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Article A QUEER CAREER. ← Page 7 of 13 →
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A Queer Career.
then he frantically passed the blade up and down the leather—then he impetuousl y pulled a hair—several hairs—from his not too liberally provided occiput , passed the blade of his weapon through a single one—splitting it as it went—posed in a dignified attitude , and sold his boxes , at a penny each , like wildfire . When trade from time to time appeared to slacken , he improved the occasion by handing round a War Office form wherein was inscribed the legend that Vigilance Jollybod
y , occupation ostler's clerk , had " entered the 16 th Lancers 19 th December , 1849 , and was discharged—ill health aud incapacity—12 fch January , 1 S 51—character good . " Somehow this didn't fit in with Ferozeshah , Aliwal and Sobraon . He was " clothed and in his right mind " surely when next I saw Mm . It was on Tower Hill in the spring of the following year , 1852 . He wore the ( it was the first time ) the buttoned-up surtout—I will take my oath he sported a " dickey . " He had the largest stand-up shirt collar any man except an Ethiopian serenader ever appeared in in public . His " goss " was tall and sheeny . His manner was oily and bland . He had a little—oh !
sucli a very little paper-covered trunk at his feet before him . It contained his stock-intrade , which consisted of an infallible corn salve . He glibly expatiated on the merits of this lenitive , but he left the piu'veying thereof to—ah . ' There was a wretched , washedout-looking , cadaverous woman—oh , so pallid !—oh , so worn!—with a baby , oh , such a tiny weazened baby ! clinging to her— -as the papoose hangs on to the poor Indian girl . Mite as it was , it seemed too heavy for her infinitesimal allowance of strength , and this poor wretch lided in and out amongst the grinning crowdand sold the portions
g , penny , and carried the coins meekly to the paper-covered miniature trunk , and ever and anon looked towards the gesticulating hero , the twopenny-halfpenny " brave" of this " squaw who carried the tent-poles , " with , oh ! so much foolish love ! with , oh ! so much weak womanly admiration ! Oh ! Bah ! Husband or no husband , or so-called husband , or what ought to be husband—woman , " last at the cross and first at the sepulchre" —it is a bad siwhen a man cannot salute theeand own—reverentlown—that with all th
gn , y y whims—all thy caprices—all thy huinoiu's—and thou hast many of each , Heaven knowsthe world God has given us would be—without thee—as a geological formation scientifically to be analysed and appraised , but wholly deprived of cheering , exhilarating , invigorating , trouble compensating flowers .
I wonder what had become of this poor squaw and her elfin burthen in the latter part of this same year , 1852 , when , in the Strutton Ground , Westminster , I again came across Mr . Mole , debonnair as usual , engaged in a peculiar Idud of commercial enterprise , which I will now proceed to describe . I think it is as old as Hogarth , that is , as far back as Hogarth's time , that some contemporary delineator of manners sketched the itinerant who strode London streets
with a bunch of straw under his . arm , and sold blades thereof at a penny each , giving a presumably equivocal pamphlet into the bargain . " I don't sell my books , I sell my straw , " was the cry of this chapman . To digress for one moment , it is very odd to reflect how this harmless agricultural product , this glorified grass , suggesting peaceful and innocent rural ideas , has always , like " that noble animal , the horse , " of our school-books , associated itself with knavery . Didn't the " sham bail" who used to loaf about
Ser-, jeants' and Clifford ' s Inn , and Judges' Chambers—Lord ! I knew the last surviving one well—prepared at a moment ' s notice to swear that they were each worth a thousand pounds after all then debts were paid—didn't each potentially perjured scoundrel carry a blade of straw sticking out of his shoe , to announce to debtors in the hands of Slowinan or Levy that he was to be hired to incur the contingent penalty of seven years' transportation for half-a-erown ? Bead "Pickwick" on this point tic
up your , scep . However , to return to Mr . Mole . In the crowded thoroughfare of the Strutton Ground , one cold winter ' s evening , that gentleman was moving about very briskly , and corificieutialiy addressing an admiring public beneath the naphtha lamps of the butchers establishments and the stalls of the street market of that populous neighbourhood . He was
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Queer Career.
then he frantically passed the blade up and down the leather—then he impetuousl y pulled a hair—several hairs—from his not too liberally provided occiput , passed the blade of his weapon through a single one—splitting it as it went—posed in a dignified attitude , and sold his boxes , at a penny each , like wildfire . When trade from time to time appeared to slacken , he improved the occasion by handing round a War Office form wherein was inscribed the legend that Vigilance Jollybod
y , occupation ostler's clerk , had " entered the 16 th Lancers 19 th December , 1849 , and was discharged—ill health aud incapacity—12 fch January , 1 S 51—character good . " Somehow this didn't fit in with Ferozeshah , Aliwal and Sobraon . He was " clothed and in his right mind " surely when next I saw Mm . It was on Tower Hill in the spring of the following year , 1852 . He wore the ( it was the first time ) the buttoned-up surtout—I will take my oath he sported a " dickey . " He had the largest stand-up shirt collar any man except an Ethiopian serenader ever appeared in in public . His " goss " was tall and sheeny . His manner was oily and bland . He had a little—oh !
sucli a very little paper-covered trunk at his feet before him . It contained his stock-intrade , which consisted of an infallible corn salve . He glibly expatiated on the merits of this lenitive , but he left the piu'veying thereof to—ah . ' There was a wretched , washedout-looking , cadaverous woman—oh , so pallid !—oh , so worn!—with a baby , oh , such a tiny weazened baby ! clinging to her— -as the papoose hangs on to the poor Indian girl . Mite as it was , it seemed too heavy for her infinitesimal allowance of strength , and this poor wretch lided in and out amongst the grinning crowdand sold the portions
g , penny , and carried the coins meekly to the paper-covered miniature trunk , and ever and anon looked towards the gesticulating hero , the twopenny-halfpenny " brave" of this " squaw who carried the tent-poles , " with , oh ! so much foolish love ! with , oh ! so much weak womanly admiration ! Oh ! Bah ! Husband or no husband , or so-called husband , or what ought to be husband—woman , " last at the cross and first at the sepulchre" —it is a bad siwhen a man cannot salute theeand own—reverentlown—that with all th
gn , y y whims—all thy caprices—all thy huinoiu's—and thou hast many of each , Heaven knowsthe world God has given us would be—without thee—as a geological formation scientifically to be analysed and appraised , but wholly deprived of cheering , exhilarating , invigorating , trouble compensating flowers .
I wonder what had become of this poor squaw and her elfin burthen in the latter part of this same year , 1852 , when , in the Strutton Ground , Westminster , I again came across Mr . Mole , debonnair as usual , engaged in a peculiar Idud of commercial enterprise , which I will now proceed to describe . I think it is as old as Hogarth , that is , as far back as Hogarth's time , that some contemporary delineator of manners sketched the itinerant who strode London streets
with a bunch of straw under his . arm , and sold blades thereof at a penny each , giving a presumably equivocal pamphlet into the bargain . " I don't sell my books , I sell my straw , " was the cry of this chapman . To digress for one moment , it is very odd to reflect how this harmless agricultural product , this glorified grass , suggesting peaceful and innocent rural ideas , has always , like " that noble animal , the horse , " of our school-books , associated itself with knavery . Didn't the " sham bail" who used to loaf about
Ser-, jeants' and Clifford ' s Inn , and Judges' Chambers—Lord ! I knew the last surviving one well—prepared at a moment ' s notice to swear that they were each worth a thousand pounds after all then debts were paid—didn't each potentially perjured scoundrel carry a blade of straw sticking out of his shoe , to announce to debtors in the hands of Slowinan or Levy that he was to be hired to incur the contingent penalty of seven years' transportation for half-a-erown ? Bead "Pickwick" on this point tic
up your , scep . However , to return to Mr . Mole . In the crowded thoroughfare of the Strutton Ground , one cold winter ' s evening , that gentleman was moving about very briskly , and corificieutialiy addressing an admiring public beneath the naphtha lamps of the butchers establishments and the stalls of the street market of that populous neighbourhood . He was