Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 24: what you’re looking at

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| | i \ JOSEPH WILMOT; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. ke you confess that you have run away from ot home, your school, your master, or what- ever the real truth is—and lave you sent back again.” “No, no—for heaven’s sake don’t!” I cried, thoroughly believing that he would put his threat into execution, and “resolving to make almost any sacrifice of feeling rather than incur the risk of being sent back to Leicester, to the tender mercies of Mr. Jukes, and be locked up in the work- house. “Well, then, be a good boy—and let me have | no more of your nonsense,” said Mr. Taddy, per- ceiving that his menace had produced an effect which made me feel myself completely in his power. “Come, take the pen again, and finish off as many copies of that circular as you possibly can. I must have at least fifty of them sent round to the low lodging-houses, the cadgers’ and trampers’ dens, and the rookeries, before night,” I accordingly resumed my seat, and obeyed the orders I had received. I wrote up to one o’clock; and then Mr. Taddy, taking me out with him, proceeded to purchase some meat and potatoes for the dinner. On our return to his lodging, I was commanded to cook the victuals,—which I did to the best of my ability; and when the meal was over, he bade me resume my writing. This went on until about six o’clock: we then had tea—and afterwards went out together to distribute the cir- culars at the various places to which he had alluded. We called at such a number of dreadful dens and neighbourhoods that all the strongest feelings of loathing, horror, aversion, and disgust were by turns excited within me. I beheld the hideous orgies of the vilest and lowest mendicants, male and female: I was introduced into lodging- houses where scenes of brawling, riot, quarrelling, and fighting were going on: I was conducted into others, as the evening deepened into night, where persons of all ages, from the tenderest to the maturest, and of both sexes, were herding together on beds composed of masses of rotting rags, and where the atmosphere was hot to suffocation and pestilentially fetid. Several times did I im- plore Mr. Taddy not to drag me thus with him any farther: but my prayers were of no avail; he doubtless feared I should run away if left to my- self—and therefore he would not lose sight of me for a single instant. It was close upon midnight ere we returned to the lodging: but I was so sick at heart with all I had seen—so thoroughly humi- liated, and experiencing such a sense of utter self- abasement at the ordeal I had becn dragged through—that I could not touch a morsel of food ; and gladly taking advantage of my master’s per- mission to retire to rest, I lay down and literally wept myself off to sleep. Next day more circulars were written: but as hour after hour passed, and no one came to avail himself of the benefits held out in those already distributed, Mr. Taddy exhibited many signs of disappointment, impatience, and astonishment. He walked to and fro in the room; smoking his pipe, and every now and then breaking forth into such audible ejaculations as these:—‘“ Well, I can’t make it out. I should have thought that there would have been hundreds ready to jump at il —_——-. -—--= Reed tanfers that you Have fun away from | months ms making all arrangements to do the thing well! I thought first of all that it was because mycirculars were written in such a precious queer style saey couldn’t be read: but these are as easy to read as print in a book. However, we will see what to-morrow brings forth.” Unfortunately the morrow proved as barren in its results as the previous day; and to be brief, an entire week passed without producing a single applicant for any of the advantages held out in Mr. Taddy’s circulars. Every evening we sallied forth to distribute those written during the day ; and every evening, therefure, was I destined to behold a repetition of the same horrible scenes of debauchery and demoralization as those throuch which I had been dragged on the first occasion. Each day, too, I experienced unmistakable proofs that my master’s funds were ebbing lower and lower. First he discontinued his spirits, and con- tented himself with beer: then we dined off bread and cheese instead of meat—until at last we had nothing but bread alone to eat, and cold water to drink. The landlady of the house—tnat same horrid-lookine woman who opened the door the first night I was introduced thither—clamoured for her rent; and in order to raise funds, Mr. Taddy was compelled to call in a marine store- dealer and sell off for a few shillings the suits of rags and tatters, the ballads and the dying speeches, the crutches and the wooden legs, which constituted his stock, and which I now discovered to have been deposited in another room of the house as a security for arrears of rent previously due to the landlady. No more circulars were written; and Mr. Taddy told me very frankly that he was deliberating in his own mind whether he should turn me adrift to manage for myself, or whether he should try to make me useful in some other way. I was so wretched and desponding that all my spirit seemed to be crushed out of me ; and I had not even encrgy enough to care which alternative he might adopt. Young as I was, [ felt wearied of existence. He appeared to prefer the plan of keeping me with him: but a few days after the sale of his goods, the landlady seized what httle furniture ho possessed in his rooms; and assisted by a dreadful- looking man,—who, it seems, wags her brother— compelled us both to leave the house. Mr. Taddy was very noisy and wrathful: but he was igno- miniously thrust forth; and thus, at ten o’clock one night, we were homeless and penniless wan- derers together. “Well, Joe,’ he said, as we issued from Raga- muffin Court, “we must try and keep up our spirits. But where shall we sleep to-night? Hither under the dry arches of Waterloo Bridge—or else we will make our way to the fields, and stretch ourselves under a hedge or a hay-rick.” “The fields !” I exclaimed, suddenly cheered by the prospect of getting into the open country once more: for I was hideously sick at my experiences of the metropolis. “Well, let it be the fields,’ he said: and we walked on together. We proceeded thus for about an hour and a half, until we cleared the suburbs of the metropolis on the northern side; and being fortunate enough to find a shed in the corner of a Fur we lay down in a waggon which was kept such offers—and I who havé been for the last three | there, and slept till morning. O)(0Y) <S (©) im