Dusty Diamonds Cut and Polished: A Tale of City Arab Life and Adventure by - (best self help books to read txt) đ
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Under other heads he found that outcast boys were received, sheltered, sent to Industrial Homes, or returned to friends and parents; that temperance meetings were held, and drunkards, male and female, sought out, prayed for, lovingly reasoned with, and reclaimed from this perhaps the greatest curse of the land; that Juvenile Bands of Hope were formed, on the ground of prevention being better than cure; that lodging-houses, where the poorest of the poor, and the lowest of the low do congregate, were visited, and the gospel proclaimed to ears that were deaf to nearly every good influence; that mothersâ meetings were heldâone of them at that old headquarters of sin, the âBlack Horse,â where counsel and sympathy were mingled with a Clothing Club and a Bible-woman; that there were a Working Menâs Benefit Society, Bible-Classes, Sunday-School, a Sewing-Class, a Mutual Labour Loan Society, a Shelter for Homeless Girls, a library, an Invalid Childrenâs Dinner, a bath-room and lavatory, a Flower Mission, andâhear it, ye who fancy that a penny stands very low in the scale of financial littlenessâa Farthing Bank! All this freeâconducted by an unpaid band of considerably over a hundred Christian workers, male and femaleâand leavening the foundations of society, without which, and similar missions, there would be very few leavening influences at all, and the superstructure of society would stand a pretty fair chance of being burst up or blown to atomsâthough the superstructure is not very willing to believe the fact!
In addition to all this, Sir Richard learned, to his great amazement, that the Jews wonât light their fires on the Sabbath-dayâthat is, on our Saturdayâthat they wonât even poke it, and that this abstinence is the immediate cause of a source of revenue to the un-Jewish poor, whom the Jews hire to light and poke their fires for them.
And, lastly, Sir Richard Brandon learned that Mr George Holland, who had managed that mission for more than quarter of a century, was resolved, in the strength of the Lord, to seek out the lost and rescue the perishing, even though he, Sir Richard, and all who resembled him, should refuse to aid by tongue or hand in the glorious work of rescuing the poor from sin and its consequences.
As from the sublime to the ridiculous there is but a step, so, from the dining-room to the kitchen there is but a stair. Let us descend the stair and learn that while Sir Richard was expounding the subject of âthe poorâ to little Di, Mr Balls, the butler, was engaged on the same subject in the servantsâ hall.
âI cannot tell you,â said Balls, âwhat a impression the sight oâ these poor people made on me.â
âLa! Mr Balls,â said the cook, who was not unacquainted with low life in London, having herself been born within sound of Bow-Bells, âyouâve got no occasion to worrit yourself about it. It âas never bin different.â
âThat makes it all the worse, cook,â returned Balls, standing with his back to the fireplace and his legs wide apart; âif it was only a temporary depression in trade, or the repeal of the corn laws that did it, one could stand it, but to think that such a state of things always goes on is something fearful. You know Iâm a country-bred man myself, and ainât used to the town, or to such awful sights of squalor. It almost made me weep, I do assure you. One room that I looked into had a mother and two children in it, and I declare to you that the little boy was going about stark naked, and his sister was only just a slight degree better.â
âPâraps they was goinâ to bed,â suggested Mrs Screwbury.
âNo, nurse, they wasnât; they was playing about evidently in their usual costumeâfor that eveninâ at least. I would not have believed it if I had not seen it. And the mother was so tattered and draggled and dirtyâwhich, also, was the room.â
âWas that in the court where the Frogs live?â asked Jessie Summers.
âIt was, and a dreadful court tooâshocking!â
âBy the way, Mr Balls,â asked the cook, âis there any chance oâ that brat of a boy Bobby, as they call him, coming here? I canât think why master has offered to take such a creeter into his service.â
âNo, cook, there is no chance. I forgot to tell you about that little matter. The boy was here yesterday and he refusedâabsolutely declined a splendid offer.â
âIâm glad to hear it,â returned the cook.
âTell us about it, Mr Balls,â said Jessie Summers with a reproachful look at the other. âIâm quite fond of that boyâheâs such a smart fellow, and wouldnât be bad-looking if heâd only wash his face and comb his hair.â
âHeâs smart enough, no doubt, but impudence is his strong point,â rejoined the butler with a laugh. The way he spoke to the master beats everything.
ââIâve sent for you, my boy,â said Sir Richard, in his usual dignified, kindly way, âto offer you the situation of under-gardener in my establishment.ââ
ââOh! thatâs wot you wants with me, is it?â said the boy, as bold as brass; indeed I may say as bold as gun-metal, for his eyes anâ teeth glittered as he spoke, and he said it with the air of a dook. Master didnât quite seem to like it, but I saw he laid restraint on himself and said: âYou have to thank my daughter for this offerââ
ââThank you, Miss,â said the boy, turninâ to Miss Di with a low bow, imitatinâ Sir Richardâs manner, I thought, as much as he could.
ââOf course,â continued the master, rather sharply, âI offer you this situation out of mere charityââ
ââOh! you do, do you?â said the extraordinary boy in the coolest manner, âbut wot if I objecâ to receive charity? Ven I âolds a âorse I expecs to be paid for so doinâ, same as you expecs to be paid wâen you attends a board-meetinâ to grin anâ do nuffin.â
ââCome, come, boy,â said Sir Richard, gettinâ redder in the face than I ever before saw him, âI am not accustomed to low pleasantry, andââ
ââAnâ I ainât accustomed,â broke in the boy, âto âigh hinsults. Do you think that every gent what years a coat anâ pants with âoles in âem is a beggar?â
âFor some moments master seemed to be struck speechless, anâ I feared that in spite of his well-known gentleness of character heâd throw the ink-stand at the boyâs head, but he didnât; he merely said in a low voice, âI would dismiss you at once, boy, were it not that I have promised my daughter to offer you employment, and you can see by her looks how much your unnatural conduct grieves her.â
âAnâ this was true, for poor Miss Di sat there with her hands clasped, her eyes full of tears, her eyebrows disappearinâ among her hair with astonishment, and her whole appearance the very picturâ of distress. âHowever,â continued Sir Richard, âI still make you the offer, though I doubt much whether you will be able to retain the situation. Your wages willââ
ââPlease sir,â pleaded the boy, âdonât mention the wages. I couldnât stand that. Indeed I couldnât; it would really be too much for me.â
ââWhy, what do you mean?â says master.
ââI mean,â says Impudence, âthat I agree with you. I donât think I could retain the sitivation, cause wây? In the fust place, I ainât got no talent at gardeninâ. The onây time I tried it was wâen I planted a toolip in a flower-pot, anâ wâen I dug it up to see âow it was a-gittin on a cove told me Iâd planted it upside down. However, I wasnât goinâ to be beat by that cove, so I say to âim, Jack, I says, I planted it so a purpus, anâ wâen it sprouts Iâm a-goinâ to âang it up to see if it wonât grow through the âole in the bottom. In the second place, I couldnât retain the sitivation âcause I donât intend to take it, though you was to offer me six thousand no shillinâs anâ no pence no farthinâs a year as salary.â
âI râally did think master would haâ dropt out of his chair at that. As for Miss Di, she was so tickled that she gave a sort of hysterical laugh.
ââBalls,â said master, âshow him out, andââ he pulled up short, but I knew he meant to say have an eye on the great-coats and umbrellas, so I showed the boy out, anâ he went down-stairs, quite quiet, but the last thing I saw of him was performinâ a sort of minstrel dance at the end of the street just before he turned the corner and disappeared.â
âImpârence!â exclaimed the cook.
âNaughty, ungrateful boy!â said Mrs Screwbury.
âBut it was plucky of him,â said Jessie Summers.
âI would call it cheeky,â said Balls, âI canât think what put it into his head to go on so.â
If Mr Balls had followed Bobby Frog in spirit, watched his subsequent movements, and listened to his remarks, perhaps he might have understood the meaning of his conduct a little better.
After he had turned the corner of the street, as above mentioned, Bobby trotted on for a short space, and then, coming to a full stop, executed a few steps of the minstrel dance, at the end of which he brought his foot down with tremendous emphasis on the pavement, and saidâ
âYes, Iâve bin anâ done it. I knowâd I was game for a good deal, but I did not think I was up to that. One never knows wot âeâs fit for till âe tries. Wotâll Hetty think, I wonder?â
What Hetty thought he soon found out, for he overtook her on the Thames embankment on her way home. Bobby was fond of that route, though a little out of his way, because he loved the running water, though it was muddy, and the sight of steamers and barges.
âWell, Bobby,â she said, laying her hand on his shoulder, âwhere have you been?â
âTo see old Swallowâd-the-poker, Hetty.â
âWhat took you there?â asked the girl in surprise.
âMy legs. You donât suppose Iâve set up my carriage yet, do you?â
âCome, you know what I mean.â
âVell, then, I went because I was sent for, anâ wot dâye think? the old genâlâman hoffered me the sitivation of under-gardener!â
âYou donât say so! Oh! Bobby, what a lucky boyâanâ what a kind gentleman! Tell me all about it now,â said Hetty, pressing her hand more tenderly on her brotherâs shoulder. âWhat wages is he to give you?â
âNo wages wotsomever.â
Hetty looked into her brotherâs face with an expression of concerned surprise. She knew some tradespeople who made her work hard for so very little, that it was not difficult to believe in a gentleman asking her brother to work for nothinâ! Still she had thought better of Sir Richard, and expected to hear something more creditable to him.
âAh, you may look, but I do assure you he is to give me no wages, anâ Iâm to do no work.â
Here Bobby executed a few steps of his favourite dance, but evidently from mere habit, and unconsciously, for he left off in the middle, and seemed to forget the salient point of emphasis with his foot.
âWhat do you mean, Bobby?âbe earnest, like a dear boy, for once.â
âEarnest!â exclaimed the urchin with vehemence. âI never was more in earnest in my life. You should âave seen Swallowâd-the-poker wâen I refused to âave it.â
âRefused it?â
âAyârefused it. Come Hetty, Iâll explain.â
The boy dropped his
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