just managed to +reach the bottom. Under the shaft was +a very faint circle of sad-coloured and uncertain +light. The palest ghost might have +stood in the middle of it and felt ‘at home.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>The ‘streets’ of the mine appeared to be composed +of a series of horse-ways having square +entrances to ‘workings’ at intervals on either +side, and leading to narrow side-lane workings. +Up one of these his guide now compelled +Flashley to advance; in order to do +which they were both obliged to stoop very +low; and, before long, to kneel down and +crawl on all-fours. While moving forward in +this way upon the coal-dust slush, where no +horse could draw a waggon, a poor beast of +another kind was descried approaching with +his load. It was in the shape of a human +being, but not in the natural position—in +fact, it was a boy degraded to a beast, who +with a girdle and chain was dragging a small +coal-waggon after him. A strap was round +his forehead, in front of which, in a tin socket, +a lighted candle was stuck. His face was +close to the ground. He never looked up as +he passed.<a id='r2'></a><a href='#f2' class='c012'><sup>[2]</sup></a></p> + +<div class='footnote' id='f2'> +<p class='c005'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. Young women and girls were also used in this way till +the Report of the Children’s Employment Commission +caused it to be forbidden by Act of Parliament.</p> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>These narrow side-lane passages from the +horse-road, varied in length from a few +fathoms, to half-a-mile and upwards; and +the one in which Flashley was now crawling, +being among the longest, his impression of +the extent of these underground streets and +by-ways, was sufficiently painful, especially as +he had no notion of what period he was +doomed to wander through them. Besides, +the difficulty of respiration, the crouching +attitude, the heated mist, the heavy sense of +gloomy monotony, pressed upon him as they +continued to make their way along this dismal +burrow.</p> + +<p class='c005'>From this latter feeling, however, he was +roused by a sudden and loud explosion. It +proceeded from some remote part of the +trench in which they were struggling, and in +front of them. The arrival of a new sort of +mist convinced them of this. It was so impregnated +with sulphur, that Flashley felt +nearly suffocated, and was obliged to lie down +with his face almost touching the coal-slush +beneath him, for half-a-minute, before he +could recover himself. Onward, however, he +was obliged to go, urged by his gruff companion +behind; and in this way they continued +to crawl till a dim light became visible +at the farther end. The light came forwards. +It proceeded from a candle stuck in the front +of the head of a boy, harnessed to a little +narrow waggon, who pulled in front, while +another boy pushed with his head behind. A +side-cutting, into which Flashley and his companion +squeezed themselves, enabled the waggon +to pass. The hindermost boy, stopping to +exchange a word with his companion, Flashley +observed that the boy’s head had a bald patch +in the hair, owing to the peculiar nature of +his head-work behind the waggon. They +passed, and now another distant light was +visible; but this remained stationary.</p> + +<p class='c005'>As they approached it, the narrow passage +widened into a gap, and a rugged chamber +appeared hewn out in the coal. The sides +<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>were supported by upright logs and beams; +and further inwards, were pillars of coal left +standing, from which the surrounding mass +had been cut away. At the remote end of +this, sat the figure of a man, perfectly black +and quite naked, working with a short-handled +pickaxe, with which he hewed down +coals in front of him, and from the sides, +lighted by a single candle stuck in clay, and +dabbed up against a projecting block of coal. +From the entrance to this dismal work-place, +branched off a second passage, terminating +in another chamber, the lower part of which +was heaped up with great loose coals apparently +just fallen from above. The strong +vapour of gunpowder pervading the place, +and curling and clinging about the roof, +showed that a mass of coal had been undermined +and brought down by an explosion. +To this smoking heap, ever and anon, came +boys with baskets, or little waggons, which +they filled and carried away into the narrow +dark passage, disappearing with their loads +as one may see black ants making off with +booty into their little dark holes and galleries +under ground.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The naked miner in the first chamber, now +crept out to the entrance, having fastened a +rope round the remotest logs that supported +the roof of the den he had hewed. These he +hauled out. He then knocked away the +nearest ones with a great mallet. Taking a +pole with a broad blade of iron at the end, +edged on one side and hooked at the other, +something like a halbert, he next cut and +pulled away, one by one, by repeated blows +and tugs, each of the pillars of coal which he +had left within. A strange cracking overhead +was presently heard. All stepped back and +waited. The cracking ceased, and the miner +again advanced, accompanied by Flashley’s +guide; while, by some detestable necromancy, +our young visitor—alack! so very lately such +a dashing young fellow ‘about town,’ now +suddenly fallen into the dreadful condition of +receiving all sorts of knowledge about coals—felt +compelled to assist in the operation.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Advancing with great wedges, while Flashley +carried two large sledge hammers to be ready +for use, the miners inserted their wedges into +cracks in the upper part of the wall of coal +above the long chamber that had just been +excavated, the roof of which was now bereft +of all internal support. They then took the +hammers and began to drive in the wedges. +The cracks widened, and shot about in +branches, like some black process of crystallisation. +The party retreated several paces—one +wide flaw opened above, and down came a +hundred tons of coal in huge blocks and broad +splinters! The concussion of the air, and the +flight of coal-dust, extinguished the candles. +At this the two miners laughed loudly, and, +pushing Flashley before them, caused him to +crouch down on his hands and knees, and +again creep along the low passage by which +they had entered. A boy in harness drawing +a little empty waggon soon approached, with +a candle on his forehead, as usual. The +meeting being unexpected and out of order, +as the parties could not pass each other in +this place, Flashley’s special guide and ‘tutor’ +gave him a lift and a push, by means of which +he was squeezed between the rough roofing +and the upper rail of the empty waggon, into +which he then sank down with a loud ‘Oh!’ +His tutor now set his head to the hinder +part of the waggon, the miner assumed the +same position with respect to the tutor—the +boy did the same by the miner—and thus, by +reversing the action of the wheels, the little +waggon, with its alarmed occupant, was driven +along by this three-horse power through the +low passage, with a reckless speed and jocularity, +in which the ridiculous and hideous +were inextricably mingled.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Arriving at the main horse-road, as Flashley +quickly distinguished by the wider space, +higher roofing, and candles stuck against the +sides, his mad persecutors never stopped, but +increasing their speed the moment the wheels +were set upon the rails, they drove the waggon +onwards with yells and laughter, and now +and then a loud discordant whistle in imitation +of the wailful cry of a locomotive; passing +‘getters,’ and ‘carriers,’ and ‘hurryers,’ and +‘drawers,’ and ‘pushers,’ and other mine-people, +and once sweeping by an astonished +horse—gates and doors swinging open before +them—and shouts frequently being sent after +them, sometimes of equivocal import, but +generally <i>not</i> to be mistaken, by those whom +they thus rattled by, who often received +sundry concussions and excoriations in that so +narrow highway beneath the earth.</p> + +<p class='c005'>In this manner did our unique <i>cortège</i> proceed, +till sounds of many voices ahead of them +were heard, and then more and more light +gleamed upon the walls; and the next minute +they emerged from the road-way, and entered +a large oblong chamber, or cavern, where +they were received with a loud shout of surprise +and merriment. It was the dining-hall +of the mine.</p> + +<p class='c005'>This cavern had been hewn out of the solid +coal, with intervals of rock and sandstone here +and there in the sides. Candles stuck in +lumps of damp clay, were dabbed up against +the rough walls all round. A table, formed of +dark planks laid upon low tressels, was in the +middle, and round this sat the miners, nearly +naked,—and far blacker than negroes, whose +glossy skins shine with any light cast upon +them,—while these were of a dead-black, which +gave their robust outlines and muscular limbs +the grimness of sepulchral figures, strangely +at variance with the boisterous vitality and +physical capacities of their owners. These, it +seemed, were the magnates of the mine—the +‘hewers,’ ‘holers,’ ‘undergoers,’ or ‘pickers,’—those +who hew down the coal, and not the +fetchers and carriers, and other small people.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Before he had recovered from his recent +drive through the mine, Flashley was seated +<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>at the table. Cold roast beef, and ham, and +slices of cold boiled turkey were placed before +him, with a loaf of bread, fresh dairy-butter, +and a brown jug of porter. He was scarcely +aware whether he ate or not, but he soon +began to feel <i>much</i> revived; and then he saw +a hot roast duck; and then another; and then +three more; and then a great iron dish, quite +hot, and with flakes of fire at the bottom, full +of roast ducks. Green peas were only just +coming into season, and sold at a high price +in the markets; but here were several delphic +dishes piled up with them; and Flashley could +but admire and sit amazed at the rapidity with +which these delicate green pyramids sank +lower and lower, as the great spoonfuls ascended +to the red and white open mouths of +the jovial black visages that surrounded him. +He was told that the ‘undergoers’ dined +here every day after this fashion; but only +with ducks and green peas at this particular +season, when the miners made a point of +buying up all the green peas in the markets, +claiming the right to have them before all +the nobility and gentry in the neighbourhood.</p> + +<p class='c005'>While all this was yet going on, Flashley +became aware of a voice, as of some one discoursing +very gravely. It was like the voice +of the Elfin who had wrought him all this +undesired experience. But upon looking forwards +in the direction of the sound, he perceived +that it proceeded from one of the +miners—a brawny-chested figure, who was +making a speech. Their eyes met, and then +it seemed that the miner was addressing +himself expressly to poor Flashley. Something +impelled the latter, averse as he was, to stand +up and receive the address.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Young man—or rather gent!’ said the +miner—‘You are now in the bowels of old +mother Earth—grandmother and great +grandmother of all these seams of coal; and +you see a set of men around you, whose lives +are passed in these gloomy places, doing the +duties of their work without repining at its +hardness, without envying the lot of others, +and smiling at all its dangers. We know very +well that there are better things above ground—and +worse. We know that many men and +women and children, who are ready to work, +can’t get it, and so starve to death, or die with +miserable slowness. A sudden death, and a +violent is often our fate. We may fall down +a shaft; something may fall upon us and +crush us; we may be damped to death;<a id='r3'></a><a href='#f3' class='c012'><sup>[3]</sup></a> we +may be drowned by the sudden breaking in +of water; we may be burned up by the wildfire,<a id='r4'></a><a href='#f4' class='c012'><sup>[4]</sup></a> +or driven before it to destruction; in +daily labour we lead the same lives as horses +and other beasts of burden; but for <i>all</i> that, +we feel that we have something else within, +which has a kind of tingling notion of heaven, +and a God above, and which we have heard +say is called ‘the soul.’ Now, tell us—young +master, you who have had all the advantages +of teachers, and books, and learning among the +people who live above ground—tell us, benighted +working men, how have <i>you</i> passed +your time, and what kind of thing is your +soul?’</p> + +<div class='footnote' id='f3'> +<p class='c005'><a href='#r3'>3</a>. <i>The choke-damp</i>, carbonic acid gas.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f4'> +<p class='c005'><a href='#r4'>4</a>. <i>Fire-damp</i>, also called <i>the sulphur</i>—hydrogen gas.</p> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>The miner ceased speaking, but continued +standing. Flashley stood looking at him, +unable to utter a word. At this moment, a +half-naked miner entered hurriedly from one +of the main roads, shouting confused words—to +the effect that the fire which is always +placed in the up-cast shaft to attract and draw +up the air for the ventilation of the mine, had +just been extinguished by the falling in of a +great mass of coal, and the mine was no longer +safe!</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Fire-damp!’—‘The sulphur!’—‘Choke-damp!’ +ejaculated many voices, as all the +miners sprang from their seats, and made a +rush towards the main outlet. Flashley was +borne away in the scramble of the crowd; but +they had scarcely escaped from the cavern, +when the flame of the candles ran up to the +roof, and a loud explosion instantly followed. +The crowd was driven pell-mell before it, +flung up, and flung down, dashed sideways, +or borne onwards, while explosion after explosion +followed the few who had been foremost, +and were still endeavouring to make +good their retreat.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Among these latter was Flashley, who was +carried forwards, he knew not how, and was +scarcely conscious of what was occurring, +except that it was something imminently +dreadful, which he momentarily expected to +terminate in his destruction.</p> + +<p class='c005'>At length only himself and one other remained. +It was the miner who had been his +companion from the first. They had reached +a distant ‘working,’ and stopped an instant to +take breath, difficult as it was to do this, both +from the necessity of continuing their flight, +and also from the nature of the inflammable +air that surrounded them. Some who had +arrived here before them, had been less fortunate. +Half-buried in black slush lay the +dead body of a miner, scorched to a cinder by +the wildfire; and on a broad ledge of coal +sat another man, in an attitude of faintness, +with one hand pressed, as with a painful effort, +against his head. The black-damp had suffocated +him: he was quite dead.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Beyond this Flashley knew nothing until +he found himself placed in a basket, and rising +rapidly through the air, as he judged, by a +certain swinging motion, and the occasional +grating of the basket against the sides of the +shaft. After a time he ventured to look up, +and to his joy, not unmixed with awe, he +discerned the mouth of the shaft above, apparently +of the size of a small coffee-cup. Some +coal-dust and drops of water fell into his eyes; +he saw no more; but with a palpitating heart, +full of emotions, and prayers, and thankfulness, +for his prospect of deliverance, continued +his ascent.</p> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div><span class='small'>Printed by <span class='sc'>Bradbury & Evans</span>, Whitefriars, London.</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c013'> +</div> +<div class='tnotes x-ebookmaker'> + +<div class='chapter ph2'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c016'> + <div>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + + <ul class='ul_1 c001'> + <li>Fixed typos; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. + + </li> + <li>Renumbered footnotes. + </li> + </ul> + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78166 ***</div> + </body> + <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57i (with regex) on 2026-02-01 18:44:35 GMT --> +</html> diff --git a/78166-h/images/cover.jpg b/78166-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8493387 --- /dev/null +++ b/78166-h/images/cover.jpg |
