diff options
| author | www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> | 2026-03-11 13:32:37 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> | 2026-03-11 13:32:37 -0700 |
| commit | deb5642db5c9476645348ac3278b99df0d0d0e3e (patch) | |
| tree | 3e544819ba0b95a032ab93e7e5d7acb3eb4d7db3 /78195-h | |
Diffstat (limited to '78195-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 78195-h/78195-h.htm | 3621 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78195-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1179998 bytes |
2 files changed, 3621 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/78195-h/78195-h.htm b/78195-h/78195-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f023a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/78195-h/78195-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3621 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> + <head> + <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title>Household Words, No. 25, September 14, 1850 | Project Gutenberg</title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + body { margin-left: 8%; margin-right: 10%; } + h1 { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: xx-large; } + h2 { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: x-large; } + h3 { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: large; } + .pageno { right: 1%; font-size: x-small; background-color: inherit; color: silver; + text-indent: 0em; text-align: right; position: absolute; + border: thin solid silver; padding: .1em .2em; font-style: normal; + font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; } + p { text-indent: 0; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify; } + sup { vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.6em; } + .sc { font-variant: small-caps; } + .large { font-size: large; } + .xlarge { font-size: x-large; } + .lg-container-b { text-align: center; } + .x-ebookmaker .lg-container-b { clear: both; } + .lg-container-r { text-align: right; } + .x-ebookmaker .lg-container-r { clear: both; } + .linegroup { display: inline-block; text-align: justify; } + .x-ebookmaker .linegroup { display: block; margin-left: 1.5em; } + .linegroup .group { margin: 1em auto; } + .linegroup .line { text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em; } + div.linegroup > :first-child { margin-top: 0; } + .linegroup .in12 { padding-left: 9.0em; } + .linegroup .in14 { padding-left: 10.0em; } + .linegroup .in16 { padding-left: 11.0em; } + .linegroup .in6 { padding-left: 6.0em; } + .ul_1 li {padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em; } + ul.ul_1 {padding-left: 0; margin-left: 2.78%; margin-top: .5em; + margin-bottom: .5em; list-style-type: disc; } + div.footnote > :first-child { margin-top: 1em; } + div.footnote p { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + div.pbb { page-break-before: always; } + hr.pb { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin-bottom: 1em; } + .x-ebookmaker hr.pb { display: none; } + .chapter { clear: both; page-break-before: always; } + .table0 { margin: auto; margin-top: 2em; } + .nf-center { text-align: center; } + .nf-center-c0 { text-align: justify; margin: 0.5em 0; } + .c000 { margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + .c001 { margin-top: 2em; } + .c002 { page-break-before: auto; margin-top: 4em; } + .c003 { page-break-before:auto; margin-top: 4em; } + .c004 { page-break-before: auto; margin-top: 2em; } + .c005 { margin-top: 1em; text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .c006 { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .c007 { page-break-before: always; margin-top: 2em; } + .c008 { text-decoration: none; } + .c009 { margin-top: 2em; text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .c010 { margin-top: 2em; font-size: .9em; } + .c011 { font-size: .9em; text-indent: 1em; margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .c012 { font-size: .9em; } + .c013 { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin-top: 0.8em; + margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 35%; margin-right: 35%; width: 30%; } + .c014 { margin-top: 1em; } + .c015 { margin-top: 4em; } + .c016 { vertical-align: top; text-align: center; padding-right: 1em; } + .c017 { vertical-align: top; text-align: center; } + .c018 { vertical-align: top; text-align: right; padding-right: 1em; } + .c019 { vertical-align: top; text-align: justify; padding-right: 1em; } + .c020 { vertical-align: top; text-align: justify; } + div.tnotes { padding-left:1em;padding-right:1em;background-color:#E3E4FA; + border:thin solid silver; margin:2em 10% 0 10%; font-family: Georgia, serif; + clear: both; } + .covernote { visibility: hidden; display: none; } + div.tnotes p { text-align: justify; } + .x-ebookmaker .covernote { visibility: visible; display: block; } + h1 {line-height: 150%; } + .footnote {font-size: .9em; } + div.footnote p {text-indent: 2em; margin-bottom: .5em; } + .chapter { clear: both; page-break-before: always; } + body {font-family: Garamond, Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; } + table {font-size: .9em; padding: 1.5em .5em 1em; page-break-inside: avoid; + clear: both; } + div.titlepage {text-align: center; page-break-before: always; + 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 78195 ***</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='titlepage double'> + +<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> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_577'>577</span> + <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> 25.]      SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1850.      [<span class='sc'>Price</span> 2<i>d.</i></div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>THREE “DETECTIVE” ANECDOTES.</h2> +</div> +<h3 class='c004'>I.—THE PAIR OF GLOVES.</h3> + +<p class='c005'>“It’s a singler story, Sir,” said Inspector +Wield, of the Detective Police, who, in company +with Sergeants Dornton and Mith, paid +us another twilight visit, one July evening; +“and I’ve been thinking you might like to +know it.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“It’s concerning the murder of the young +woman, Eliza Grimwood, some years ago, over +in the Waterloo Road. She was commonly +called The Countess, because of her handsome +appearance and her proud way of carrying +of herself; and when I saw the poor Countess +(I had known her well to speak to), lying +dead, with her throat cut, on the floor of her +bedroom, you’ll believe me that a variety of +reflections calculated to make a man rather +low in his spirits, came into my head.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“That’s neither here nor there. I went to +the house the morning after the murder, and +examined the body, and made a general observation +of the bedroom where it was. +Turning down the pillow of the bed with my +hand, I found, underneath it, a pair of gloves. +A pair of gentleman’s dress gloves, very +dirty; and inside the lining, the letters TR, +and a cross.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well, Sir, I took them gloves away, and I +showed ’em to the magistrate, over at Union +Hall, before whom the case was. He says, +‘Wield,’ he says, ‘there’s no doubt this is a +discovery that may lead to something very +important; and what you have got to do, +Wield, is, to find out the owner of these gloves.’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I was of the same opinion, of course, and +I went at it immediately. I looked at the +gloves pretty narrowly, and it was my opinion +that they had been cleaned. There was a +smell of sulphur and rosin about ’em, you +know, which cleaned gloves usually have, more +or less. I took ’em over to a friend of mine +at Kennington, who was in that line, and I put +it to him. ‘What do you say now? Have +these gloves been cleaned?’ ‘These gloves +have been cleaned,’ says he. ‘Have you any +idea who cleaned them?’ says I. ‘Not at +all,’ says he; ‘I’ve a very distinct idea +who <i>didn’t</i> clean ’em, and that’s myself. +But I’ll tell you what, Wield, there ain’t +above eight or nine reg’lar glove cleaners in +London,’—there were not, at that time, it +seems—‘and I think I can give you their +addresses, and you may find out, by that +means, who did clean ’em.’ Accordingly, he +gave me the directions, and I went here, and +I went there, and I looked up this man, and +I looked up that man; but, though they all +agreed that the gloves had been cleaned, I +couldn’t find the man, woman, or child, that +had cleaned that aforesaid pair of gloves.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“What with this person not being at home, +and that person being expected home in the +afternoon, and so forth, the inquiry took me +three days. On the evening of the third day, +coming over Waterloo Bridge from the Surrey +side of the river, quite beat, and very much +vexed and disappointed, I thought I’d have +a shilling’s worth of entertainment at the +Lyceum Theatre to freshen myself up. So I +went into the Pit, at half-price, and I sat +myself down next to a very quiet, modest sort +of young man. Seeing I was a stranger +(which I thought it just as well to appear to +be) he told me the names of the actors on the +stage, and we got into conversation. When +the play was over, we came out together, and +I said, ‘We’ve been very companionable and +agreeable, and perhaps you wouldn’t object +to a drain?’ ‘Well, you’re very good,’ says +he; ‘I <i>shouldn’t</i> object to a drain.’ Accordingly, +we went to a public house, near the +Theatre, sat ourselves down in a quiet room +upstairs on the first floor, and called for a +pint of half-and-half, a piece, and a pipe.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well, Sir, we put our pipes aboard, and +we drank our half-and-half, and sat a talking, +very sociably, when the young man says, +‘You must excuse me stopping very long,’ he +says, ‘because I’m forced to go home in good +time. I must be at work all night.’ ‘At +work all night?’ says I. ‘You ain’t a Baker?’ +‘No,’ he says, laughing, ‘I ain’t a baker.’ +‘I thought not,’ says I, ‘you haven’t the looks +of a baker.’ ‘No,’ says he, ‘I’m a glove-cleaner.’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I never was more astonished in my life, +than when I heard them words come out of +his lips. ‘You’re a glove-cleaner, are you?’ +says I. ‘Yes,’ he says, ‘I am.’ ‘Then, +perhaps,’ says I, taking the gloves out of my +pocket, ‘you can tell me who cleaned this +pair of gloves? It’s a rum story,’ I says. +‘I was dining over at Lambeth, the other day, +at a free-and-easy—quite promiscuous—with +<span class='pageno' id='Page_578'>578</span>a public company—when some gentleman, he +left these gloves behind him! Another gentleman +and me, you see, we laid a wager of a +sovereign, that I wouldn’t find out who they +belonged to. I’ve spent as much as seven +shillings already, in trying to discover; but, +if you could help me, I’d stand another seven +and welcome. You see there’s TR and a +cross, inside.’ ‘<i>I</i> see,’ he says. ‘Bless you, <i>I</i> +know these gloves very well! I’ve seen dozens +of pairs belonging to the same party.’ ‘No?’ +says I. ‘Yes,’ says he. ‘Then you know +who cleaned ’em?’ says I. ‘Rather so,’ says +he. ‘My father cleaned ’em.’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘Where does your father live?’ says I. +‘Just round the corner,’ says the young man, +‘near Exeter Street, here. He’ll tell you +who they belong to, directly.’ ‘Would you +come round with me now?’ says I. ‘Certainly,’ +says he, ‘but you needn’t tell my father that +you found me at the play, you know, +because he mightn’t like it.’ ‘All right!’ +We went round to the place, and there we +found an old man in a white apron, with +two or three daughters, all rubbing and +cleaning away at lots of gloves, in a front +parlour. ‘Oh, Father!’ says the young man, +‘here’s a person been and made a bet about +the ownership of a pair of gloves, and I’ve +told him you can settle it.’ ‘Good evening, +Sir,’ says I to the old gentleman. ‘Here’s +the gloves your son speaks of. Letters TR, +you see, and a cross.’ ‘Oh yes,’ he says, ‘I +know these gloves very well; I’ve cleaned +dozens of pairs of ’em. They belong to Mr. +Trinkle, the great upholsterer in Cheapside.’ +‘Did you get ’em from Mr. Trinkle, direct,’ +says I, ‘if you’ll excuse my asking the question?’ +‘No,’ says he; ‘Mr. Trinkle always +sends ’em to Mr. Phibbs’s, the haberdasher’s, +opposite his shop, and the haberdasher sends +’em to me.’ ‘Perhaps <i>you</i> wouldn’t object to +a drain?’ says I. ‘Not in the least!’ says he. +So I took the old gentleman out, and had a +little more talk with him and his son, over a +glass, and we parted excellent friends.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“This was late on a Saturday night. First +thing on the Monday morning, I went to the +haberdasher’s shop, opposite Mr. Trinkle’s, +the great upholsterer’s in Cheapside. ‘Mr. +Phibbs in the way?’ ‘My name is Phibbs.’ +‘Oh! I believe you sent this pair of gloves to +be cleaned?’ Yes, I did, for young Mr. +Trinkle over the way. There he is, in the +shop!’ ‘Oh! that’s him in the shop, is it? +Him in the green coat?’ ‘The same individual.’ +‘Well, Mr. Phibbs, this is an unpleasant +affair; but the fact is, I am Inspector +Wield of the Detective Police, and I +found these gloves under the pillow of the +young woman that was murdered the other day, +over in the Waterloo Road?’ ‘Good Heaven!’ +says he. ‘He’s a most respectable young +man, and if his father was to hear of it, it +would be the ruin of him!’ ‘I’m very sorry +for it,’ says I, ‘but I must take him into +custody.’ ‘Good Heaven!’ says Mr. Phibbs, +again; ‘can nothing be done?’ ‘Nothing,’ +says I. ‘Will you allow me to call him over +here,’ says he, ‘that his father may not see it +done?’ ‘I don’t object to that,’ says I; ‘but +unfortunately, Mr. Phibbs, I can’t allow of +any communication between you. If any was +attempted, I should have to interfere directly. +Perhaps you’ll beckon him over here?’ Mr. +Phibbs went to the door and beckoned, and +the young fellow came across the street +directly; a smart, brisk young fellow.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘Good morning, Sir,’ says I. ‘Good +morning, Sir,’ says he. ‘Would you allow +me to inquire, Sir,’ says I, ‘if you ever had +any acquaintance with a party of the name +of Grimwood?’ ‘Grimwood! Grimwood!’ +says he, ‘No!’ ‘You know the Waterloo +Road?’ ‘Oh! of course I know the Waterloo +Road!’ ‘Happen to have heard of a young +woman being murdered there?’ ‘Yes, I +read it in the paper, and very sorry I was to +read it.’ ‘Here’s a pair of gloves belonging +to you, that I found under her pillow the +morning afterwards!’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“He was in a dreadful state, Sir; a +dreadful state! ‘Mr. Wield,’ he says, ‘upon +my solemn oath I never was there. I never +so much as saw her, to my knowledge, in +my life!’ ‘I am very sorry,’ says I. ‘To +tell you the truth; I don’t think you <i>are</i> the +murderer, but I must take you to Union +Hall in a cab. However, I think it’s a case +of that sort, that, at present, at all events, the +magistrate will hear it in private.’”</p> + +<p class='c006'>A private examination took place, and then +it came out that this young man was acquainted +with a cousin of the unfortunate Eliza Grimwoods, +and that, calling to see this cousin a day +or two before the murder, he left these gloves +upon the table. Who should come in, shortly +afterwards, but Eliza Grimwood! ‘Whose +gloves are these?’ she says, taking ’em up. +‘Those are Mr. Trinkle’s gloves,’ says her +cousin. ‘Oh!’ says she, ‘they are very dirty +and of no use to him, I am sure. I shall +take ’em away for my girl to clean the stoves +with.’ And she put ’em in her pocket. The +girl had used ’em to clean the stoves, and, I +have no doubt, had left ’em lying on the bedroom +mantel-piece, or on the drawers, or somewhere; +and her mistress, looking round to +see that the room was tidy, had caught ’em +up and put ’em under the pillow where I +found ’em.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“That’s the story, Sir.”</p> + +<h3 class='c007'>II. THE ARTFUL TOUCH.</h3> + +<p class='c005'>“One of the most <i>beautiful</i> things that ever +was done, perhaps,” said Inspector Wield, emphasising +the adjective, as preparing us to +expect dexterity or ingenuity rather than +strong interest, “was a move of Serjeant +Witchem’s. It was a lovely idea!</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Witchem and me were down at Epsom +one Derby Day, waiting at the station for the +Swell Mob. As I mentioned, when we were +talking about these things before, we are +<span class='pageno' id='Page_579'>579</span>ready at the station when there’s races, or an +Agricultural Show, or a Chancellor sworn in +for an university, or Jenny Lind, or any thing +of that sort; and as the Swell Mob come +down, we send ’em back again by the next +train. But some of the Swell Mob, on the +occasion of this Derby that I refer to, so far +kiddied us as to hire a horse and shay; start +away from London by Whitechapel, and miles +round; come into Epsom from the opposite +direction; and go to work, right and left, on the +course, while we were waiting for ’em at the +Rail. That, however, ain’t the point of what +I’m going to tell you.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“While Witchem and me were waiting at +the station, there comes up one Mr. Tatt; a +gentleman formerly in the public line, quite +an amateur Detective in his way, and very +much respected. ‘Halloa, Charley Wield,’ he +says. ‘What are you doing here? On the +look out for some of your old friends?’ +‘Yes, the old move, Mr. Tatt.’ ‘Come along,’ +he says, ‘you and Witchem, and have a +glass of sherry.’ ‘We can’t stir from the +place,’ says I, ‘till the next train comes in; +but after that, we will with pleasure.’ Mr. +Tatt waits, and the train comes in, and then +Witchem and me go off with him to the Hotel. +Mr. Tatt he’s got up quite regardless of expense, +for the occasion; and in his shirt-front there’s +a beautiful diamond prop, cost him fifteen or +twenty pound—a very handsome pin indeed. +We drink our sherry at the bar, and have had +our three or four glasses, when Witchem cries, +suddenly, ‘Look out, Mr. Wield! stand fast!’ +and a dash is made into the place by the swell +mob—four of ’em—that have come down as I +tell you, and in a moment Mr. Tatt’s prop is +gone! Witchem, he cuts ’em off at the door, I +lay about me as hard as I can, Mr. Tatt shows +fight like a good ‘un, and there we are, all +down together, heads and heels, knocking about +on the floor of the bar—perhaps you never see +such a scene of confusion! However, we +stick to our men (Mr. Tatt being as good as +any officer), and we take ’em all, and carry +’em off to the station. The station’s full of +people, who have been took on the course; +and it’s a precious piece of work to get ’em +secured. However, we do it at last, and we +search ’em; but nothing’s found upon ’em, +and they’re locked up; and a pretty state of +heat we are in by that time, I assure you!</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I was very blank over it, myself, to think +that the prop had been passed away; and I +said to Witchem, when we had set ’em to +rights, and were cooling ourselves along with +Mr. Tatt, ‘we don’t take much by <i>this</i> move, +anyway, for nothing’s found upon ’em, and it’s +only the braggadocia<a id='r1'></a><a href='#f1' class='c008'><sup>[1]</sup></a> after all.’ ‘What do +you mean, Mr. Wield?’ says Witchem. +‘Here’s the diamond pin!’ and in the palm +of his hand there it was, safe and sound! +‘Why, in the name of wonder,’ says me and +Mr. Tatt, in astonishment, ‘how did you come +by that?’ ‘I’ll tell you how I come by it,’ +says he. ‘I saw which of ’em took it; and +when we were all down on the floor together, +knocking about, I just gave him a little touch +on the back of his hand, as I knew his pal +would; and he thought it WAS his pal; and +gave it me!’ It was beautiful, beau-ti-ful!</p> + +<div class='footnote' id='f1'> +<p class='c006'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. Three months’ imprisonment as reputed thieves.</p> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>“Even that was hardly the best of the case, +for that chap was tried at the Quarter Sessions +at Guildford. You know what Quarter Sessions +are, Sir. Well, if you’ll believe me, while +them slow justices were looking over the Acts +of Parliament, to see what they could do to +him, I’m blowed if he didn’t cut out of the +dock before their faces! He cut out of the +dock, Sir, then and there; swam across a +river; and got up into a tree to dry himself. +In the tree he was took—an old woman +having seen him climb up—and Witchem’s +artful touch transported him!”</p> + +<h3 class='c007'>III.—THE SOFA.</h3> + +<p class='c005'>“What young men will do, sometimes, to +ruin themselves and break their friends’ +hearts,” said Serjeant Dornton, “it’s surprising! +I had a case at Saint Blank’s Hospital +which was of this sort. A bad case, +indeed, with a bad end!</p> + +<p class='c006'>“The Secretary, and the House-Surgeon, and +the Treasurer, of Saint Blank’s Hospital, came +to Scotland Yard to give information of +numerous robberies having been committed +on the students. The students could leave +nothing in the pockets of their great-coats, +while the great-coats were hanging at the +Hospital, but it was almost certain to be +stolen. Property of various descriptions was +constantly being lost; and the gentlemen +were naturally uneasy about it, and anxious, +for the credit of the Institution, that the thief +or thieves should be discovered. The case +was entrusted to me, and I went to the Hospital.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘Now, gentlemen,’ said I, after we had +talked it over, ‘I understand this property +is usually lost from one room.’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes, they said. It was.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘I should wish, if you please,’ said I, ‘to +see that room.’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“It was a good-sized bare room downstairs, +with a few tables and forms in it, and a row +of pegs, all round, for hats and coats.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘Next, gentlemen,’ said I, ‘do you suspect +anybody?’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes, they said. They did suspect somebody. +They were sorry to say, they suspected +one of the porters.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘I should like,’ said I, ‘to have that man +pointed out to me, and to have a little time to +look after him.’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“He was pointed out, and I looked after +him, and then I went back to the Hospital, +and said, ‘Now, gentlemen, it’s not the porter. +He’s, unfortunately for himself, a little too +fond of drink, but he’s nothing worse. My +suspicion is, that these robberies are committed +by one of the students; and if you’ll put me +<span class='pageno' id='Page_580'>580</span>a sofa into that room where the pegs are—as +there’s no closet—I think I shall be able to +detect the thief. I wish the sofa, if you please, +to be covered with chintz, or, something of +that sort, so that I may lie on my chest, +underneath it, without being seen.’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“The sofa was provided, and next day at +eleven o’clock, before any of the students +came, I went there, with those gentlemen, to +get underneath it. It turned out to be one of +those old-fashioned sofas with a great cross +beam at the bottom, that would have broken +my back in no time if I could ever have got +below it. We had quite a job to break all +this away in the time; however, I fell to +work, and they fell to work, and we broke it +out, and made a clear place for me. I got +under the sofa, lay down on my chest, took +out my knife, and made a convenient hole in +the chintz to look through. It was then +settled between me and the gentlemen that +when the students were all up in the wards, +one of the gentlemen should come in, and +hang up a great-coat on one of the pegs. And +that that great-coat should have, in one of +the pockets, a pocket-book containing marked +money.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“After I had been there some time, the +students began to drop into the room, by +ones, and twos, and threes, and to talk about +all sorts of things, little thinking there was +anybody under the sofa—and then to go upstairs. +At last there came in one who remained +until he was alone in the room by +himself. A tallish, good-looking young man +of one or two and twenty, with a light +whisker. He went to a particular hat-peg, +took off a good hat that was hanging there, +tried it on, hung his own hat in its place, +and hung that hat on another peg, nearly +opposite to me. I then felt quite certain that +he was the thief, and would come back by-and-bye.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“When they were all upstairs, the gentleman +came in with the great-coat. I showed +him where to hang it, so that I might have a +good view of it; and he went away; and I +lay under the sofa on my chest, for a couple +of hours or so, waiting.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“At last, the same young man came down. +He walked across the room, whistling—stopped +and listened—took another walk and +whistled—stopped again, and listened—then +began to go regularly round the pegs, feeling +in the pockets of all the coats. When he came +to <span class='sc'>the</span> great-coat, and felt the pocket-book, he +was so eager and so hurried that he broke the +strap in tearing it open. As he began to put +the money in his pocket, I crawled out from +under the sofa, and his eyes met mine.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“My face, as you may perceive, is brown +now, but it was pale at that time, my health +not being good; and looked as long as a +horse’s. Besides which, there was a great +draught of air from the door, underneath the +sofa, and I had tied a handkerchief round my +head; so what I looked like, altogether, I +don’t know. He turned blue—literally blue—when +he saw me crawling out, and I couldn’t +feel surprised at it.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘I am an officer of the Detective Police,’ +said I, ‘and have been lying here, since you +first came in this morning. I regret, for the +sake of yourself and your friends, that you +should have done what you have; but this +case is complete. You have the pocket-book +in your hand and the money upon you; and +I must take you into custody!’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“It was impossible to make out any case in +his behalf, and on his trial he pleaded guilty. +How or when he got the means I don’t +know; but while he was awaiting his sentence, +he poisoned himself in Newgate.”</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We inquired of this officer, on the conclusion +of the foregoing anecdote, whether the +time appeared long, or short, when he lay in +that constrained position under the sofa?</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘Why, you see, Sir,’ he replied, ‘if he +hadn’t come in, the first time, and I had not +been quite sure he was the thief, and would +return, the time would have seemed long. +But, as it was, I being dead-certain of my man, +the time seemed pretty short.’”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>“EVIL IS WROUGHT BY WANT OF THOUGHT.”<a id='r2'></a><a href='#f2' class='c008'><sup>[2]</sup></a></h2> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f2'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. <span class='sc'>Thomas Hood.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>“It must come some day; and come when +it will, it will be hard to do, so we had best +go at once, Sally. I shall have more trouble +with Miss Isabel than you will with Miss +Laura; for I am twice the favourite you +are.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>So said Fanny to her cousin, who had just +turned to descend the staircase of Aldington +Hall, where they had both lived since they +were almost children, in attendance on the +two daughters of the old baronet, who were +near their own ages, and had always treated +them with great kindness.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I am not sure of that,” replied Sally, “for +Miss Laura is so seldom put out, that when +once she is vexed, she will be hard to comfort; +and I am sure, Fanny, she loves me every bit +as well as Miss Isabel does you, though it is +her way to be so quiet. I dare say she will +cry when I say I must go; but then John +would be like to cry too, if I put him off +longer.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>This consideration restored Sally’s courage, +and she proceeded with Fanny to the gallery +into which the rooms of their young mistresses +opened; but here Fanny’s heart failed +her; and, stopping short, she said,</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Suppose we tell them to wait awhile +longer, as the young ladies are going to travel. +We might as well see the world first, and +marry in a year or two. But still” added +she, after a pause, “I could not find it in my +heart to say so to Thomas; and I promised +him to speak to-day.”</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_581'>581</span>Each cousin then knocked at the door of +her mistress. Laura was not in her room, +and Sally went to seek her below stairs; but +Isabel called to Fanny to go in.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Fanny obeyed, and walking forward a few +steps, faltered out, with many blushes, that +as young Thomas had kept company with +her for nearly a twelvemonth, and had taken +and furnished a little cottage, and begged +hard to take her home to it. She was sorry +to say, that if Miss Isabel would give her +leave, she wished to give warning and to go +from her service in a month.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Fanny’s most sanguine wishes or fears, +must have been surpassed by the burst of +surprise and grief that followed her modest +statement. Isabel reproached her; refused +to take her warning; declared she would +never see her again if she left the Hall, and +that rather than be served by any but her +dear Fanny, she would wait upon herself all +her life. Fanny expostulated, and told her +mistress that, foreseeing her unwillingness +to lose her, she had already put Thomas off +several months; and that at last, to gain +further delay, she had run the risk of appearing +selfish, by refusing to marry him till he +had furnished a whole cottage for her. This, +she said he had—by working late and early—accomplished +in a surprisingly short time, and +had the day before, claimed the reward of his +industry. “And now, Miss,” added she, “he +gets quite pale, and begins to believe I do +not love him, and yet I do, better than all the +world, and could not find it in my heart to +vex him, and make him look sad again. +Yesterday he seemed so happy, when I promised +to be his wife in a month.” Here +Fanny burst into tears. Her sobs softened +Isabel, who consented to let her go; and +after talking over her plans, became as enthusiastic +in promoting, as she had at first +been, in opposing them. Thomas was to take +Fanny over to see the cottage, that evening, +and Isabel, in the warmth of her heart, promised +to accompany them. Fanny thanked +her with a <a id='t581'></a>curtsey, and thought how pleased +she ought to be at such condescension in her +young mistress, but could not help fearing +that her sweetheart would not half appreciate +the favour.</p> + +<p class='c006'>After receiving many promises of friendship +and assistance, Fanny hastened to report +to Sally the success of her negotiation. Sally +was sitting in their little bedroom, thoughtful, +and almost sad. She listened to Fanny’s +account; and replied in answer to her questions +concerning Miss Laura’s way of taking her +warning, “I am afraid, Fanny, you were right +in thinking yourself the greatest favourite, +for Miss Laura seemed almost pleased at my +news; she shook me by the hand, and said, +‘I am very glad to hear you are to marry +such a good young man as everyone acknowledges +John Maythorn to be, and you may +depend upon my being always ready to help +you, if you want assistance.’ She then said a +deal about my having lived with her six +years, and not having once displeased her, +and told me that master had promised my +mother and yours too, that his young ladies +should see after us all our lives. This was +very kind, to be sure; but then Miss Isabel +promised you presents whether you wanted +assistance or not, and is to give you a silk gown +and a white ribbon for the wedding, and is to +go over to the cottage with you: now Miss +Laura did not say a word of any such thing.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Fanny tried to comfort her cousin by saying +it was Miss Laura’s quiet way; but she +could not help secretly rejoicing that her own +mistress was so generous and affectionate.</p> + +<p class='c006'>In the evening the two sweethearts came +to lead their future wives to the cottages, +which were near each other, and at about a +mile from the Hall. John had a happy walk. +He learned from Sally that he was to “take +her home” in a month, and was so pleased +at the news, that he could scarcely be happier +when she bustled about, exclaiming at every +new sight in the pretty bright little cottage. +The tea-caddy, the cupboard of china, and a +large cat, each called forth a fresh burst of +joy. Sally thought everything “the prettiest +she had ever seen;” and when John +made her sit in the arm-chair and put her +foot on the fender, as if she were already +mistress of the cottage, she burst into sobs of +joy. We will not pause to tell how her sobs +were stopped, nor what promises of unchanging +kindness, were made in that bright +little kitchen; but we may safely affirm that +Sally and John were happier than they had +ever been in their lives, and that old Mrs. +Maythorn, who was keeping the cottage for +Sally, felt all her fondest wishes were fulfilled +as she saw the two lovers depart.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Fanny and Thomas, who had left them at +the cottage door, walked on to their own +future home, quite overwhelmed by the +honour Miss Isabel was conferring on them +by walking at their side.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“You see, Miss,” said Thomas, as he +turned the key of his cottage door, “there +is nothing to speak of here, only such things +as are necessary, and all of the plainest; but +it will do well enough for us poor folks:” +and as he threw open the door, he found to +his surprise that what had seemed to him +yesterday so pretty and neat, now looked +indeed “all of the plainest.” The very carpet, +and metal teapot, which he had intended as +surprises for Fanny, he was now ashamed of +pointing out to her, and he apologised to +Isabel for the coarse quality of the former, +telling her it was only to serve till he could +get a better.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes,” answered she, “this is not half +good enough for my little Fanny, she must +have a real Brussels carpet. I will send her +one. I will make your cottage so pretty, +Fanny, you shall have a nice china tea set, +not these common little things, and I will +give you some curtains for the window.” +<span class='pageno' id='Page_582'>582</span>Thomas blushed as this deficiency was pointed +out. “Why, Miss,” said he, “I meant to +have trained the rose tree over the window, +I thought that would be shady, and sweet in +the summer, and in the winter, why, we +should want all the day-light; but then to be +sure, curtains will be much better.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes, Thomas,” replied the young lady, +“and warm in the winter; you could not be +comfortable with a few bare rose stalks before +your window, when the snow was on the +ground.” This had not occurred to Thomas, +who now said faintly, “Oh no, Miss,” and +felt that curtains were indispensable to +comfort.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Similar deficiencies or short-comings were +discovered everywhere, so that even Fanny, +who would at first be pleased with all she +saw, in spite of the numerous defects that +seemed to exist everywhere, gradually grew +silent and ashamed of her cottage. She did +her utmost to conceal from Thomas how +entirely she agreed with her mistress, and as +this generous young lady finished every +remark, by saying “I will get you one,” or, +“I will send you another,” she felt that all +would be right before long.</p> + +<p class='c006'>As Thomas closed the door, he wondered +how in his wish to please Fanny he could +have deceived himself so completely as to the +merits of his cottage and furniture; but he +too comforted himself by remembering how +his kind patroness was to remedy all the +defects; “though,” thought he, “I should +have liked better to have done it all well +myself.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The lady and the two lovers walked homewards, +almost without speaking till they overtook +John and Sally, who were whispering +and laughing, talking of their cottage, Mrs. +Maythorn’s joy at seeing them happy, their +future plans for themselves and her, and all +in so confused a way, that though twenty new +subjects were started and discussed, none came +to any conclusion, but that John and Sally +loved each other and were very, very happy.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“What ails you, Thomas?” said John, +“Has any one robbed your house? I told you +it was not safe to leave it,” but seeing Miss +Isabel, he touched his hat and fell back to +where Fanny was talking to her cousin. +Isabel, however, left them that she might +take a short cut through the park, while they +went round by the road.</p> + +<p class='c006'>At the end of the walk, Sally was half +inclined to be dissatisfied with her furniture, +so much had Fanny boasted of the improvements +that were to be made in her own, but +she could not get rid of the first impression it +had made on her, and in a few days she quite +forgot the want of curtains and carpet, and +could only remember the happy time when +she sat in the arm-chair with her foot on the +fender.</p> + +<p class='c006'>As the month drew to a close, the two +sisters made presents to their maids. Laura +gave Sally a merino dress, a large piece of +linen, a cellar full of coals, and a five pound +note. Isabel gave Fanny a silk gown that +cost three guineas, a beautiful white bonnet +ribbon, a small chimney glass (for which she +kindly went into debt), three left-off muslin +dresses, a painting done by her own hand, in +a handsome gilt frame, and a beautiful knitted +purse. Besides all this, she told Fanny it was +still her intention to get the other things she +had promised for the cottage, as soon as she +had paid for the chimney glass. “I am very +sorry,” she said, “that just now I am so poor, +for unfortunately, as you know, I have had to +pay for those large music volumes I ordered +when I was in London, and which after all I +never used. It always happens that I am +poor when I want to make presents.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Fanny stopped her mistress with abundant +thanks for the beautiful things she had already +given her. “I am sure, Miss,” said she, “I shall +scarcely dare wear these dresses, they look +so lady-like and fine; Sally will seem quite +strange by me. And this purse too, Miss; +I never saw anything so smart.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Isabel was quite satisfied that she had +eclipsed her sister in the number and value +of her gifts, but she still assured Fanny she +had but made a beginning. Large and +generous indeed, were this young lady’s intentions.</p> + +<p class='c006'>On the wedding morning Isabel rose early +and dressed herself without assistance, then +crossing to the room of the two cousins, she +entered without knocking. Sally was gone, +and Fanny lay sleeping alone.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“How pretty she is!” said Isabel to herself. +“She ought to be dressed like a lady to +day. I will see to it;” then glancing proudly +at the silk gown, which was laid out with all +the other articles of dress, ready for the +coming ceremony, her heart swelled with +consciousness of her own generosity. “I have +done nothing yet,” continued she; “she has +been with me nearly six years, and always +pleased me entirely, then papa promised her +mother that he should befriend her as long as +we both lived, and he has charged us both to +do our utmost for our brides. Laura has +bought Sally a shawl, I ought to give one too—what +is this common thing? Fanny! +Fanny! wake up. I am come to be your +maid to day, for you shall be mistress on your +wedding morning and have a lady to dress +you. What is this shawl? It will not do +with a silk dress, wait a minute,” and off she +darted, leaving Fanny sitting up and rubbing +her eyes trying to remember what her young +mistress had said. Before she was quite +conscious, Isabel returned with a Norfolk +shawl of fine texture and design, but somewhat +soiled. “There,” said she, throwing it +across the silk gown, “those go much better +together. I will give it you, Fanny.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Thank you, Miss,” said Fanny, in a tone +of hesitation; “but—but suppose, Miss, I was +to wear Thomas’ shawl just to-day, as he +gave it me for the wedding, and John got +<span class='pageno' id='Page_583'>583</span>Sally one like it—I think, Miss—don’t you +think, Miss, it might seem unkind to wear +another just to-day?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Why, it is just to-day I want to make you +look like a lady, Fanny; no, no, you must not +put on that white cotton-looking shawl with +a silk dress, and this ribbon,” said Isabel, +taking up the bonnet, proudly. Fanny looked +sad, but the young mistress did not see this, +for she was examining the white silk gloves, +that lay beside the bonnet. “These,” thought +she, “are not quite right, they look servantish, +but my kid gloves would not fit her, besides, +I have none clean, and it is well, perhaps, that +she should have a few things to mark her +rank. Yes, they will do.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>There was so much confusion between the +lady’s offering help, and the maid’s modestly +refusing it, that the toilette was long in completing. +At last, however, Isabel was in +ecstasies. “Look,” said she, “how the bonnet +becomes you! and the Norfolk shawl, too, no +one would think you were only a lady’s-maid, +Fanny. Stop, I will get a ribbon for your +throat.” Off she flew, and was back again in +five minutes. “But what is that for, Fanny? +Are you afraid it will rain, this bright +morning?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Fanny had, in Isabel’s absence, folded +Thomas’ shawl, and hung it across her arm. +“I thought, Miss,” answered she, blushing, +“that I might just carry it, to show Thomas +that I did not forget his present, or think it +too homely to go to church with me.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Impossible,” said Isabel, who, to do her +justice, we must state, was far too much +excited to suspect that she was making Fanny +uncomfortable; “you will spoil all. There, +put the shawl away,—that’s right, you look +perfect. Go down to your bridegroom, I hear +his voice in the hall, I will not come too, +though I should like above all things to see +his surprise, but I should spoil your meeting, +and I am the last person in the world to do +anything so selfish. One thing more, Fanny: +I shall give you two guineas, that you may +spend three or four days at L——, by the seaside; +no one goes home directly, you would +find it very dull to settle down at once in your +cottage; tell Thomas so.” Isabel then retired +to her room, wishing heartily that she could +part with half her prettiest things, that she +might heap more favours on the interesting +little bride.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Laura’s first thought that morning had +also been of the little orphan, who had served +her so long and faithfully, and whom her +father had commended to her special care. +She, too, had risen early, but without dressing +herself, she went across to Sally. Sally was +asleep, with the traces of tears on her cheeks; +Laura looked at her for a few moments, and +remembered how, when both were too young +to understand the distinction of rank, they +had been almost playmates; she wiped from +her own eyes a little moisture that dimmed +them, then putting her hand gently on Sally’s +shoulder, she said, “Wake, Sally, I call you +early that you may have plenty of time to +dress me first and yourself afterwards. I +know you would not like to miss waiting on +me, or to do it hurriedly for the last time. +You have been crying, Sally, do not colour +about it, I should think ill of you if you were +not sorry to leave us, you cannot feel the +parting more than I do. I dare say I shall +have hard work to keep dry eyes all day, but +we must do our best, Sally, for it will not do +for John to think I grudge you to him, or +that you like me better than you do him.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Oh no, Miss!” replied Sally, who felt at +that moment that she could scarcely love any +one better than her kind mistress. “Still John +will not be hard upon me for a few tears,” +added she, putting the sheet to her eyes.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Come, come, Sally, this will not do, jump +up and dress yourself quickly, that you may +be ready to brush my hair when I return +from the dressing-room; you must do it well +to day, for you know I am not yet suited with +a maid, and must do it myself to-morrow.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>This roused Sally, who dressed in great +haste and was soon at her post. Laura asked +her many questions about her plans for the +future, and found with pleasure that most +things had been well considered and arranged. +“There is only one thing, Miss,” said Sally in +conclusion, “that we are sorry for, and it is +that we cannot offer old Mrs. Maythorn a +home. She has no child but John, and will +sadly feel his leaving her.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“But why cannot she live with you and +work as she does now, so as to pay you for +what she costs?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Why, Miss, where she is she works about +the house for her board, and does a trifle outdoors +besides, that gets her clothing. John +says it makes him feel quite cowardly, as it +were, to see his old mother working at +scrubbing and scouring, making her poor +back ache, when he is so young and strong; +yet we scarcely know if we could undertake +for her altogether. I wish we could.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“How much would it cost you?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“A matter of four shillings a week; besides, +we must get a bed and bedding. That we +could put up in the kitchen, if we bought it +to shut up in the day-time, and, as John says, +Mrs. Maythorn would help us nicely when we +get some little ones. But it would cost a deal +of money to begin and go on with.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I will think of this for you, Sally. It +would be easy for me to give you four shillings +a week now, but I may not always be +able to do it. I may marry a poor man, or +one who will not allow me to spend my money +as I please, and were Mrs. Maythorn to give +up her present employments, she would not +be able to get them back again three or four +years hence, nor would she, at her age, be +able to meet with others; and if you would +find it difficult to keep her now, you would +much more when you have a little family; so +we must do nothing hastily. I will consult +<span class='pageno' id='Page_584'>584</span>Papa; he will tell me directly whether I +shall be right in promising you the four shillings +a week. If I do promise it, you may +depend on always having it.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Oh, thank you, thank you, Miss, for the +thought: I will tell John directly I see him; +the very hope will fill him with joy.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“No,” said Laura, “do not tell him yet, +Sally, for you would be sorry to disappoint +him afterwards, if I could not undertake it. +Wait a day or two, and I will give you an +answer; or, if possible, it shall be sooner. +Now, thank you for the nice brushing: I will +put up my hair while you go and dress; +it is getting late. If you require assistance, +and Fanny is not in your room, tap at +my door, for I shall be pleased to help you +to-day.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Laura was not called in; but when she +thought the toilette must be nearly completed, +went to Sally with the shawl which she had +bought for her the day before. As she +entered, Sally was folding the white one John +had given her. “I have brought you a shawl,” +said Laura, “which I want you to wear to-day; +it is much handsomer than that you are +folding. See, do you like it?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes, Miss,” said Sally, “It is a very good +one, I see,” and she began to re-fold the other; +but Laura noticed the expression of disappointment +with which she made the change, +and taking up the plain shawl, said, “I do not +know whether this does not suit your neat +muslin dress better than mine. Did you buy +it yourself, Sally?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“No, Miss, it was John’s present; but I +will put on yours this morning, if you please, +Miss, and I can wear John’s any day.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“No, no,” replied Laura, “you must put on +John’s to-day. It matters but little to me +when you wear mine, so long as it does you +good service; but John will feel hurt if you +cast his present aside on your wedding-day, +because some one else has given you a shawl +worth a few shillings more.” So Laura put +the white shawl on the shoulders of Sally, who +valued it more than the finest Cashmere in +the world.</p> + +<p class='c006'>As Sally went down stairs, she saw Fanny +in tears on the landing. “I cannot think +how it is,” answered she, in reply to Sally’s +questioning, “but just on this day, when I +thought to feel so happy, I am quite low. +Miss Isabel has been so kind, she has dressed +me, and quite flustered me with her attentions. +See what nice things she has given me—this +shawl—though for that matter, I’d +rather have worn Thomas’s. Oh, how nice +you look. Dear, so neat and becoming your +station, and with John’s shawl, too, but then +Miss Laura has made you no present.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes, a good shawl, and a promise besides, +but I will tell you about that another time. +Let us go in now, they must be waiting +for us.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Fanny felt so awkward in her fine clothes, +that she could scarcely be prevailed on to +encounter the gaze of the servants; but her +good-natured cousin promising to explain +that all her dress was given and chosen by +her mistress, she at last went into the hall. +Sally’s explanation was only heard by a few +of the party, and as Fanny, in trying to conceal +herself from the gaze of the astonished +villagers, slunk behind old Mrs. Maythorn, +she had the mortification of hearing her say +to John, in the loud whisper peculiar to deaf +people, “I am so glad, John, the neat one is +yours; I should be quite frightened to see +you take such a fine lady as Fanny to the +altar; it makes me sorry for Thomas to see +her begin so smart.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>When the ceremony was over, the party +returned to the Hall, where an hospitable +meal had been provided for all the villagers +of good character who chose to partake of it. +It was a merry party, for even Fanny, when +every one had seen her finery long enough to +forget it, forgot it herself. Thomas was very +good-natured about the shawl, and delighted +at the prospect of spending a few days at +L——. He and Fanny talked of the boat-excursions +they would have, the shells they +would gather for a grotto in their garden, and +the long rambles they would take by the seaside, +till they wondered how ever they could +have been contented with the prospect of +going to their cottage at once.</p> + +<p class='c006'>As the pony chaise which the good baronet +had lent for the day, drove up to take the +bridal party to L——, for John and Sally +were also to spend one day there, the two +young ladies came to take leave of their +<i><span lang="fr">protégées</span></i>. Laura said, “Good bye, Sally, +I have consulted Papa and will undertake +to allow you four shillings a week as long as +Mrs. Maythorn lives. Here is a sovereign +towards expenses; you will not, I am sure, +mind changing your five pound note for the +rest.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Isabel said, “Good bye, Fanny. I am very, +very sorry to disappoint you of your treat at +L——, but I intended to have borrowed the +two pounds of Miss Laura, and I find she +cannot lend them to me. Never mind, I am +sure you will be happy enough in your little +cottage. I never saw such a sweet little place +as it is.” So the bridal party drove away.</p> + +<p class='c006'>In less than a week the cousins were established +in their new abode. Sally settled and +happy; but Fanny, unsettled, always expected +the new carpet, the china tea set, and the +various other alterations that Isabel had suggested +and promised to make. The young +lady was, however, unfortunate with her +money. At one time she lost a bank-note; +at another, just as she was counting out money +for the Brussels carpet, the new maid entered +to tell her that sundry articles of dress were +“past mending,” and must be immediately +replaced. One thing after another nipped her +generous intentions in the bud, and at last she +was obliged to set out for her long-expected +journey to France, without having done more +<span class='pageno' id='Page_585'>585</span>towards the fulfilment of her promises than +call frequently on Fanny, to remind her that +all her present arrangements were temporary, +and that she should shortly have almost +everything new.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Good bye, Fanny,” said she at parting; +“I shall often write to you, and send you +money. I will not make any distinct promise, +for I daresay I shall be able to do more than +I should like to say now.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Laura had given Sally a great many useful +things for her cottage, but made no promise +at parting. She said, “Be sure you write to +me, Sally, from time to time, to say how you +are going on, and tell me if you want help.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>When Isabel was gone, Fanny saw that she +must accustom herself to her cottage as it +was, and banish from her mind the idea of +the long-anticipated improvements. It was, +however, no easy task. The window once +regarded as bare and comfortless still seemed +so, in spite of Fanny’s reasoning that it was +no worse than Sally’s, which always looked +cheerful and pretty. To be sure, John, who +did not think of getting curtains, had trained +a honeysuckle over it, still that made but +little show at present. The carpet, too, so +long regarded as a coarse temporary thing, +never regained the beauty it first had to the +eye of Thomas, as he laid it down the evening +before he took Fanny to the cottage; and +Fanny could never forget, as she arranged her +tea-things, that Miss Isabel had called them +“common little things;” so of all the other +pieces of furniture that the young lady had +remarked upon. Sally’s house was, in reality, +more homely than her cousin’s, yet as she had +never entertained a wish that it should be +better, and as Laura had been pleased with +all its arrangements, she bustled about it with +perfect satisfaction; and even to Fanny it +seemed replete with the comfort her own had +always wanted.</p> + +<p class='c006'>At the end of three months Isabel enclosed +an order for three pounds to Fanny, desiring +her to get a Brussels carpet, and if there was +a sufficient remainder, to replace the tea set.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I would rather,” said Fanny to her cousin, +“put up with the old carpet and china, and +get a roll of fine flannel, some coals, an extra +blanket or two, and a cradle for the little one +that’s coming, for it will be cold weather when +I am put to bed; but I suppose as Miss Isabel +has set her mind on the carpet and china, I +must get them.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>A week or two after John was invited, with +his wife and mother, to drink tea from Fanny’s +new china. It was very pretty, so was the +carpet, and so was Fanny making tea, elated +with showing her new wealth.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Is not Miss Isabel generous?” asked she, +as she held the milk-pot to be admired.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I sometimes wish Miss Laura had as much +money to spare,” replied Sally; “for she lets +me lay it out as I please, and I could get a +number of things for three guineas.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Fie, Sally,” said her husband; “are not +three shillings to spend as one pleases, better +than three guineas laid out to please some one +else?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Nonsense, John,” said Fanny, pettishly; +“how can a carpet for my kitchen be bought +to please any one but me?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“John isn’t far wrong either,” answered +her husband; “but the carpet is very handsome, +and does please you and me too, now it +is here.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Time passed on, and Fanny gave birth to a +little girl. Isabel stood sponsor for her by +proxy, sending her an embroidered cloak and +lace cap, and desiring that she should be called +by her own name. Little Bella was very +sickly, and as her mother had not been able +to procure her good warm clothing, or lay in +a large stock of firing, she suffered greatly +from cold during the severe winter that followed +her birth. The spring and summer did +not bring her better health; and as Fanny +always attributed her delicacy to the want of +proper warmth in her infancy, she took a +great dislike to the Brussels carpet, which +now lay in a roll behind a large chest, having +been long ago taken up as a piece of inconvenient +luxury in a kitchen. “I wish you +could find a corner for it in your cottage, +Sally,” said she, “for I never catch a sight of +it without worrying myself to think how much +flannels and coals I might have bought with +the money it cost.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Laura frequently sent Sally small presents +of money, but Isabel, though not so regular +as her sister, surprised every one by the +splendour of her presents, when they did come. +As Bella entered her second year, she received +from her godmother a beautiful little carriage, +which Thomas said must have “spoilt a five pound +note.” This was Isabel’s last gift, for +it was at about this time that she accepted an +offer from a French count, and became so +absorbed in her own affairs, that she forgot +Fanny and Bella too. Poor Bella grew more +and more sickly every month; the apothecary +ordered her beef tea, arrowroot, and other +strengthening diet, but work was slack with +Thomas, and it was with difficulty that he +could procure her the commonest food. “I +am sure,” said Fanny to her cousin, as little +Bella was whining on her knee, “that if only +Miss Isabel were here, she would set us all +right. She never could bear to see even a +stranger in distress.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I wish,” said Thomas, “that great folks +would think a little of what they don’t see. +I’ll lay anything Miss Isabel gives away a +deal of money, more than enough to save our +little one, to a set of French impostors that +cry after her in the street, and yet, when she +knows our child is ill, she never cares, because +she can’t see it grow thin, or hear it cry.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“For shame, Thomas,” said his wife, “do +not speak so rudely of the young lady. Have +you forgotten the pretty carriage she sent +Bella, and how pleased we were when it +came?”</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_586'>586</span>“I don’t mean any harm,” answered her +husband; “only it strikes me that Miss was +pleased to buy the carriage because it was +pretty, and seemed a great thing to send us, +and that she would ’nt have cared a straw to +give us a little each, that would have served +us every bit as well.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I never heard you so ungrateful, Thomas. +Of course she would ’nt, because she wished +to please us.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Or herself, as John said; but may be I +am wrong; only it goes to my heart to see +the child want food while there is a filagree +carriage in the yard that cost more than +would keep her for six months.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well, cheer up,” said Sally; “Miss Laura +will be coming home soon, and I’ll lay anything +she won’t let Bella die of want.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I’m afraid she won’t think of giving to +me, Sally,” said Fanny despondingly; “I was +never her maid, you know.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“You would ’nt fear, if you knew Miss +Laura as I do, Fanny; she never cares who +she helps so long as the person is deserving, +and in want. She has no pride of that sort.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Isabel’s marriage was put off, and Laura’s +return, consequently, postponed. As Bella +grew worse every day, and yet no help came, +the unselfish Sally wrote to her patroness, +telling her of poor Fanny’s distress, and begging +her either to send her help, or speak on +her behalf to her sister.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Isabel was dressing for a party when Laura +showed her Sally’s letter. “Poor Fanny,” +said she, “I wish I had known it before I +bought this wreath. I have, absolutely, not +a half-franc in the world. Will you buy the +wreath of me at half-price, it has not even +been taken from its box.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I do not want it,” said Laura, “but I will +lend you some money.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“No, I cannot borrow more,” said her +sister despondingly. “I owe you already for +the flowers, the brooch, the bill you paid +yesterday, and I know not what else besides; +but I will tell Eugène there is a poor Englishwoman +in distress, I am sure he will send her +something.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Eugène gave a five-franc piece.</p> + +<p class='c006'>It was late one frosty evening when Sally +ran across to her cousin’s cottage, delighted +to be the bearer of the long hoped-for letter. +Fanny was sitting on the fender before a +small fire, hugging her darling to her breast, +and breathing on its little face to make the +air warmer. “I’m afraid,” said she, in answer +to Sally’s inquiries, “that the child +won’t be here long;” and she wiped away a +few hot tears that had forced their way as +she sat listening to the low moans of the little +sufferer.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“But I have good news for you,” said her +cousin, cheerfully. “Here is a letter from +Miss Isabel at last. I would not tell you +before, but I wrote to Miss Laura, saying how +you were expecting every week to be put to +bed again, and how Bella was wasting away, +and see, I was right about her, she has sent +you a sovereign, and her sister’s letter, no +doubt, contains a pretty sum.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Fanny started up, and could scarcely breathe +as she broke the seal. What was her disappointment +on seeing an order for five shillings!</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I am very sorry, my good Fanny,” said +Isabel, “that just now I have no money. A +charitable gentleman sends you five shillings, +and as soon as I possibly can, I will let you +have a large sum. I have not yet paid for +the carriage I sent you, and as the bill has +been given me several times, I must discharge +it before I send away more money. I hope +that by this time, little Bella is better.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Fanny laid her child upon the bed, and +putting her face by its side, shed bitter tears. +Sally did not speak, and so both remained +till Thomas came in from his work. Fanny +would have hidden the letter from him, but +he saw and seized it in a moment.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Five guineas for a carriage, and five shillings +for a child’s life,” said he with a sneer, +as he laid it down. “Do not look for the +large sum, Fanny, you won’t get it; but I +will work hard, and bury the child decently.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Fanny felt no inclination to defend her +mistress. For the first time, it occurred to +her that Thomas and John might be right in +their judgment of her. She raised Bella, as +Thomas, who had been twisting up the money +order, was about to throw it in the fire. He +caught a sight of the child’s wan face, and, +advancing to the bed, said, in a softened tone, +“Do you know father, pretty one?” and as +Bella smiled, faintly, he added, “I will +do anything for your sake. Here, Fanny, +take the money, and get the child something +nourishing.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Bella seemed to revive from getting better +food; and the apothecary held out great +hope of her ultimate recovery, if the improved +diet could be continued; but expenses fell +heavily on Thomas, Fanny was put to bed +with a fine strong little boy, and, though Sally +and Mrs. Maythorn devoted themselves to +her and Bella, the anxiety she suffered from +being separated from her invalid child, added +to her former constant uneasiness, and want +of proper food, brought on a fever that +threatened her life. In a few days she became +quite delirious. During this time Isabel was +married, and Laura returned to England.</p> + +<p class='c006'>When Fanny regained her consciousness +she was in the dark, but she could see someone +standing by the window. On her speaking +the person advanced to her side. “Do +not be startled to find me here,” said a sweet +soft voice. “Sally has watched by your side +for three nights, and when I came this evening +she looked so ill that I insisted on her going +to bed; then, as we could find no one on whose +care and watchfulness we could depend, I +took her place. You have been in a sound +sleep Dr. Hart said you would wake up much +better. Are you better?”</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_587'>587</span>“Yes, ma’am, a deal better; but where am +I, and who is it with me?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“You are in your own pretty cottage, and +Miss Laura is with you. You expected me +home, did you not?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Oh thank God; who sent you, dear Miss +Laura? How is—but may be I had best not +ask just while I am so weak. Is the dear boy +well?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes, quite well; and Bella is much better. +I have sent her for a few days to L——, with +Mrs. Maythorn; the sea air will do her +good.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Oh, thank you—thank you—dear young +lady for the thought. I seem so bound up in +that dear child, that nothing could comfort +me for her loss. How good and kind you are, +Miss—you do all so well and so quietly!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes, Fanny, dear,” said Thomas, coming +from behind the curtain and stooping to kiss +his wife. “Miss Laura has saved you and +Bella, and me too, for I could’nt have lived +if you had died; and has found me work; +and all without making one great present, or +doing anything one could speak about. I’ll +tell you what it is, wife, dear, Miss Isabel +does all for the best, but it is just as she feels +at the moment. Now Miss Laura—if I may +be so bold to speak, Miss—Miss Laura does +not give to please her own feelings, but to do +good. I can’t say it well, but do you say it +for me, Miss; I want Fanny to know the +right words, to teach the little ones by-and-bye. +You know what I wish to say, Miss +Laura.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes Thomas,” said Laura, blushing, “but +I do not say you are right. You mean, I +think, that my sister acts from impulse, and I +from principle. Is that it?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I suppose that’s it, Miss,” said Thomas, +considering, and apparently not quite satisfied.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“You have no harder meaning, I am sure,” +said Laura, quietly, “because I love my sister +very much.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Certainly not, Miss,” returned Thomas. +“But, myself, if I may take the liberty of +gratefully saying so, I prefer to be acted to on +principle, and think it a good deal better than +impulse.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>CHIPS.</h2> +</div> +<h3 class='c004'>TORTURE IN THE WAY OF BUSINESS.</h3> + +<p class='c005'>The mention in a recent number of the +extreme cruelty practised on calves, has +drawn forth the following statement from a correspondent,—a +clergyman in Bedfordshire:—</p> + +<p class='c006'>“A member of my family was witness to +the following act of barbarity, viz., that of +plucking the feathers from a duck while yet +alive. Upon being expostulated with, the +man replied that it was a common practice,—‘we +<i>half</i> break their necks, then pluck +them while they are warm, and then finish +them off.’ This act of cruelty was witnessed +in Brighton Market. If the above will at all +assist you in exposing the atrocities which are +practised on the brute creation, I shall be +thankful. The public generally (save a few +gross sensualists) have only, it is to be hoped, +to be told what is practised on many articles +of consumption, to make them protest against +such wanton insults on God’s workmanship.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The only means of accounting for such +irrational cruelty, is the supposition that the +offending poulterers imagine ducks to be endowed +by nature with no more feeling than +feather-beds.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The savage indifference with which unappreciable +agonies are systematically inflicted +upon sentient creatures, strikes us occasionally +with wonder. The police reports have lately +revealed a case which nothing but the best +testimony could render credible. A correspondent +of the Times Newspaper was some +weeks since walking in the Walworth Road, +when he saw several persons assembled round +the shop of a butcher; half a dozen men were +endeavouring to force two bullocks into a +slaughter-house. The butcher’s journeyman +struck one of the animals on the legs with +a broom handle, which had a sharp pointed +spike. The door of the slaughter-house was +very narrow; the man got a rope and fixed +it tightly round the horns of the bullock, and +some of them then pulled this from the inside +of the slaughter-house; the others were +beating the brute behind and pushing it on. +He saw one of the butchers twisting the +animal’s tail till he doubled it up, and the +bones were dislocated—at least, he was led to +think so by the right angle formed by the two +portions of the tail. The man’s hands were +covered with blood which flowed from the +tail; and he rubbed the dislocated parts together, +which caused the poor animal to moan +most piteously. Several of the bystanders +expressed their disgust.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The fellows were brought before the +Lambeth magistrate by the Society for the +Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; but unfortunately +the principal witness mistook one +of the offenders for another person—his +brother. The complaint, therefore, from that +legal informality, broke down.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The defendants appeared to treat the mere +pulling a bullock through a passage too small +for its comfortable admission, with ropes tied +to its horns; the pushing it with goads from +behind; the agonising twisting of its tail; as +matters of the most perfect indifference. In +his exultation at getting off, one of them +facetiously promised the magistrate, in answer +to an expostulation as to the narrowness of +the passage, “that, to oblige his Worship, he +would make the place big enough to admit a +full-grown elephant, or a hippopotamus.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>We have in former articles shown that +this sort of brutality is of everyday occurrence, +and perpetrated in the regular way of +business. Use begets insensibility. We have +no doubt that the poulterer and butchers +concerned in the atrocities we have detailed, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_588'>588</span>are worthy men enough in their families. +They would not tear the hair out of the +head of a child, or goad a wife with a broomstick, +for the world. They are most likely +tender fathers and affectionate husbands; +but in the way of business, as poulterers, and +butchers, what can exceed, or what censure +can be too sharp for, their cruelty? Exposure +is the only cure; and this we will always do +our part in administering.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>A COTTAGE MEMORY.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c010'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>In that far foreign country, the dream of old days</div> + <div class='line'>And old haunts often bears me to Anthony Wray’s;</div> + <div class='line'>The white little cottage with nest-crowded eaves,</div> + <div class='line'>Peeping out half the year from an ambush of leaves.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And now once again have my footsteps been there,</div> + <div class='line'>And have found it—deserted, dismantled, and bare;</div> + <div class='line'>Except where the wall-flow’rs still cluster and wave</div> + <div class='line'>On the gable: they now are like flow’rs on a grave.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>At that window, I thought as I passed through the door,</div> + <div class='line'>Where the late sunbeam strikes down the weed-covered floor,</div> + <div class='line'>How often the sunlight and moonlight have shone</div> + <div class='line'>Upon bright, living faces, that now are all gone.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>In the choice ingle-nook stood no Martha’s arm-chair,</div> + <div class='line'>But a heap of dead leaves which the wind had swept there;</div> + <div class='line'>The low-talking wind that breathed thoughts of the time</div> + <div class='line'>When young voices rang round like a holiday chime.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And the hearth had become like a cold churchyard stone,</div> + <div class='line'>Encrusted with mould and with moss overgrown,</div> + <div class='line'>That had glowed through so many a long winter night,</div> + <div class='line'>The heart of the cottage, a core of warm light.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>What talk and what mirth there! what tales told or read</div> + <div class='line'>To the children that listened in joy tinged with dread!</div> + <div class='line'>A storm shakes the window; they solemnly gaze</div> + <div class='line'>On each other, and draw their stools nearer the blaze.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Their father is drowsy with labour gone through,</div> + <div class='line'>And the deep satisfaction of nothing to do;</div> + <div class='line'>The woof of light sleep in its network has bound him,</div> + <div class='line'>And home mildly shines through the mist that’s around him.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The mother sits knitting and smiling fond praise;</div> + <div class='line'>The cheek of the youngest shines warm in the blaze</div> + <div class='line'>As he rests his white head on his grandmother’s knee;</div> + <div class='line'>Alas! that these pictures mere phantoms should be.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>As ghosts of burnt roses cloud up from their ashes,</div> + <div class='line'>Rise scenes from the past in these transient flashes;</div> + <div class='line'>Thin visions, soon melted, which leave the heart sore,</div> + <div class='line'>By half-showing that which they will not restore.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Could it be that this Household was gone, and for ever?</div> + <div class='line'>The wood looked unchanged, and the fields, and the river;</div> + <div class='line'>Co-tenants of time, even part did these seem</div> + <div class='line'>Of beings who now are but shapes of a dream.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The broad-leaved horse-chesnut my thoughts used to wed</div> + <div class='line'>With those for whose shelter its boughs seemed to spread,</div> + <div class='line'>Dipped slowly in sunlight its fans as of old,</div> + <div class='line'>But beneath, all had passed “like a tale that is told.”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Long I stood, and had no word of comfort to say</div> + <div class='line'>Yet not unconsoled did I turn me away:</div> + <div class='line'>Thank God for the faith that is stronger than grief,</div> + <div class='line'>The fountain that springs to the parched soul’s relief.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The whispered assurance which raises and soothes,</div> + <div class='line'>That these are the phantoms, and those still the truths;</div> + <div class='line'>And their trials and virtues, their tears and their mirth</div> + <div class='line'><i>Not</i> faded like yesterday’s light from the earth!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>“CAPE” SKETCHES.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>There is a peculiarity evinced by such of +the advocates of colonisation as have acquainted +themselves personally with colonial +life, which puts in a strong light the adaptability +of most of our territories beyond sea +for bettering the condition of enterprising +emigrants. It is this:—each man vaunts loudly +the superiority of the colony he has visited +over all the others. “How is it possible,” +writes a settler in New Zealand to us, +“that people will be so blind as to risk their +capital in Australia while there is New +Zealand, the finest country, with the finest +climate in the world!” The friend, who +occasionally amuses and instructs us with +his vivid sketches of Australian life, exclaims—“New +Zealand!—Where are its +markets?—What is a farmer to do with +his produce when he has got it?—No, no; +my advice is Sydney.” “By no means,” +ejaculates a third, just home from Port +Philip, “South Australia is the country +for an energetic man to gain independence +and wealth.” A successful emigrant, hot from +Hobart Town, vaunts the advantages of Van +Dieman’s Land. Our friend from Canada +over-rides all these opinions. “Why,” he +argues, “go to uncivilised, uncultivated, and +far-off countries, when you can, at once, join +established communities, and enjoy regular +British institutions, only a three weeks’ sail +distant; where markets are regular, food +cheap, and where (on account of the intense +cold) there is nothing to do for one-third of +the year?” Lastly, we are favoured with the +opinion of a five years’ resident in South +<span class='pageno' id='Page_589'>589</span>Africa:—“Truly,” he says, “people who +brave the regions of a northern climate, who +expose their lives in dangerous proximity to +savages, who heed not agues in swamps, nor +thirst in deserts, forget there is such a place +as the Cape of Good Hope.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Although all this one-sided enthusiasm does +not prove either of the respective cases argued +by the different advocates; yet it shows in a +broad light the certain advantages of emigration +in general. To whatever quarter of +the globe the observer turns, he sees, amidst +occasional instances of disappointment and +loss, that emigration has, in general, answered +the expectations of the emigrants. But this +general success he does not attribute to the +soundness of the principle in the abstract, +but to the advantages of the particular +country in which he has witnessed the most +prosperity.</p> + +<p class='c006'>In, therefore, sifting and comparing with +other evidence the numerous papers which +we receive from, and relative to, the various +colonies, it is our aim to give such true +pictures of colonial life as enable the reader +to judge fairly of the pains, pleasures, losses +and gains of all the new homes which have +been established by and for Englishmen in +various parts of the globe.</p> + +<p class='c006'>We have been led into these remarks by a +communication now before us from the gentleman +already mentioned who has passed five +active years in the colony of the Cape of +Good Hope. His characteristic preface to +the amusing and instructive sketches of Cape +Life is as follows:—</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I cannot but think, that, in the present +rage for promoting emigration, too much +attention is paid to new and untried countries +whose resources are as yet doubtful and +undeveloped, to the detriment of the old +established colonies, whose constant cry is +for ‘labour, labour, labour.’ Amongst the +least popular of our old colonies is the Cape +of Good Hope. Yet I think, that most, if +not all, the objections usually raised against +it are erroneous; while many of its undoubted +advantages are overlooked. It is my desire, +if possible, to remove some of the prejudices +entertained against a land where I spent five +happy years of my life. My intention is +simply to give a few travelling sketches, and +to portray some of the characteristic features +of the country and its inhabitants.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Cape Wine enjoys a very unenviable notoriety +in England. Order a glass of sherry at +a fourth-rate tavern: taste it—it is <i>very</i> bad—you +turn up your nose and cry “Cape!” +Mr. Lazarus, a Hebrew dealer in wine and +money, “does a little bill” for you, and sends +you home as part payment a few dozen of +“excellent Madeira.” Are you rash enough +to taste it? If so, as soon as you have +recovered from the sputtering caused by its +fearful acidity, you mutter a phrase never +mentioned to ears polite, and say again—“Cape!” +In fact, whenever you drink any +vile compound, under the name of wine, to +which you are at a loss to ascribe a native +land, you cry—“Cape!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The old adage of “give a dog a bad name +and hang him,” is fully exemplified here. +Still it must be admitted that the dog must +first have <i>earned</i> his bad name. So it is with +Cape Wine. It <i>was</i> very bad, and a great +part of it is so still; while decidedly the worst +of it is sent to England. I have often endeavoured +to persuade the wine farmers that +this is bad policy on their part; but they +will not be convinced. They say that Cape Wine +has a bad name in the market; that it +is bought only as “Cape Wine,” without any +distinction of vintage or class; and that the +worst of it brings them as good a price as the +best. And yet there is a vast difference in +the various qualities; and even the best of +them are still susceptible of wonderful improvement.</p> + +<p class='c006'>There is a similarity between the Cape and +the Madeira grape. Both are cultivated very +much in the same manner, but the grand +point of difference between the two is the +time of gathering the grapes. In Madeira +they are not gathered till so ripe that many +begin to fall, and many are withered from +over ripeness; these are of course rejected. +By this means a smaller amount of wine is +obtained from a vineyard than would have +been produced had the grapes been gathered +earlier: but the quality of the wine is improved +beyond conception. Every grape is +full, ripe, and luscious, and the wine partakes +of its quality. Nothing can prove more +clearly the necessity of the grape being fully, +and rather <i>over</i> ripe, than the difference of +the wine produced on the north side of the +Island of Madeira, where this perfection of +the grape can scarcely be attained, and that +grown on the south side: the latter is Nectar; +the former Cape; or little better.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Now at <i>the</i> Cape the object of the farmer is +always to get the greatest <i>quantity</i> of wine +from his vineyard; and consequently he +gathers his grapes when they are barely ripe, +and none have fallen or withered; whereby +he fills his storehouses with wine full of +acidity and of that vile twang which all who +have tasted shudder to recal.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Some of the wine-growers in the colony have +lately pursued a different plan, and with vast +success. This has been chiefly among the +English colonists; for a Dutch boor at the +Cape is a very intractable animal, and not +easily induced to swerve from old systems, be +they ever so bad. Probably, the principal +reason why the colony produced from the +very first such bad wines, was its having +been colonised by Dutchmen, who could +have had no experience at home in wine-growing.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Who knows what might have been the case +had a colony from the plains of Champagne +or Bordeaux first settled there? Apropos of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_590'>590</span>this, I may mention that a fellow passenger of +mine was a Frenchman from Champagne. +At the Cape he entered into partnership with +a young Englishman (also a fellow passenger), +and agreed to take a wine farm. The Englishman +was to supply capital—the Frenchman +knowledge. Monsieur had determined to +make “Cape Champagne;” and remarkably +well he succeeded. Often at public and even +at private dinners, when swallowing something +dignified with the name of that right-royal +wine, have I sighed to think how far more +palatable would be a bottle of Monsieur +L——’s vintage.</p> + +<p class='c006'>It perhaps requires a greater outlay of +capital to be a successful wine-grower than +almost anything else in the colony. There are, +in addition to the purchase of land and vines, +the expenses of storehouses, casks, and, above +all, that most difficult commodity to attain—labour. +So great is the want of the latter, +and so uncertain the supply of even that which +is attainable, that he is a bold man who ventures +on wine-farming at the Cape.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The wine-growers are generally wealthy +men, for, in spite of all obstacles, their profits +are very large. Few people who even touch +at the Cape fail to visit the Constantia wine +farms, producing the delicious sweet wine of +that name. It is grown on a mountain named +after the wife of one of the former Governors +of the Cape—whether in compliment to the +lady’s sweetness of disposition, or her love for +the wine then produced, I know not. Three +farms monopolise this mountain. Even half a +mile from them, the wine produced is of a very +inferior flavour. They live in excellent style, +these Constantia wine-growers. When first +I visited one of them, a carriage-and-four and +two buggies, conveying a party of Indian +visitors, had just drawn up at the door. A +<i><span lang="fr">déjeûner</span></i> was spread in a long, handsome, and +elegantly-furnished apartment, for the entertainment +of any one who might chance to +come and visit the farm. Two or three superintendents +were ready to show the “lions” of +the place to visitors, and to give them samples +of the wine to taste. There are many varieties +of it. And, oh, how seductive that same Constantia +is! Who can resist it in all its +delicious varieties?</p> + +<p class='c006'>I recollect that as I rode towards the farm +I passed a toll-gate, and looking, I suppose, +extremely like a “griffin” (for I had only been +a week in the colony), the “pikeman” observed, +as he took my twopence, and handed me the +ticket, “Hopes you’ll be able to read it as you +comes back, Sir!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“What do you mean?” I asked.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“No offence, Sir,” said the man with a grin; +“only I’ve seed a many as <i>couldn’t</i>—that’s +all.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The three Constantia wine-growers are +Dutchmen; and so, in fact, are nearly all the +wine farmers throughout the colony. Englishmen +who go out there generally take to trade +or sheep-farming; and they are right,—for it +requires far less experience, less capital, and +less labour, to follow almost any calling at the +Cape than that of a wine-grower. I think, +however, that a Company might be profitably +established here or in the colony, for cultivating +the vine there and importing its produce +to Europe. For this purpose, they should +send out labourers and superintendents, carefully +selected from the wine districts of France +and Germany; and take care that the Madeira +plan of gathering the grapes be adopted. They +should agitate, too, for a reduction of the duty +on the wine: at present it is far too high. +Perhaps the profits would not at first be +great, for there is a serious obstacle to be +overcome,—a bad name in the market; but +eventually I believe that the speculation +would be a lucrative one, and that it would +in time remove the unfortunate stigma now +affixed to Cape wine.</p> + +<p class='c009'>In these days of railroad travelling, when +twenty miles an hour would be considered +slow enough to justify a letter of complaint +from “Viator” to the editor of the Times, it +may rather astonish my readers to learn that +twenty miles is considered a fair day’s journey +at the Cape. Yet so it is.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Unless you amble on horseback, which only +men and <i>young</i> men can undertake, the sole +and universal method of travelling is by an +ox-wagon. Just go and see the wagon +exhibited by Cumming in his South-African +Exhibition, at Hyde Park corner! Imagine +such a machine, with twelve or fourteen oxen +attached to it by a long rope of plaited hide +(called a treck-tow) attached to the pole, and +to which are fastened the yokes of the oxen. +Then fancy a little Hottentot lad, very much +like one of the Bushmen lately exhibited in +London (but, perhaps, hardly so handsome,) +leading the two front oxen by a strip of hide +fastened to their horns (called a reim), and a +full-grown Hottentot seated on the driving-seat, +in the front of the wagon, with an enormous +whip in his hands formed of a long +bamboo handle and a lash of plaited thongs, +with which he can, from his seat, reach the +leaders of his team; and you have the “travelling +carriage” of South Africa complete +before your eyes.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The same team (or “span” in South-African +phraseology) of oxen take you the whole +journey, whether it be twenty or two hundred +miles; and as they have no other food on the +way, nor indeed at any other time, than the +grass and water on the roadside, you may imagine +that twenty or twenty-five miles a day is +quite work enough for them. The journey is, +however, by no means so tedious or uninteresting +an affair as might be supposed. It is +like so many days of pic-nic-ing, with new +scenery each day, and in a glorious climate. +The wagon is of course well furnished with +tea, sugar, coffee, wine, flour, eggs, fresh and +preserved meat, vegetables, and in fact all +that refreshes and cheers the inward man: +<span class='pageno' id='Page_591'>591</span>for, be it recollected, that there are no inns, +or at least the very few there are are scattered +at such great distances apart over the +country that no wagon traveller thinks of +visiting them. The wagon in fact becomes +your home and your store-house as well as +your travelling carriage. A long stretcher +is slung in it, on which is placed your bed, +which serves for a lounging couch by day. +Some people travel with a tent, but this is unnecessary +when the party does not exceed two +or three, besides the Hottentots, who sleep +under the wagon, or under a bush or anywhere +else on the ground, as soundly as their +masters in their beds.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Travellers generally take their guns with +them, as they may chance to get a little sport +on the road. At six in the morning we will +suppose the carriage to start; at about ten +you will “outspan”—that is, take out the +oxen and let them feed, and prepare for breakfast. +Your Hottentots soon collect fuel, the +wagon is drawn up close by a mimosa or some +other bush, a fire is lighted, the kettle set to +boil, the coffee prepared, the steaks cooked in +a frying-pan, and perhaps some hot cakes +made of meal baked for you; and with a +beautiful country round you, and a magnificent +sky above you, if you cannot make a good +breakfast, and feel a light heart, I fear that +you must be terribly “used up.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Then comes a stroll through the bush with +your double-barrel on your shoulder, in search +of a partridge or a Guinea fowl, or a stray +antelope; and back to the wagon, now ready +for another start.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Forward, again, till dinner-time, when the +same process is gone through. After dinner, +perhaps you will go forward another four +or five miles, and then “outspan” for the +night.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The nights of the Cape climate are glorious! +I can scarcely imagine anything more beautiful. +The sky of that deep, dark blue, which +we never see in northern climates; the moon +shining as she only can in such a sky, the +stars so bright and distinct, with the beautiful +southern cross in all its brilliancy, among +them; the perfect stillness of everything +around; the lofty and rugged mountains +where the foot of man has never trodden; +the thick dark bush, penetrable only by +the wild beast or the savage; the broad +plain covered with Aloes, Cape Heaths, Wild +Stocks, and the ten thousand variegated +shrubs which make a carpet beneath your +feet as beautiful as the canopy of heaven +above your head; and that little spot worthy +the pencil of Salvator Rosa—the dark foliage +of the bush lighted up by your fire, and +around it the dusky forms of your Hottentots +stretched at their ease, and enjoying, as none +but a half savage knows how thoroughly to +enjoy, the requisite delight of the “<span lang="it">Dolce far +niente</span>.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>No doubt railroads are glorious inventions. +All honour, too, to Macadam, and to stagecoaches +and post-chaises; all praise to the +comforts and convenience of a good English +Inn. But if you have a spark of native poetry +in your composition, in spite of bad roads, +slow travelling, rough fare, and a bed “al +fresco,” you will enjoy one of these South +African journeys more than any trip you +ever took in Europe. You have no other +travelling companions than the beauties of +Nature’s works around you, fresh as from +the hands of their Creator, and the thoughts +and reflections high and holy, as such scenes +and such companionship will not fail to call +forth.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>CHEMICAL CONTRADICTIONS.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>Science, whose aim and end is to prove +the harmony and “eternal fitness of things,” +also proves that we live in a world of paradoxes; +and that existence itself, is a whirl of +contradictions. Light and darkness, truth +and falsehood, virtue and vice, the negative +and positive poles of galvanic or magnetic +mysteries, are evidences of all-pervading antitheses, +which acting like the good and evil +genii of Persian Mythology, neutralise each +other’s powers when they come into collision. +It is the office of science to solve these mysteries. +The appropriate symbol of the lecture-room +is a Sphinx; for a scientific lecturer is +but a better sort of unraveller of riddles.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Who would suppose, for instance, that water—which +everybody knows, extinguishes fire—may, +under certain circumstances, add fuel +to flame, so that the “coming man” who is +to “set the Thames on fire,” may not be far +off. If we take some mystical grey-looking +globules of potassium (which is the metallic +basis of common pearl-ash) and lay them upon +water, the water will instantly appear to ignite. +The globules will swim about in flames, reminding +us of the “death-fires” described by +the Ancient Mariner, burning “like witches’ +oil” on the surface of the stagnant sea. +Sometimes even, without any chemical ingredient +being added, Fire will appear to spring +spontaneously from water; which is not a +simple element, as Thales imagined, when he +speculated upon the origin of the Creation, +but two invisible gases—oxygen and hydrogen, +chemically combined. During the electrical +changes of the atmosphere in a thunder-storm, +these gases frequently combine with explosive +violence, and it is this combination which +takes place when “the big rain comes dancing +to the earth.” These fire-and-water phenomena +are thus accounted for; certain substances +have peculiar affinities or attractions +for one another; the potassium has so inordinate +a desire for oxygen, that the moment +it touches, it decomposes the water, abstracts +all the oxygen, and sets free the hydrogen or +inflammable gas. The potassium, when combined +with the oxygen, forms that corrosive +substance known as caustic potash, and the +heat disengaged during this process, ignites +<span class='pageno' id='Page_592'>592</span>the hydrogen. Here the mystery ends; and +the contradictions are solved;—Oxygen and +hydrogen when combined, become water; +when separated the hydrogen gas burns with a +pale lambent flame. Many of Nature’s most +delicate deceptions are accounted for by a +knowledge of these laws.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Your analytical chemist sadly annihilates, +with his scientific machinations, all poetry. +He bottles up at pleasure the Nine Muses, +and proves them—as the fisherman in the +Arabian Nights did the Afrite—to be all +smoke. Even the Will o’ the Wisp cannot +flit across its own morass without being pursued, +overtaken, and burnt out by this scientific +detective policeman. He claps an extinguisher +upon Jack o’ Lanthorn thus:—He +says that a certain combination of phosphorus +and hydrogen, which rises from watery +marshes, produces a gas called phosphuretted +hydrogen, which ignites spontaneously the +moment it bubbles up to the surface of the +water and meets with atmospheric air. Here +again, the Ithuriel wand of science dispels all +delusion, pointing out to us, that in such +places animal and vegetable substances are +undergoing constant decomposition; and as +phosphorus exists under a variety of forms +in these bodies, as phosphate of lime, phosphate +of soda, phosphate of magnesia, &c., +and as furthermore the decomposition of +water itself is the initiatory process in these +changes, so we find that phosphorus and +hydrogen are supplied from these sources; +and we may therefore easily conceive the +consequent formation of phosphuretted hydrogen. +This gas rises in a thin stream from +its watery bed, and the moment it comes in +contact with the oxygen of the atmosphere, +it bursts into a flame so buoyant, that it +flickers with every breath of air, and realises +the description of Goëthe’s Mephistopheles, +that the course of Jack-o’-lantern is generally +“zig-zag.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Who would suppose that absolute darkness +may be derived from two rays of light! +Yet such is the fact. If two rays proceed from +two luminous points very close to each other, +and are so directed as to cross at a given point +on a sheet of white paper in a dark room, their +united light will be twice as bright as either +ray singly would produce. But if the difference +in the distance of the two points be +diminished only one half, the one light will +extinguish the other, and produce absolute +darkness. The same curious result may be +produced by viewing the flame of a candle +through two very fine slits near to each other +in a card. So, likewise, strange as it may +appear, if two musical strings be so made to +vibrate, in a certain succession of degrees, as +for the one to gain half a vibration on the +other, the two resulting sounds will antagonise +each other and produce an interval +of perfect silence. How are these mysteries +to be explained? The Delphic Oracle of +science must again be consulted, and among +the high priests who officiate at the shrine, +no one possesses more recondite knowledge, or +can recal it more instructively, than Sir David +Brewster. “The explanation which philosophers +have given,” he observes, “of these +remarkable phenomena, is very satisfactory, +and may easily be understood. When a wave +is made on the surface of a still pool of water +by plunging a stone into it, the wave advances +along the surface, while the water +itself is never carried forward, but merely +rises into a height and falls into a hollow, +each portion of the surface experiencing an +elevation and a depression in its turn. If we +suppose two waves equal and similar, to be +produced by two separate stones, and if they +reach the same spot at the same time, that is, +if the two elevations should exactly coincide, +they would unite their effects, and produce a +wave twice the size of either; but if the one +wave should be put so far before the other, +that the hollow of the one coincided with the +elevation of the other, and the elevation of +the one with the hollow of the other, the +two waves would obliterate or destroy one +another; the elevation as it were of the one +filling up half the hollow of the other, and +the hollow of the one taking away half the +elevation of the other, so as to reduce the +surface to a level. These effects may be exhibited +by throwing two equal stones into a +pool of water; and also may be observed in +the Port of Batsha, where the two waves +arriving by channels of different lengths +actually obliterate each other. Now, as light +is supposed to be produced by waves or undulations +of an ethereal medium filling all +nature, and occupying the pores of the transparent +bodies; and as sound is produced by +undulations or waves in the air: so the successive +production of light and darkness by +two bright lights, and the production of +sound and silence by two loud sounds, may be +explained in the very same manner as we have +explained the increase and obliteration of +waves formed on the surface of water.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The apparent contradictions in chemistry +are, indeed, best exhibited in the lecture-room, +where they may be rendered visible +and tangible, and brought home to the +general comprehension. The Professor of +Analytical Chemistry, J. H. Pepper, who +demonstrates these things in the Royal Polytechnic +Institution, is an expert manipulator +in such mysteries; and, taking a leaf out of +his own magic-book, we shall conjure him up +before us, standing behind his own laboratory, +surrounded with all the implements of his +art. At our recent visit to this exhibition we +witnessed him perform, with much address, +the following experiments:—He placed before +us a pair of tall glass vessels, each filled, +apparently, with water;—he then took two +hen’s eggs, one of these he dropped into one +of the glass vessels, and, as might have been +expected, it immediately sank to the bottom. +He then took the other egg, and dropped it +<span class='pageno' id='Page_593'>593</span>into the other vessel of water, but, instead of +sinking as the other had done, it descended +only half way, and there remained suspended +in the midst of the transparent fluid. This, +indeed, looked like magic—one of Houdin’s +sleight-of-hand performances—for what could +interrupt its progress? The water surrounding +it appeared as pure below as around +and above the egg, yet there it still hung like +Mahomet’s coffin, between heaven and earth, +contrary to all the well established laws of +gravity. The problem, however, was easily +solved. Our modern Cagliostro had dissolved +in one half of the water in this vessel as +much common salt as it would take up, +whereby the density of the fluid was so much +augmented that it opposed a resistance to the +descent of the egg after it had passed through +the unadulterated water, which he had carefully +poured upon the briny solution, the +transparency of which, remaining unimpaired, +did not for a moment suggest the suspicion of +any such impregnation. The good housewife, +upon the same principle, uses an egg to +test the strength of her brine for pickling.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Every one has heard of the power which +bleaching gas (chlorine) possesses in taking +away colour, so that a red rose held over its +fumes will become white. The lecturer, referring +to this fact, exhibited two pieces of +paper; upon one was inscribed, in large +letters, the word “<span class='sc'>Proteus</span>;” upon the other +no writing was visible; although he assured +us the same word was there inscribed. He +now dipped both pieces of paper in a solution +of bleaching-powder, when the word “Proteus” +disappeared from the paper upon which +it was before visible; whilst the same word +instantly came out, sharp and distinct, upon +the paper which was previously a blank. +Here there appeared another contradiction: +the chlorine in the one case obliterating, and +in the other reviving the written word; and +how was this mystery explained? Easily +enough! Our ingenious philosopher, it seems, +had used indigo in penning the one word +which had disappeared; and had inscribed +the other with a solution of a chemical substance, +iodide of potassium and starch; and +the action which took place was simply this: +the chlorine of the bleaching solution set free +the iodine from the potassium, which immediately +combined with the starch, and gave +colour to the letters which were before invisible. +Again—a sheet of white paper was +exhibited, which displayed a broad and brilliant +stripe of scarlet—(produced by a compound +called the bin-iodide of mercury)—when +exposed to a slight heat the colour +changed immediately to a bright yellow, and, +when this yellow stripe was crushed by +smartly rubbing the paper, the scarlet colour +was restored, with all its former brilliancy. +This change of colour was effected entirely +by the alteration which the heat, in the one +case, and the friction, in the other, produced +in the particles which reflected these different +colours;—and, upon the same principle, we +may understand the change of the colour in +the lobster-shell, which burns from black to +red in boiling; because the action of the +heat produces a new arrangement in the +particles which compose the shell.</p> + +<p class='c006'>With the assistance of water and fire, +which have befriended the magicians of every +age, contradictions of a more marvellous character +may be exhibited, and even the secret +art revealed of handling red hot metals, and +passing through the fiery ordeal. If we take +a platinum ladle, and hold it over a furnace +until it becomes of a bright red heat, and +then project cold water into its bowl, we +shall find that the water will remain quiescent +and give no sign of ebullition—not so much +as a single “fizz;” but, the moment the +ladle begins to cool, it will boil up and quickly +evaporate. So also, if a mass of metal, heated +to whiteness, be plunged in a vessel of cold +water, the surrounding fluid will remain tranquil +so long as the glowing white heat continues; +but, the moment the temperature +falls, the water will boil briskly. Again—if +water be poured upon an iron sieve, the wires +of which are made red hot, it will not run +through; but, on the sieve cooling, it will +run through rapidly. These contradictory +effects are easily accounted for. The repelling +power of intense heat keeps the water from +immediate contact with the heated metal, and +the particles of the water, collectively, retain +their globular form; but, when the vessel +cools, the repulsive power diminishes, and the +water coming into closer contact with the +heated surface its particles can no longer +retain their globular form, and eventually expand +into a state of vapour. This globular +condition of the particles of water will account +for many very important phenomena; +perhaps it is best exhibited in the dew-drop, +and so long as these globules retain their +form, water will retain its fluid properties. +An agglomeration of these globules will carry +with them, under certain circumstances, so +much force that it is hardly a contradiction +to call water itself a solid. The water-hammer, +as it is termed, illustrates this apparent +contradiction. If we introduce a certain +quantity of water into a long glass tube, when +it is shaken, we shall hear the ordinary +splashing noise as in a bottle; but, if we +exhaust the air, and again shake the tube, we +shall hear a loud ringing sound, as if the +bottom of the tube were struck by some hard +substance—like metal or wood—which may +fearfully remind us of the blows which a +ship’s side will receive from the waves during +a storm at sea, which will often carry away +her bulwarks.</p> + +<p class='c006'>It is now time to turn to something stronger +than water for more instances of chemical contradictions. +The chemical action of certain +poisons (the most powerful of all agents,) +upon the human frame, has plunged the +faculty into a maze of paradoxes; indeed +<span class='pageno' id='Page_594'>594</span>there is actually a system of medicine, advancing +in reputation, which is founded on +the principle of contraries. The famous +Doctor Hahnemann, who was born at Massieu +in Saxony, was the founder of it, and, strange +to say, medical men, who are notorious for +entertaining contrary opinions, have not yet +agreed among themselves whether he was a +very great quack or a very great philosopher. +Be this as it may, the founder of this system, +which is called <span class='sc'>Homœopathy</span>, when translating +an article upon bark in Dr. Cullen’s Materia +Medica, took some of this medicine, which had +for many years been justly celebrated for the +cure of ague. He had not long taken it, when +he found himself attacked with agueish +symptoms, and a light now dawned upon his +mind, and led him to the inference that +medicines which give rise to the symptoms of +a disease, are those which will specifically +cure it, and however curious it may appear, +several illustrations in confirmation of this +principle were speedily found. If a limb be +frost-bitten, we are directed to rub it with +snow; if the constitution of a man be impaired +by the abuse of spirituous liquors, and he be +reduced to that miserable state of enervation +when the limbs tremble and totter, and the +mind itself sinks into a state of low muttering +delirium, the physician to cure him must go +again to the bottle and administer stimulants +and opiates.</p> + +<p class='c006'>It was an old Hippocratic aphorism that +two diseases cannot co-exist in the same +body; wherefore, gout has actually been cured +by the afflicted person going into a fenny +country and catching the ague. The fatality +of consumption is also said to be retarded by +a common catarrh; and upon this very principle +depends the truth of the old saying, that +ricketty doors hang long on rusty hinges. In +other words, the strength of the constitution +being impaired by one disease has less power +to support the morbid action of another.</p> + +<p class='c006'>We thus live in a world of apparent contradictions; +they abound in every department +of science, and beset us even in the +sanctuary of domestic life. The progress of +discovery has reconciled and explained the +nature of some of them; but many baffle our +ingenuity, and still remain involved in mystery. +This much, however, is certain, that the most +opposed and conflicting elements so combine +together as to produce results, which are +strictly in unison with the order and harmony +of the universe.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>AN IRISH PECULIARITY.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>The characteristics attributed by one nation +to another are never patented without +some foundation in truth; but, in time, by +means of successive overlays of jest, constant +repetition, and the heaping up of one +exaggeration upon another, national portraiture +flashes forth into glaring caricature. +If we were to believe old plays and old novels, +we should suppose that, only a half century +since, every Englishman fed exclusively on +roast beef and plum-pudding—rattled his +guineas in ample pockets, tightened by the +portly protuberance of his figure, and rapped +out oaths against “frog-eating Mounseers” +with the same energy with which, after dinner, +he imbibed crusted port to the health and +prosperity of Church and State. On Sunday +morning we view him, through the same +medium, standing upright in his red-cushioned +pew, pronouncing the responses with the <i><span lang="fr">ore +rotundo</span></i> of Sir Roger de Coverley, and, like +that worthy baronet, looking daggers at little +boys whom he catches napping.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The Scotchman of the same authorities was +invariably a long, lean, raw-boned, hungry, +grey-eyed Sawney, with high cheek-bones, +reddish hair, and a diffused aroma of brimstone +pervading his threadbare garments. Pertaining +to him also, by inalienable birth-right, +was an insatiable appetite for oaten-cakes, +haggis, and singed sheep’s head; of which +viands the supply usually fell very far short +of the demand. No matter what his rank in +life might be, he was forced, as a necessary +condition of his existence, to talk “braid +scots,” and to look sharply after the “siller.” +Somehow, he regularly found his way to +London, where a lucrative place, and a rich +wife, to whom he continually proclaimed the +glories of the “Land o’ Cakes,” gratified and +rewarded his cautious persevering endeavours +to replenish his “pouch and sporran;” for +all Scotchmen were Highlanders, and were +supposed only to have abandoned their kilts +in deference to decency and English prejudice +while in the act of crossing the border.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The Irishman of novel, tale, or comedy, +was a Phelim or a Patrick, always either +immersed in love or drink and often the +victim of both these exciting predicaments:—telling +humorous lies, making unheard-of +blunders, winning money by his tricking +cleverness, and losing it by his unaccountable +folly; leading a good-humoured, reckless, +rollicking life, breaking the hearts and +emptying the purses of maid, wife, and +widow; and carrying off every shade of embarrassment +with the cut-and-dry exclamation, +“By the powers!”—“Arrah, honey!”—or, +“Och, my jewel!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>All this served very well to amuse the +juvenile minds of our grand parents, but in +these days when the wandering jewish propensity +to travel over the face of the earth, +has attained its full development, we find it +to be a well-ascertained fact that there are +Englishmen who affect fricassees more than +roast beef, drink French wines, and dress in +the French fashion; that Scotchmen may be +found, even in Scotland, who have neither +caution in their heads, avarice in their hearts, +nor kilts round their bodies. Facility of intercourse +has done this. The ancient prophecy +is being daily fulfilled:—“Many shall +run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” +<span class='pageno' id='Page_595'>595</span>Railways have rounded off the +sharp angles of national dislikes, by promoting +social attrition. The locomotive engine +is the steam-plough which tears up local +prejudices by the roots.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Thus the Rose and the Thistle are vindicated, +but the tiny shamrock still droops its +green leaf in the atmosphere of public estimation. +In judging of Irish character, a very +useful distinction drawn in the days of good +Queen Bess is overlooked. It divided the +nation into “the Irish, the wild Irish, and +the extreme wild Irish.” In justice, these +distinctions ought to be preserved; for the +“Irish” of the present day are, upon the +whole, pretty much like other well-bred, +well-educated members of the civilised +world; eating, drinking, sleeping, dressing, +and living much as their neighbours do. +But it must be owned that the lower orders,—the +“wild Irish” of the towns, and the +“extreme wild Irish” of the bogs and +mountains,—present some striking and picturesque +peculiarities to justify the conventional +Irishman of the old novel: the most +prominent being that mingled love of fun +and fighting, which would make one believe +that the atmosphere of the four fair provinces +is compounded in equal portions of +inflammable and laughing gas.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Very deplorable, indeed, must be the state +of an Irishman—he must “be gone to the bad +entirely,” when he can neither smile nor +quarrel; and often even “under the ribs of +death” is “an appetite created” for these +excitements. He loves fun; but fighting is +his pride and his glory. For fighting he +forswears name and wealth. You may call +him by all the uncomplimentary names in the +vocabulary of censure, and he hears you +meekly; but cast an imputation on his +courage or his prowess, and—“Hah! Whoo!”—you +will feel his shillelagh whizzing around +your ears like a fire-work in a state of +explosion.</p> + +<p class='c006'>An illustration of this peculiarity, of the +ease with which a “wild Irishman” will +forego every prudent consideration in preference +to the disgrace of having been beaten +in battle occurred, but a short while since. +In a Union workhouse in the south, some of +the able-bodied paupers came into rather +forcible collision with the officials. The cause +of dispute was the supply of “stirabout,” +which being deemed insufficient by a few stout +fellows, they marched into the kitchen, seized +ladles and bowls, and proceeded to help themselves. +An alarm of this lawless incursion +being given, in rushed to the rescue the +master and his myrmidons. Fast and furious +were the blows dealt by both parties, but the +strong hand of the law at length prevailed, +the well-fed officers triumphed over their +famine-weakened foes, and the stalwart master +counted his victory by the number of broken +heads prostrated by the huge ladle which he +wielded. The proprietors of the damaged +craniums were subsequently conveyed to the +surgeon’s room, and severally bandaged and +plastered as their cases required. Most of +the hurts were found to be trifling, but one +poor fellow had received a severe contusion. +With the dislike which many of his +countrymen feel, to submit to the prescription +of qualified practitioners, Tim Murphy, in a +day or two, asked for his discharge, threw off +the well-fixed bandages, and betook himself to +the squalid shelter of a cabin belonging to an +“uncle’s son,” nearly as poor as himself, an +unqualified “docther,” whose unprofessional +practice it was to prescribe charms and +philtres in place of physic. This reckless +proceeding was followed by its natural result. +The hurt which, with common care, would +have readily healed, became inflamed, fever +ensued, and the man died. This melancholy +finale to the workhouse row caused much +excitement, and an investigation of the whole +business was instituted by the magistrates. +On the day when it took place, the hall of +the workhouse was crowded, and although it +was shown that the master was justified in +using force to protect the kitchen stores from +the paupers, and it was also proved that +under proper surgical treatment the patient +would, in all human probability, have recovered, +yet the point to be decided was, +whether John Minahan, the master, had used +unnecessary violence in the discharge of his +duty. The principal witness against him, was +a man who appeared with evident “tokens +of a foughten field” on his forehead, and who +indeed had been the only recipient, besides +Tim Murphy, of any serious injury. The +examination proceeded nearly as follows:—</p> + +<p class='c006'>After having deposed readily and clearly to +the fact of the combat, and of John Minahan +having rushed to the rescue of the porridge-pots, +he was asked:</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Did you see the master strike any one in +particular?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Not he, indeed; he was no ways particular; +but he murdhered and killed every one +that came in his way.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Did he strike you?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Did he strike me, is it? Why, then, if he +did, I paid it back to him handsomely.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Answer distinctly. Whom did you see +him strike?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Ah, then, little matter ’twould be who +he’d strike, if the boys had his feeding, and +he had theirs to depend on for one month. +It’s little good the son of ould Thady Minahan, +the tinker, would do, if he was living on Ingy +male and water.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Come, come,” said the magistrate, impatiently, +“give me a plain answer to a +plain question. Did Minahan knock <i>you</i> +down?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Is it the likes of him to knock me down? +I’d like to see him try it. He didn’t, nor +couldn’t, your Honour’s glory.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Up started the accused, and cried; “I <i>did</i> +knock you down, and bate you well, too. Your +<span class='pageno' id='Page_596'>596</span>Honours,” he continued, turning to the bench, +“if I’m to swing for it the next minute, I +won’t let <i>that</i> go with the vagabone. I wouldn’t +lave it to him to say that I didn’t knock him +down, and murder him handsomely to his +heart’s content.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The witness had been summoned to prove +that the master had used unnecessary violence; +the defendant was there to prove he had not +employed more force than the occasion demanded. +But would they establish such +proofs at the expense of their respective +reputations? Should it be said that Tim +Murphy’s friend, or John Minahan, were +not able to “murther ach other intirely,” +at any given minute’s notice? Never! +Tim Murphy’s friend would starve on “Ingy +male,” and John Minahan would lose his +place first.</p> + +<p class='c006'>What became of the witness has not been +stated; but the defendant did lose his situation; +the guardians of the Union thought +that his national ideas of honour were undoubtedly +more suited to military than to +civil avocations.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Although it is doubtful whether <i>the</i> Irish +peculiarity will ever be totally eradicated from +the national character, yet the savage custom +of faction-fighting is becoming each year more +rare. Sometimes, indeed, at the close of a fair a +“bit of a fight” does spring up; but the +casualties thence resulting, are seldom of a +grave or fatal character; and the contending +parties may frequently be seen proceeding +homewards, with arms lovingly linked together, +and tongues vowing eternal friendship; +although this, it must be confessed, is +an indication of a renewal rather than of the +end of an Irish fight.</p> + +<p class='c006'>No doubt the process of fusing the national +peculiarities of the three kingdoms is advancing +rapidly. It is no wild speculation to +anticipate the probability, that fifty years +hence there may be little apparent difference +between an average native of England, Ireland, +(always excepting the “extreme wild Irishman”) +or Scotland.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>WHERE DWELL THE DEAD?</h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c010'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Where do they dwell? ‘Neath grassy mounts, by daisies,</div> + <div class='line'>Lilies, and yellow-cups of fairest gold;</div> + <div class='line'>Near grey-grown walls, where in wild, tortuous mazes,</div> + <div class='line'>Old clustering ivy wreathes in many a fold:</div> + <div class='line in6'>Where in red summer noons</div> + <div class='line in6'>Fresh leaves are rustling,</div> + <div class='line in6'>Where ’neath large autumn moons</div> + <div class='line in6'>Young birds are nestling—</div> + <div class='line in14'>Do they dwell there?</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Where do they dwell? In sullen waters, lying</div> + <div class='line'>On beds of purple sea-flowers newly sprung;</div> + <div class='line'>Where the mad whirlpool’s wild and ceaseless sighing,</div> + <div class='line'>Frets sloping banks, by dark green reeds o’erhung:</div> + <div class='line in6'>Where, by the torrent’s swell,</div> + <div class='line in6'>Crystal stones glitter,</div> + <div class='line in6'>While sounds the heavy bell</div> + <div class='line in6'>Over the river—</div> + <div class='line in14'>Do they dwell there?</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>No: for in these they slumber to decay,</div> + <div class='line'>And their remembrance with their life departs;</div> + <div class='line'>They have a home,—nor dark, nor far away—</div> + <div class='line'>Their proper home.—within our faithful hearts;</div> + <div class='line in6'>There happy spirits wed,</div> + <div class='line in6'>Loving for ever;</div> + <div class='line in6'>There dwell with us, the dead,</div> + <div class='line in6'>Parting—ah, never—</div> + <div class='line in14'>There do they dwell!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>FATE DAYS.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>It is a difficult puzzle to reconcile the +existence of certain superstitions that continue +to have wide influence with the enlightenment +of the nineteenth century. When +we have read glowing paragraphs about the +wonderful progress accomplished by the +present generation; when we have regarded +the giant machinery in operation for the +culture of the people—moved, in great part, +by the collective power of individual charity; +when we have examined the stupendous +results of human genius and ingenuity which +are now laid bare to the lowliest in the realm; +we turn back, it must be confessed, with a +mournful despondency, to mark the debasing +influence of the old superstitions which have +survived to the present time.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The superstitions of the ancients formed +part of their religion. They consulted oracles +as now men pray. The stars were the arbiters +of their fortunes. Natural phenomena, as +lightning and hurricanes, were, to them, +awful expressions of the anger of their particular +deities. They had their <i><span lang="la">dies atri</span></i> and +their <i><span lang="la">dies albi</span></i>; the former were marked down +in their calendars with a black character, to +denote ill-luck, and the latter were painted in +white characters to signify bright and propitious +days. They followed the finger-posts +of their teachers. Faith gave dignity to the +tenets of the star-gazer and fire-worshipper.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The priests of old taught their disciples to +regard six particular days in the year as days +fraught with unusual danger to mankind. +Men were enjoined not to let blood on these +black days, nor to imbibe any liquid. It was +devoutly believed that he who ate goose on +one of these black days would surely die within +forty more; and that any little stranger who +made his appearance on one of the <i><span lang="la">dies atri</span></i> +would surely die a sinful and violent death. +Men were further enjoined to let blood from +the right arm on the seventh or fourteenth of +March; from the left arm on the eleventh of +April; and from either arm on the third or +sixth of May, that they might avoid pestilential +diseases. These barbaric observances, when +brought before people in illustrations of the +mental darkness of the ancients, are considered +at once to be proof positive of their +abject condition. We thereupon congratulated +ourselves upon living in the nineteenth century; +when such foolish superstitions are +<span class='pageno' id='Page_597'>597</span>laughed at; and perhaps our vanity is not +a little flattered by the contrast which presents +itself, between our own highly cultivated +condition, and the wretched state of our +ancestors.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Yet Mrs. Flimmins will not undertake a +sea-voyage on a Friday; nor would she on +any account allow her daughter Mary to be +married on that day of the week. She has +great pity for the poor Red Indians who +will not do certain things while the moon +presents a certain appearance, and who +attach all kinds of powers to poor dumb +brutes: yet if her cat purrs more than usual, +she accepts the warning, and abandons the trip +she had promised herself on the morrow.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Miss Nippers subscribes largely to the fund +for eradicating superstitions from the minds +of the wretched inhabitants of Kamschatka; +and while she is calculating the advantages to +be derived from a mission to the South Sea +Islands, to do away with the fearful superstitious +reverence in which those poor dear +islanders hold the native flea: a coal pops +from her fire, and she at once augurs from its +shape, an abundance of money that will enable +her to set her pious undertaking in operation; +but on no account will she commence +collecting subscriptions for the anti-drinking-slave-grown-sugar-in-tea +society, because she +has always remarked that Monday is her +unlucky day. On a Monday her poodle died, +and on a Monday she caught that severe cold +at Brighton, from the effects of which she is +afraid she will never recover.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Mrs. Carmine is a very strong-minded +woman. Her unlucky day is Wednesday. +On a Wednesday she first caught that flush +which she has never been able to chase from +her cheeks, and on one of these fatal days her +Maria took the scarlet fever. Therefore, she +will not go to a pic-nic on a Wednesday, +because she feels convinced that the day will +turn out wet, or that the wheel will come off +the carriage. Yet the other morning, when a +gipsy was caught telling her eldest daughter +her fortune, Mrs. Carmine very properly reproached +the first-born for her weakness, in +giving any heed to the silly mumblings of the +old woman. Mrs. Carmine is considered to +be a woman of uncommon acuteness. She +attaches no importance whatever to the star +under which a child is born,—does not think +there is a pin to choose between Jupiter and +Neptune; and she has a positive contempt +for ghosts; but she believes in nothing that +is begun, continued, or ended on a Wednesday.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Miss Crumple, on the contrary, has seen +many ghosts,—in fact, is by this time quite +intimate with one or two of the mysterious +brotherhood; but at the same time she is at a +loss to understand how any woman in her +senses, can believe Thursday to be a more fortunate +day than Wednesday, or why Monday +is to be black-balled from the Mrs. Jones’s +calendar. She can state, on her oath, that the +ghost of her old schoolfellow, Eliza Artichoke, +appeared at her bedside on a certain night and +she distinctly saw the mole on its left cheek, +which poor Eliza, during her brief career, had +vainly endeavoured to eradicate, with all sorts +of poisonous things. The ghost, moreover, +lisped,—so did Eliza! This was all clear +enough to Miss Crumple, and she considered it +a personal insult for anybody to suggest that +her vivid apparitions existed only in her own +over-wrought imagination. She had an affection +for her ghostly visitors, and would not +hear a word to their disparagement.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The unearthly warnings which Mrs. Piptoss +had received had well-nigh spoilt all her furniture. +When a relative dies, the fact is +not announced to her in the commonplace +form of a letter,—no, an invisible sledgehammer +falls upon her Broadwood, an invisible +power upsets her loo-table, all the +doors of her house unanimously blow open, +or a coffin flies out of the fire into her lap.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Mrs. Grumple, who is a very economical +housewife, looks forward to the day when the +moon re-appears,—on which occasion she turns +her money, taking care not to look at the pale +lady through glass. This observance, she +devoutly believes, will bring her good fortune. +When Miss Caroline has a knot in her lace, +she looks for a present; and when Miss Amelia +snuffs the candle out, it is her faith that the +act defers her marriage for a twelvemonth. +Any young lady who dreams the same dream +two consecutive Fridays, will tell you that +her visions will “come true.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Yet these are exactly the ladies, who most +deplore the “gross state of superstition” in +which many “benighted savages” live, and +willingly subscribe their money for its eradication. +The superstition so generally connected +with Friday, may easily be traced to +its source. It undoubtedly and confessedly +has its origin in scriptural history: it is the +day on which the Saviour suffered. The +superstition is the more revolting from this +circumstance; and it is painful to find that it +exists among persons of education. There is no +branch of the public service, for instance, in +which so much sound mathematical knowledge +is to be found, as in the Navy. Yet who are +more superstitious than sailors, from the +admiral down to the cabin boy? Friday +fatality is still strong among them. Some +years ago, in order to lessen this folly, it was +determined that a ship should be laid down +on a Friday, and launched on a Friday; that +she should be called “Friday,” and that she +should commence her first voyage on a Friday. +After much difficulty a captain was found +who owned to the name of Friday; and after +a great deal more difficulty men were obtained, +so little superstitious, as to form a +crew. Unhappily, this experiment had the +effect of confirming the superstition it was +meant to abolish. The “Friday” was lost—was +never, in fact, heard of from the day she +set sail.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Day-fatality, as Miss Nippers interprets it +<span class='pageno' id='Page_598'>598</span>is simply the expression of an undisciplined +and extremely weak mind; for, if any person +will stoop to reason with her on her aversion +to Mondays, he may ask her whether the +death of the poodle, or the catching of her +cold, are the two greatest calamities of her +life; and, if so, whether it is her opinion +that Monday is set apart, in the scheme of +Nature, so far as it concerns her, in a black +character. Whether for her insignificant +self there is a special day accursed! Mrs. +Carmine is such a strong-minded woman, +that we approach her with no small degree; +of trepidation. Wednesday is her <i><span lang="la">dies ater</span></i>, +because, in the first place, on a Wednesday +she imprudently exposed herself, and is suffering +from the consequences; and, in the +second place, on a Wednesday her Maria took +the scarlet fever. So she has marked Wednesday +down in her calendar with a black +character; yet her contempt for stars and +ghosts is prodigious. Now there is a consideration +to be extended to the friends of +ghosts, which Day-fatalists cannot claim. +Whether or not deceased friends take a more +airy and flimsy form, and adopt the invariable +costume of a sheet to visit the objects of their +earthly affections, is a question which the +shrewdest thinkers and the profoundest logicians +have debated very keenly, but without +ever arriving at any satisfactory conclusion.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The strongest argument against the positive +existence of ghosts, is, that they appear only +to people of a certain temperament, and under +certain exciting circumstances. The obtuse, +matter-of-fact man, never sees a ghost; and +we may take it as a natural law, that none +of these airy visitants ever appeared to an +attorney. But the attorney, Mr. Fee Simple, +we are assured, holds Saturday to be an unlucky +day. It was on a Saturday that his +extortionate bill in poor Mr. G.’s case, was +cut down by the taxing master; and it +was on a Saturday that a certain heavy bill +was duly honoured, upon which he had hoped +to reap a large sum in the shape of costs. +Therefore Mr. Fee Simple believes that the +destinies have put a black mark against +Saturday, so far as he is concerned.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The Jew who thought that the thunder-storm +was the consequence of his having +eaten a slice of bacon, did not present a more +ludicrous picture, than Mr. Fee Simple presents +with his condemned Saturday.</p> + +<p class='c006'>We have an esteem for ghost-inspectors, +which it is utterly impossible to extend to +Day-fatalists. Mrs. Piptoss, too, may be +pitied; but Mog, turning her money when +the moon makes her re-appearance, is an +object of ridicule. We shall neither be astonished, +nor express condolence, if the present, +which Miss Caroline anticipates from the +knot in her lace, be not forthcoming; and as +for Miss Amelia, who has extinguished the +candle, and to the best of her belief lost her +husband for a twelvemonth, we can only +wish for her, that when she is married, her +lord and master will shake her faith in the +prophetic power of snuffers. But of all the +superstitions that have survived to the present +time, and are to be found in force among +people of education and a thoughtful habit, +Day-fatalism is the most general, as it is the +most unfounded and preposterous. It is a superstition, +however, in which many great and +powerful thinkers have shared, and by which +they have been guided; it owes much of its +present influence to this fact; but reason, +Christianity, and all we have comprehended +of the great scheme of which we form part, +alike tend to demonstrate its absurdity, and +utter want of all foundation.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>A LETTER ABOUT SMALL BEGINNINGS.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='sc'>Sir</span>,—Fortunate mistakes are by no means +uncommon. In your number seventeen you +fall into an error in reference to the Westminster +Ragged Dormitory; in the correction +of which I have the good fortune to be able +to give you some interesting information. +You stated that the particular institution +there alluded to was founded by Mr. Walker, +the city missionary—that was the error. The +credit is due, and should have been given +to Mr. C. Nash, who was formerly a schoolmaster, +employed by Mr. Walker to teach a +ragged school which that gentleman had +established before “Ragged Schools” had received +their appropriate designation and wide +popularity.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The tact, management, and energy displayed +by Mr. Nash in forming and establishing +the St. Ann Street dormitory deserve every +praise; but the ground was in some measure +prepared for him by his former principal. +The manner in which this was done shows +“the power of small beginnings,” even in a +stronger light than was exhibited in your +article with that title.<a id='r3'></a><a href='#f3' class='c008'><sup>[3]</sup></a></p> + +<div class='footnote' id='f3'> +<p class='c006'><a href='#r3'>3</a>. At page 407.</p> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>In the year 1840 it became my duty to +enquire into the condition of what are but too +literally the outcasts of society; and for that +purpose obtained introductions to several city +missionaries—adequate description of the +scenes of harrowing want, disease, and crime +into which those gentlemen introduced me, it +would be impossible to pen. They alone +seemed able to penetrate the dark moral atmosphere. +They were always welcomed even by +the poorest and the worst.</p> + +<p class='c006'>As one specimen of the efforts made by the +Westminster missionaries, I was introduced +to a dilapidated shed in New Pye Street. +Here I found several young children of both +sexes, in rags, and some nearly naked. The +scene was most grotesque; the clotted hair, +the mud-covered hands and faces, and the +haggard countenances, at once told a tale +which would have pierced the coldest heart. +They were being taught reading and needlework. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_599'>599</span>They were not particularly orderly +and some showed a quaint, pantomimic, half-witted +disposition to be funny, which pained +rather than amused the spectator. Most of +them were the sons and daughters of thieves. +The small beginning which gave rise to the +general idea of Ragged Dormitories took rise +in an event for which I can vouch.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The missionary who had formed this school +was standing one day, in 1846, at its door, +when two adult thieves appealed to him in +behalf of a wretched boy who had, they said, +been cruelly maltreated and kicked out of +doors by his mother, because his day’s prowl +for the purpose of thieving had been unsuccessful. +“Why do you not take pity on him +yourselves?”—asked the missionary. “Why!”—one +of them answered,—“why, if you knew +what a thief’s life is as well as we do; you +would not train a dog to thieving.” It must +have been, thought the missionary, a desperate +case which could have so forcibly excited the +sympathies of two hardened depredators; and +he determined to see into it. He soon found the +boy; and his condition was too debased for +any description which would not excite loathing. +Having made the lad decent, he took +him to the model lodging-house in Great +Peter Street, benevolently commenced and +mainly supported by Lord Kinnaird. The +boy was kept there for four months; supported +three out of the four solely out of the +missionary’s slender private funds.</p> + +<p class='c006'>This circumstance forced on his attention +the necessity of providing shelter for such +juvenile outcasts, and he drew up an appeal +to certain benevolent persons to that effect. +The secretary of the Ragged School Union +immediately promised that if the missionary +would find house room, he would find funds. +A house was taken in Old Pye Street, which +was soon afterwards opened as the Westminster +Juvenile Refuge and School of Industry. +This establishment was afterwards +removed to Duck Lane, where it now flourishes, +under a roof which formerly covered a Thieves’ +public-house. The transformation is thus +described by the gentleman who made it, in a +pamphlet now before me:—</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Indulge me for a moment,” he says, “with +a glance at the old public-house, (now The +Refuge!) Let us look in at the upper room—(now +the girls’ school). Here were fifty +youths met around their master (as able a one +in his calling as England could produce), +listening with undivided attention to his +instructions on the ‘map,’—(a pair of trowsers +suspended from the ceiling)—on the +subject of ‘fob-ology,’ or pocket-picking. After +this course of tuition, the next was the +mock trial—an imitation of the Old Bailey +Court, with a <i>fac-simile</i> of its functionaries +and ordeal, done with very great taste, and +calculated to make the young rascal not only +expert in extracting from the fob or pocket, +but clever in defence. To train the young +novice in his first essay, he was supplied with +a glass, below in the tap—(now the dining-room +of the children). If successful, then he +returned for the purpose of reporting his success, +and having a game at skittles in the +skittle ground—(now the boys’ school-room.)”</p> + +<p class='c006'>A concise calculation of the respective expenses +entailed on the country, in the same +house, under its former and present destiny, +may here be made. When it was a finishing-school +for thieves, each, on conviction and +transportation, cost the community not less +than one hundred and fifty pounds. Comparing +fifty thieves in the upper room with +the fifty pupils now in the lower room, we find +that, for the first fifty the cost was five thousand +five hundred pounds; for the present +fifty, two hundred and fifty pounds. Had the +five thousand five hundred pounds been used +for the preventing instead of the punishing of +crime, what would not have been accomplished +for these neglected mortals? It would +have educated eleven hundred youths, many +of whom would not only have been rescued +from vice and crime, but have become a +blessing instead of a curse to society.</p> + +<p class='c006'>What I have described, then, is the true +origin of the class of institutions to which +that founded by Mr. Nash belongs.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The Duck Lane Ragged School and Dormitory +averages at present a daily attendance +of two hundred and twenty children of both +sexes, forty have no fathers, twenty eight +have no mothers, eighteen are orphans, six of +the fathers have been transported. Provision +is made for ten who are totally destitute; +they are fed and lodged on the premises; +twenty-four thieves and vagrants have been +admitted during the year, and many more +refused for want of support; eleven have +emigrated, three have been provided with +situations in this country; some of those have +spent three, five, seven, and ten years in a +course of crime; who have gone forth from +this Institution after a moral and an industrial +training, and are now doing well.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Three of the emigrants have given an +account of themselves in the following joint +epistle to Mr. Walker, their benefactor. It +is so characteristic that we print it almost +literally:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in16'>“<i>B——, July 18th 1850.</i></div> + <div class='line'>“Mr. Walker,</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>“Dear Sir,—You may wonder how it is that +you have not heard from us before, but as they +that came from Mr. Nash, was going to write, +they promised Mr. Cain that they would acquaint +you of our safe arrival. We left Gravesend on the +Sunday morning, and sailed out for the great +depths of the Atlantic, which gave us some <i>great +shakes</i> before we got to our journey’s end. The +vessel proved to be in but a sorry condition for +passengers, there being hardly any dry berths on +board, and ours the worst of the whole lot, Mr. +Cain and Churn got another berth aft, and Fred +and me had to take to the sails room aft where +we stopt during the remainder of the voyage. We +had four deaths on board, two babies, one old +lady, and one of the poor sailors who fell from +the fore top across the windlass, which killed him +<span class='pageno' id='Page_600'>600</span>instantly. We made the passage in about five +weeks and five days, as we arrived at New York +on the 17th of May. We found it to be a place +quite different to our likeing, and so we left it and +proceeded up the country without anything in +our pockets, for we were determined not to be +discouraged, though in a strange land, for we knew +that we had the same eye watching over us here +as we had in England so we pushed on, on board +of a canal boat that was going to Buffalo, but +stopping about 2½ Miles from the Town of +B—— on account of a breakage in the canal, we +took the opportunity to look round the Town for +work and was fortunate enough to fall into work, +the three of us. Fred is learning the harness making, +as he did not much care about learning +the shoemaking over again, as me and Churn has +to do, for the work here is as different to what we +had been accustomed to as light from darkness. +I do scarcely anything but upper leathers, with +now and then a pair or two of Boy’s Boots which +I make here in about three hours, being all pegged +work, as for closing you must not take a day to +close one pair, but must do 16 or 18 pair a day, +and 6 or 8 pair of what you call Wellingtons. So +you will see by this that it is no use coming over +unless you mean to work in downright ernest, for +they think of nothing but of making money, up +at ½ past 4 four in the morning, begin work at five +and keep on till seven in the evening, and no time +allowed for your meals but eat away as fast as you +like and then back again to work, our breakfast +here beats all the dinners in England, for theres +roast and boil meats, pies, puddings, cakes, salids, +tea, coffee, bread and butter which latter article +comes on at all meals. We had grand doings here +on the fourth of July, in anniversary of their Independence +fireworks, Bonfires, Circus, shows, +firemen going round all the City with the engines +decorated out with flowers which look very +pretty. The President of the united States died +at Washington on the tenth of this month of +Billious Diarrhoæ, he is to be buried on Friday the +12th. Twenty years ago this Town was nothing +but a low swampy mass of Land, with but one +house on it, now it is a flourishing place with +twenty thousand inhabitants, its rise is owing to a +salt spring about 2 miles off where they make vast +quantities of salt, indeed it is one of the chief +trades here it employs about three thousand +hands all the summer, but they do not work at it +in the winter, their weekly earnings are from 4 to +5 Dollars that is 1 pound English. It is very +hard work I can tell you, in this country were the +thermometer is never much less than 100 during +the summer, where they have got to stand over +large Furnaces, attending to the boiling of the +salt. I do not think that I shall rest contended +over here longer than a few years, for a man earns +not a fraction more here than he does in England, +the only difference is, that he works more hours +here than he does there and consequently he is +glad to get home to rest himself, instead of +fooling his money away at the pothouse, and +then some of the things are rather cheaper here, +and as I told you before they only think of getting +money. I shall write and let you know more +about it when I have been over some time longer, +I shall then I guess know more about the place. +You can tell the others if they come over that I +should advise them to push up a little higher in +the country than stop in New York as it is far +better, and tell them that they need not mind +having any money for they will not starve over +here for we found the people very kind to us here +not like they are in England. You must excuse +this funny letter, as it is the work of several +evenings, and therefore it may read curious, for I +have felt rather unsettled as yet being among +strangers, but I will write you another shortly, +when I feel more at home, and will give you a +further description of the place, so you must +excuse all faults. Timothy Case left his place in +New York, for what reason I do not know further +than that he said he only was going there till we +came that he might go with us, as he felt sure +when I saw New York that I should not stop in +it, and that if we would not go with him, he should +then have gone by himself. I felt very vexed +with him at leaving, and tried to persuade to stop +but it was no use, so Fred and me took him +under our care and got our boss to take him where +he is now learning the harness making. I guess +he will get about 20 Dollars a year he being hardly +an inch taller than he was at home. When you +return an answer direct to me at Mr. Apples Boot +and Shoe Store 8 Empire Block B—— Onoydaga +County State of New York. They don’t say +streets, but call them Blocks, and they <i>guess</i> they +don’t <i>think</i> here so I suppose that I shall get a +regular Yankee in time. It is tremendous hot +here now, and I feel it so when at work very +much. Tell Mr. Slade that I will write him a +letter <i>soon</i>. I get 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> english money a week or +30 Dollars a year of this, board lodging and washing +which is pretty fair wages here for boys, learning +pegged work, the general pay being 15 or 18 +dollars a year, but as we had learned the other +work our boss gave us thirty, (boss here is what +they call the Master in England) Fred and Churn +gets the same wages, as me, you must give all our +best loves and wishes to all the School children, +and we hope that they will all value their learning, +which they will find will be a blessing and comfort +to them hereafter. You can tell them that I often +think of them when I sit at work and that I +almost fancy that I am in the old shop once +more hearing their voices as they say their lessons +showing how strong fancy leads us back again +to old familiar scenes, I hope that God will +bless and prosper them all in this life, and that +he will take them to his everlasting home is the +fervent prayer of John Jones. Give our love to +all kind friends at home, for so I am bound to +call it, and receive the same yourself with +Mrs. W—— and Harriet.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“From yours ever affectionate pupils,</div> + <div class='line in12'>“J. J., J. H. C., and F. J.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Before reception into the Duck Lane School, +all these boys had been thieves. J. J. had +lived by plunder for seven years; J. H. C. +had been a thief from early childhood; and +F. J. from the age of five years.</p> + +<hr class='c013'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><i>On the 20th inst. will be published, price 5s. 6d., neatly bound in Cloth</i>,</div> + <div class='c014'><span class='large'>THE FIRST VOLUME</span></div> + <div>OF</div> + <div>“HOUSEHOLD WORDS,”</div> + <div class='c014'><i>Containing Numbers 1 to 26</i>.</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c014'> +</div> +<div class='tnotes x-ebookmaker'> + +<div class='chapter ph2'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c015'> + <div>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<table class='table0'> + <tr> + <th class='c016'>Page</th> + <th class='c016'>Changed from</th> + <th class='c017'>Changed to</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c018'><a href='#t581'>581</a></td> + <td class='c019'>her with a curtesy, and thought how pleased</td> + <td class='c020'>her with a curtsey, and thought how pleased</td> + </tr> +</table> + + <ul class='ul_1'> + <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 78195 ***</div> + </body> + <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57i (with regex) on 2026-02-07 22:51:42 GMT --> +</html> diff --git a/78195-h/images/cover.jpg b/78195-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f1af8b --- /dev/null +++ b/78195-h/images/cover.jpg |
