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twg_000012584400 | I ever knew that at the very corner where we now stand he had _many_ and many a time knocked down and robbed people. That man is now an earnest Christian, and, like Paul, goes about preaching the Name which he once despised." At the moment a dark shadow seemed to pass them, and a gruff voice said, "Good-night, sir." | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584401 | "Was that the man you were speaking of?" asked Sir Richard, quickly. "Oh no, sir," replied Seaward with a laugh; "that's what he was once like, indeed, but not what he is like now. His voice is no longer gruff. Take care of the step, gentlemen, as you pass here; so, now we will go into this lodging. It is | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584402 | one of the common lodging-houses of London, which are regulated by law and under the supervision of the police. Each man pays fourpence a night here, for which he is entitled to a bed and the use of the kitchen and its fire to warm himself and cook his food. If he goes to the same lodging every night for | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584403 | a week he becomes entitled to a free night on Sundays." The room into which they now entered was a long low chamber, which evidently traversed the whole width of the building, for it turned at a right angle at the inner end, and extended along the back to some extent. It was divided along one side into boxes or | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584404 | squares, after the fashion of some eating-houses, with a small table in the centre of each box, but, the partitions being little higher than those of a church-pew, the view of the whole room was unobstructed. At the inner angle of the room blazed a coal-fire so large that a sheep might have been easily roasted whole at... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584405 | jets, fixed along the walls at intervals, gave a sufficient light to the place. This was the kitchen of the lodging-house, and formed the sitting-room of the place; and here was assembled perhaps the most degraded and miserable set of men that the world can produce. They were not all of one class, by any means; nor wer... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584406 | criminal, though certainly many of them were. The place was the last refuge of the destitute; the social sink into which all that is improvident, foolish, reckless, thriftless, or criminal finally descends. Sir Richard and Welland had put on their oldest great-coats and shabbiest wideawakes; they had also put off their... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584407 | as little attention as possible, but nothing that they could have done could have reduced their habiliments to anything like the garments of the poor creatures with whom they now mingled. If they had worn the same garments for months or years without washing them, and had often slept in them out of doors in dirty place... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584408 | have brought them to the same level, but not otherwise. Some of the people, however, were noisy enough. Many of them were smoking, and the coarser sort swore and talked loud. Those who had once been in better circumstances sat and moped, or spoke in lower tones, or cooked their victuals with indifference to all else ar... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584409 | in abstracted silence; while not a few laid their heads and arms on the tables, and apparently slept. For sleeping in earnest there were rooms overhead containing many narrow beds with scant and coarse covering, which, however, the law compelled to be clean. One of the rooms contained seventy such beds. Little notice w... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584410 | they passed up the room, though some dark scowls of hatred were cast after them, and a few glanced at them with indifference. It was otherwise in regard to Seaward. He received many a "good-night, sir," as he passed, and a kindly nod greeted him here and there from men who at first looked as if kindness had been utterl... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584411 | eradicated from their systems. One of those whom we have described as resting their heads and arms on the tables, looked hastily up, on hearing the visitors' voices, with an expression of mingled surprise and alarm. It was Sammy Twitter, with hands and visage filthy, hair dishevelled, eyes bloodshot, cheeks hollow, and... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584412 | embodiment of woe and degradation. On seeing his old friend Welland he quickly laid his head down again and remained motionless. Welland had not observed him. "You would scarcely believe it, sir," said the missionary, in a low tone; "nearly all classes of society are occasionally represented here. You will sometimes fi... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584413 | who have fallen step by step, chiefly in consequence of that subtle demon drink, until the common lodging-house is their only home." "Heaven help me!" said Sir Richard; "my friend Brisbane has often told me of this, but I have never quite believed it--certainly never realised it--until to-night. And even now I can hard... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584414 | here who seems as if he ever had belonged to the classes you name." "Do you see the old man in the last box in the room, on the left-hand side, sitting alone?" asked Seaward, turning his back to the spot indicated. "Yes." "Well, that is a clergyman. I know him well. You would never guess it from his wretched | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584415 | clothing, but you might readily believe it if you were to speak to him." "That I will not do," returned the other firmly. "You are right, sir," said Seaward, "I would not advise that you should--at least not here, or now. I have been in the habit of reading a verse or two of the Word and giving them a | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584416 | short address sometimes about this hour. Have you any objection to my doing so now? It won't detain us long." "None in the world; pray, my good sir, don't let me disarrange your plans." "Perhaps," added the missionary, "you would say a few words to--" "No, no," interrupted the other, quickly; "no, they are preaching to... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584417 | Seaward, a very powerful sermon, I assure you." During the foregoing conversation young Welland's thoughts had been very busy; ay, and his conscience had not been idle, for when mention was made of that great curse strong drink, he vividly recalled the day when he had laughed at Sam Twitter's blue ribbon, and felt unea... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584418 | conduct on that occasion had helped Sam in his downward career. "My friends," said the missionary aloud, "we will sing a hymn." Some of those whom he addressed turned towards the speaker; others paid no attention whatever, but went on with their cooking and smoking. They were used to it, as ordinary church-goers are to... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584419 | that well, but was not discouraged, because he knew that his "labour in the Lord" should not be in vain. He pulled out two small hymn-books and handed one to Sir Richard, the other to Welland. Sir Richard suddenly found himself in what was to him a strange and uncomfortable position, called on to take a somewhat promin... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584420 | a religious service in a low lodging-house! The worst of it was that the poor knight could not sing a note. However, his deficiency in this respect was more than compensated by John Seaward, who possessed a telling tuneful voice, with a grateful heart to work it. Young Welland also could sing well, and joined heartily ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584421 | which tells of "The wonderful words of life." After a brief prayer the missionary preached the comforting gospel, and tried, with all the fervour of a sympathetic heart, to impress on his hearers that there really was Hope for the hopeless, and Rest for the weary in Jesus Christ. When he had finished, Stephen Welland s... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584422 | his friend Sir Richard and the audience generally, by suddenly exclaiming, in a subdued but impressive voice, which drew general attention: "Friends, I had no intention of saying a word when I came here, but, God forgive me, I have committed a sin, which seems to force me to speak and warn you against giving way to str... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584423 | had--nay, I _have_--a dear friend who once put on the Blue Ribbon." Here he related the episode at the road-side tavern, and his friend's terrible fall, and wound up with the warning: "Fellow-men, fellow-sinners, beware of being laughed out of good resolves--beware of strong drink. I know not where my comrade is now. H... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584424 | not, for he has a mother and father who pray for him without ceasing. Still better, as you have just been told, he has an Advocate with God, who is able and willing to save him to the uttermost. Forgive me, Mr Seaward, for speaking without being asked. I could not help it." "No need to ask forgiveness of me, | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584425 | Mr Welland. You have spoken on the Lord's side, and I have reason to thank you heartily." While this was being said, those who sat near the door observed that a young man rose softly, and slunk away like a criminal, with a face ashy pale and his head bowed down. On reaching the door, he rushed out like one | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584426 | who expected to be pursued. It was young Sam Twitter. Few of the inmates of the place observed him, none cared a straw for him, and the incident was, no doubt, quickly forgotten. "We must hasten now, if we are to visit another lodging-house," said Seaward, as they emerged into the comparatively fresh air of the street,... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584427 | late, and riotous drunken characters are apt to be met with as they stagger home." "No; I have had enough for one night," said Sir Richard. "I shall not be able to digest it all in a hurry. I'll go home by the Metropolitan, if you will conduct me to the nearest station." "Come along, then. This way." They had | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584428 | not gone far, and were passing through a quiet side street, when they observed a poor woman sitting on a door-step. It was Mrs Frog, who had returned to sit on the old familiar spot, and watch the shadows on the blind, either from the mere force of habit, or because this would probably be the last occasion on which | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584429 | she could expect to enjoy that treat. A feeling of pity entered Sir Richard's soul as he looked on the poorly clothed forlorn creature. He little knew what rejoicing there was in her heart just then--so deceptive are appearances at times! He went towards her with an intention of some sort, when a very tall policeman tu... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584430 | approached. "Why, Giles Scott!" exclaimed the knight, holding out his hand, which Giles shook respectfully, "you seem to be very far away from your beat to-night." "No, sir, not very far, for this is my beat, now. I have exchanged into the city, for reasons that I need not mention." At this point a belated and half-tip... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584431 | his donkey-cart full of unsold vegetables and rubbish. "Hallo! you big blue-coat-boy," he cried politely to Giles, "wot d'ye call _that_?" Giles had caught sight of "_that_" at the same moment, and darted across the street. "Why, it's fire!" he shouted. "Run, young fellow, you know the fire-station!" "_I_ know it," sho... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584432 | jumped off his cart, left it standing, dashed round the corner, and disappeared, while Number beat a thundering tattoo on Samuel Twitter's front door. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. THINGS BECOME TOO HOT FOR THE TWITTER FAMILY. Before the thunder of Giles Scott's first rap had ceased, a pane of glass in one of the lower windows bu... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584433 | of smoke, with a red tongue or two piercing them here and there, showing that the fire had been smouldering long, and had got well alight. It was followed by an appalling shriek from Mrs Frog, who rushed forward shouting, "Oh! baby! baby!" "Hold her, sir," said Giles to young Welland, who sprang forward at the same mom... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584434 | aware of the immense value of prompt obedience, and saw that Giles was well fitted to command. He seized Mrs Frog and held her fast, while Giles, knowing that there was no time to stand on ceremony, stepped a few paces back, ran at the door with all his might, and applied his foot with his great weight and momentum | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584435 | to it. As the oak is shattered by the thunderbolt, so was Samuel Twitter's door by the foot of Number . But the bold constable was met by a volume of black smoke which was too much even for him. It drove him back half suffocated, while, at the same time, it drove the domestic out of the house into | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584436 | his arms. She had rushed from the lower regions just in time to escape death. A single minute had not yet elapsed, and only half-a-dozen persons had assembled, with two or three policemen, who instantly sought to obtain an entrance by a back door. "Hold her, Sir Richard," said Welland, handing the struggling Mrs Frog o... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584437 | charge, while Welland ran to the burning house, which seemed to be made of tinder, it blazed up so quickly. Giles was making desperate efforts to enter by a window which vomited fire and smoke that defied him. An upper window was thrown open, and Samuel Twitter appeared in his night-dress, shouting frantically. Stephen... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584438 | by lower window or staircase was impossible. He had been a noted athlete at school. There was an iron spout which ran from the street to the roof. He rushed to that, and sprang up more like a monkey than a man. "Pitch over blankets!" roared Giles, as the youth gained a window of the first floor, and dashed it | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584439 | in. "The donkey-cart!" shouted Welland, in reply, and disappeared. Giles was quick to understand. He dragged--almost lifted--the donkey and cart on to the pavement under the window where Mr Twitter stood waving his hands and yelling. The poor man had evidently lost his reason for the time, and was fit for nothing. A ha... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584440 | behind, and he disappeared. At the same moment a blanket came fluttering down, and Welland stood on the window-sill with Mrs Twitter in his arms, and a sheet of flame following. The height was about thirty feet. The youth steadied himself for one moment, as if to take aim, and dropped Mrs Twitter, as he might have drop... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584441 | She not only went into the vegetable cart, with a bursting shriek, but right through it, and reached the pavement unhurt--though terribly shaken! Four minutes had not yet elapsed. The crowd had thickened, and a dull rumbling which had been audible for half a minute increased into a mighty roar as the fiery-red engine w... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584442 | the corner, and pulled up with a crash, seeming to shoot the men off. These swarmed, for a few seconds, about the hose, water plug, and nozzles. At the same instant the great fire-escape came rushing on the scene, like some antediluvian monster, but by that time Giles had swept away the debris of the donkey-cart, with ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584443 | therein, and had stretched the blanket with five powerful volunteers to hold it. "Jump, sir, jump!" he cried. Samuel Twitter jumped--unavoidably, for Welland pushed him--just as the hiss and crackle of the water-spouts began. He came down in a heap, rebounded like india-rubber, and was hurled to one side in time to mak... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584444 | "The children! the children!" screamed Mrs Twitter, disengaging herself from the vegetables. "Where are they?" asked a brass-helmeted man, quietly, as the head of the Escape went crashing through an upper window. "The top floor! all of 'em there!--top flo-o-o-r!" "No--no-o-o! some on the second fl-o-o-or!" yelled Mr Tw... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584445 | A wild shriek was Mrs Twitter's reply. The quiet man with the brass helmet had run up the Escape quite regardless of these explanations. At the same time top windows were opened up, and little night-dressed figures appeared at them all, apparently making faces, for their cries were drowned in the shouts below. From the... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584446 | but not yet in dense, suffocating volumes. The quiet man of the Escape entered a second floor window through smoke and flames as though he were a salamander. The crowd below gave him a lusty cheer, for it was a great surging crowd by that time; nevertheless it surged within bounds, for a powerful body of police kept it... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584447 | leaving free space for the firemen to work. A moment or two after the quiet fireman had entered, the night-dressed little ones disappeared from the other windows and congregated, as if by magic, at the window just above the head of the Escape. Almost simultaneously the fly-ladder of the Escape--used for upper windows--... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584448 | had got out on the window-sill with little Lucy in his arms and little Alice held by her dress in his teeth, its upper rounds touched his knees, as if with a kiss of recognition! He descended the fly-ladder, and shoved the two terrified little ones somewhat promptly into the canvas shoot, where a brother fireman was re... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584449 | them together xxx to the ground. Molly being big had to be carried by herself, but Willie and Fred went together. During all this time poor Mrs Frog had given herself over to the one idea of screaming "baby! bai-e-by!" and struggling to get free from the two policemen, who had come to the relief of Sir Richard, and who | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584450 | tenderly restrained her. In like manner Mr and Mrs Twitter, although not absolutely in need of restraint, went about wringing their hands and making such confused and contradictory statements that no one could understand what they meant, and the firemen quietly went on with their work quite regardless of their existenc... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584451 | of Number , with a piteous expression, and almost weeping with vexation, "_nobody_ will listen to me. I would go up myself, but the firemen won't let me, and my dear wife has such an idea of sticking to truth that when they ask her, `Is your baby up there?' she yells `No, not _our_ baby,' and before she can | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584452 | explain she gasps, and then I try to explain, and that so bamboozles--" "_Is_ your baby there?" demanded Number vehemently. "Yes, it is!" cried Twitter, without the slightest twinge of conscience. "What room?" "That one," pointing to the left side of the house on the first floor. Just then part of the roof gave way and... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584453 | of flame below, leaving visible the door of the very room to which Twitter had pointed. A despairing groan escaped him as he saw it, for now all communication seemed cut off, and the men were about to pull the Escape away to prevent its being burned, while, more engines having arrived, something like a mountain torrent... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584454 | descending on the devoted house. "Stop, lads, a moment," said Giles, springing upon the Escape. He might have explained to the firemen what he had learned, but that would have taken time, and every second just then was of the utmost value. He was up on the window-sill before they well understood what he meant to do. Th... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584455 | intolerable. A very lake of fire rolled beneath him. The door of the room pointed out by Twitter was opposite--fortunately on the side furthest from the centre of fire, but the floor was gone. Only two great beams remained, and the one Giles had to cross was more than half burned through. It was a fragile bridge on whi... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584456 | pass over an abyss so terrible. But heroes do not pause to calculate. Giles walked straight across it with the steadiness of a rope-dancer, and burst in the scarred and splitting door. The smoke here was not too dense to prevent his seeing. One glance revealed baby Frog lying calmly in her crib as if asleep. To seize h... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584457 | her in the blankets, and carry her to the door of the room, was the work of a moment, but the awful abyss now lay before him, and it seemed to have been heated seven times. The beam, too, was by that time re-kindling with the increased heat, and the burden he carried prevented Giles from seeing, and balancing himself | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584458 | so well. He did not hesitate, but he advanced slowly and with caution. A dead silence fell on the awe-stricken crowd, whose gaze was concentrated now on the one figure. The throbbing of the engines was heard distinctly when the roar of excitement was thus temporarily checked. As Giles moved along, the beam cracked unde... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584459 | became almost insupportable. His boots seemed to shrivel up and tighten round his feet. "He's gone! No, he's not!" gasped some of the crowd, as the tall smoke and flame encompassed him, and he was seen for a moment to waver. It was a touch of giddiness, but by a violent impulse of the will he threw it off, and | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584460 | at the same time bounded to the window, sending the beam, which was broken off by the shock, hissing down into the lake of fire. The danger was past, and a loud, continuous, enthusiastic cheer greeted gallant Number as he descended the chute with the baby in his arms, and delivered it alive and well, and more solemn th... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584461 | to its mother--its _own_ mother! When Sir Richard Brandon returned home that night, he found it uncommonly difficult to sleep. When, after many unsuccessful efforts, he did manage to slumber, his dreams re-produced the visions of his waking hours, with many surprising distortions and mixings--one of which distortions w... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584462 | rich, while he, Sir Richard, had as suddenly become poor, and a beggar in filthy rags, with nobody to care for him, and that these enriched beggars came round him and asked him, in quite a facetious way, "how he liked it!" Next morning, when the worthy knight arose, he found his unrested brain still busy with the same ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584463 | He also found that he had got food for meditation, and for discussion with little Di, not only for some time to come, but, for the remainder of his hours. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. THE OCEAN AND THE NEW WORLD. Doctors tell us that change of air is usually beneficial, often necessary, nearly always agreeable. Relying on the wis... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584464 | we propose now to give the reader who has followed us thus far a change of air--by shifting the scene to the bosom of the broad Atlantic--and thus blow away the cobwebs and dust of the city. Those who have not yet been out upon the great ocean cannot conceive-- and those who have been out on it may not | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584465 | have seen--the splendours of a luminous fog on a glorious summer morning. The prevailing ideas in such circumstances are peace and liquidity! the only solid object visible above, below, or around, being the ship on which you stand. Everything else is impalpable, floating, soft, and of a light, bright, silvery grey. The... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584466 | is circular, too, like a disc, and the line where it meets with the sky is imperceptible. Your little bark is the centre of a great crystal ball, the limit of which is Immensity! As we have said, peace, liquidity, luminosity, softness, and warmth prevail everywhere, and the fog, or rather, the silvery haze--for it is d... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584467 | well as bright--has the peculiar effect of deadening sound, so that the quiet little noises of ship-board rather help than destroy the idea of that profound tranquillity which suggests irresistibly to the religious mind the higher and sweeter idea of "the peace of God." But, although intensely still, there is no sugges... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584468 | only that of slumber! for the ocean undulates even when at rest, and sails flap gently even when there is no wind. Besides this, on the particular morning to which we call attention, a species of what we may call "still life" was presented by a mighty iceberg--a peaked and towering mountain of snowy white and emerald b... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584469 | the sea not a quarter of a mile off on the starboard bow. Real life also was presented to the passengers of the noble bark which formed the centre of this scene, in the form of gulls floating like great snowflakes in the air, and flocks of active little divers rejoicing unspeakably on the water. The distant cries of th... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584470 | added to the harmony of nature, and tended to draw the mind from mere abstract contemplation to positive sympathy with the joys of other animals besides one's-self. The only discordant sounds that met the ears of those who voyaged in the bark _Ocean Queen_ were the cacklings of a creature in the hen-coops which had lai... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584471 | it had done so, or wished to do so, or, having been sea-sick up to that time, perhaps, endeavoured to revive its spirits by recalling the fact that it once did so, and might perhaps do so again! By the way there was also one other discord, in the form of a pugnacious baby, which whimpered continuously, and, from some | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584472 | unaccountable cause, refused to be comforted. But that was a discord which, as in some musical chords, seemed rather to improve the harmony-- at least in its mother's ears. The _Ocean Queen_ was an emigrant ship. In her capacious hull, besides other emigrants, there were upwards of seventy diamonds from the Beehive in ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584473 | fortunes in the lands that are watered by such grand fresh-water seas as Lakes Superior and Huron and Michigan and Ontario, and such rivers as the Ottawa and the Saint Lawrence. Robert Frog and Tim Lumpy were among those boys, so changed for the better in a few months that, as the former remarked, "their own mothers wo... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584474 | and not only improved in appearance, but in spirit, ay, and even to some small extent in language--so great had been the influence for good brought to bear on them by Christian women working out of love to God and souls. "Ain't it lovely?" said Tim. "Splendacious!" replied Bob. The reader will observe that we did not s... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584475 | had, at that time, been _much_ improved! only to some small extent. "I've seen pictur's of 'em, Bob," said Tim, leaning his arms on the vessel's bulwarks as he gazed on the sleeping sea, "w'en a gen'l'man came to George Yard with a magic lantern, but I never thought they was so big, or that the holes in 'em was | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584476 | so blue." "Nor I neither," said Bob. They referred, of course, to the iceberg, the seams and especially the caverns in which graduated from the lightest azure to the deepest indigo. "Why, I do believe," continued Bobby, as the haze grew a little thinner, "that there's rivers of water runnin' down its sides, just like a... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584477 | mountain o' loaf-sugar wi' the fire-brigade a-pumpin' on it. An' see, there's waterfalls too, bigger I do b'lieve than the one I once saw at a pantomime." "Ay, an' far prettier too," said Tim. Bobby Frog did not quite see his way to assent to that. The waterfalls on the iceberg were bigger, he admitted, than those in t... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584478 | but then, there was not so much glare and glitter around them. "An' I'm fond of glare an' glitter," he remarked, with a glance at his friend. "So am I, Bob, but--" At that instant the dinner-bell rang, and the eyes of both glittered-- they almost glared--as they turned and made for the companion-hatch, Bob exclaiming, ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584479 | that _I'm_ fond of; glare an' glitter's all wery well in its way, but it can't 'old a candle to grub!" Timothy Lumpy seemed to have no difference of opinion with his friend on that point. Indeed the other sixty-eight boys seemed to be marvellously united in sentiment about it, for, without an exception, they responded ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584480 | a promptitude quite equal to that secured by military discipline! There was a rattling of feet on decks and ladderways for a few seconds, and then all was quiet while a blessing was asked on the meal. For many years Miss Annie Macpherson has herself conducted parties of such boys to Canada, but the party of which we wr... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584481 | to be in charge of a gentleman whom we will name the Guardian; he was there to keep order, of course, but in truth this was not a difficult matter, for the affections of the boys had been enlisted, and they had already learned to practise self-restraint. That same day a whale was seen. It produced a sensation among the | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584482 | boys that is not easily described. Considerately, and as if on purpose, it swam round the ship and displayed its gigantic proportions; then it spouted as though to show what it could do in that line, and then, as if to make the performance complete and reduce the Westminster Aquarium to insignificance, it tossed its mi... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584483 | it down with a clap like thunder, and finally dived into its native ocean followed by a yell of joyful surprise from the rescued waifs and strays. There were little boys, perhaps even big ones, in that band, who that day received a lesson of faith from the whale. It taught them that pictures, even extravagant ones, rep... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584484 | The whale also taught them a lesson of error, as was proved by the remark of one waif to a brother stray:-- "I say, Piggie, it ain't 'ard _now_, to b'lieve that the whale swallered Jonah." "You're right, Konky." Strange interlacing of error with error traversed by truth in this sublunary sphere! Piggie was wrong in adm... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584485 | right, for, as every one knows, or ought to know, it was not a whale at all that swallowed Jonah, but a "great fish" which was "prepared" for the purpose. But the voyage of the _Ocean Queen_ was not entirely made up of calms, and luminous fogs, and bergs, and whales, and food. A volume would be required to describe | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584486 | it all. There was much foul weather as well as fair, during which periods a certain proportion of the little flock, being not very good sailors, sank to depths of misery which they had never before experienced--not even in their tattered days--and even those of them who had got their "sea-legs on," were not absolutely ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584487 | the waif before mentioned of his chum, (or dosser), Konky, "'ow long d'ee think little Mouse will go on at his present rate o' heavin'?" "I can't say," answered the stray, with a serious air; "I ain't studied the 'uman frame wery much, but I should say, 'e'll bust by to-morrow if 'e goes on like 'e's bin doin'." A | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584488 | tremendous sound from little Mouse, who lay in a neighbouring bunk, seemed to justify the prophecy. But little Mouse did not "bust." He survived that storm, and got his sea-legs on before the next one. The voyage, however, was on the whole propitious, and, what with school-lessons and Bible-lessons and hymn-singing, an... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584489 | engaged in by the Guardian, the time passed profitably as well as pleasantly, so that there were, perhaps, some feelings of regret when the voyage drew to an end, and they came in sight of that Great Land which the Norsemen of old discovered; which Columbus, re-discovering, introduced to the civilised world, and which,... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584490 | have been named Columbia. And now a new era of life began for those rescued waifs and strays-- those east-end diamonds from the great London fields. Canada--with its mighty lakes and splendid rivers, its great forests and rich lands, its interesting past, prosperous present, and hopeful future--opened up to view. But t... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584491 | extensive, it is true, but dark enough to some of them just then, for here the hitherto united band was to be gradually disunited and dispersed, and friendships that had begun to ripen under the sunshine of Christian influence were to be broken up, perhaps for ever. The Guardian, too, had to be left behind by each memb... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584492 | was severed from his fellows and sent to a new home among total strangers. Still there were to set off against these things several points of importance. One of these was that the Guardian would not part with a single boy until the character of his would-be employer was inquired into, and his intention to deal kindly a... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584493 | Another point was, that each boy, when handed over to an employer, was not to be left thereafter to care for himself, but his interests were to be watched over and himself visited at intervals by an emissary from the Beehive, so that he would not feel friendless or forsaken even though he should have the misfortune to ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584494 | bad hands. The Guardian also took care to point out that, amid all these leave-takings and partings, there was One who would "never leave nor forsake" them, and to whom they were indebted for the first helping hand, when they were in their rags and misery, and forsaken of man. At last the great gulf of Saint Lawrence w... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584495 | and here the vessel was beset with ice, so that she could not advance at a greater rate than two or three miles an hour for a considerable distance. Soon, however, those fields of frozen sea were passed, and the end of the voyage drew near. Then was there a marvellous outbreak of pens, ink, and paper, for the juvenile | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584496 | flock was smitten with a sudden desire to write home before going to the interior of the new land. It was a sad truth that many of the poor boys had neither parent nor relative to correspond with, but these were none the less eager in their literary work, for had they not Miss Macpherson and the ladies of the | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584497 | Home to write to? Soon after that, the party landed at the far-famed city of Quebec, each boy with his bag containing change of linen, and garments, a rug, etcetera; and there, under a shed, thanks were rendered to God for a happy voyage, and prayer offered for future guidance. Then the Guardian commenced business. He ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584498 | do. The Home of Industry and its work are well-known in Canada. Dusty diamonds sent out from the Beehive were by that time appreciated, and therefore coveted; for the western land is vast, and the labourers are comparatively few. People were eager to get the boys, but the character of intending employers had to be inqu... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012584499 | care. Then the suitability of boys to situations had to be considered. However, this was finally got over, and a few of the reclaimed waifs were left at Quebec. This was the beginning of the dispersion. "I don't like it at all," said Bobby Frog to his friend Tim Lumpy, that evening in the sleeping car of the railway tr... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
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