The Mysteries of London; or, Lights and Shadows of London Life — page 144: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

138 sult the ruined landlord by any mention of the filthy lucre which he promised to pay, but gave proo’s that he despised it, He shifted his quarters to another locality, and thus disseminating, in the true spirit of freedom, the doctrines of the society from which he was sent as a salaried delegate, he not only gave additional force to his precepts, but illustrated them by making himself the principalexample. He went about, he said, with the disinterested object of pro- moting the greatest happiness of the greatest number, and he pleasantly and successfully carried ont his philanthropic intentions by making the greatest num- ber “ number one,” For some weeks Randall hung about the village; his manners changed to those of an idle vagabond, and his disposition altered to that of a reckless profligate. He set himself up for a persecuted and injured man, whose prosperity it was the object of all his fellow creatures to crush, The violent opinions propagated by Gruffey, and the laxity of social principles he had so strenuously laboured to infuse into the mind of Randall, had not been without effect, He sent off his daughter to assist in the shop of a friend of his in the east of London, and departed himself for a neighbour- ing town to engage in any employment that promised the means of subsistence. Here he found many pur- suing the same course that Gruffey had been uphold- ing in the country. Some few sincere in their con- victions, and acting from integrity of purpose; others with perverted talents, exercising them with the object of converting the services of misguided men tu their own advantage; but the majority of them careless of what they did, and, suffering from a position chiefly caused by their own errors, only anxious for what personal profit they could get out of a general scramble with society. Into an association of this kind, and the one of which Gruffey had been the most eloquent and unscrupulous mis- sionary, Randall entered with enthusiasm. For awhile the novelty and excitement of the scene engrossed his attention, but as these wore off he had recourse to a more violent stimulus, and took to dram- drinking. He made the lowest tap-rooms his constant haunts, and became a pot-house orator. What was at first an occasional spur to his brain, next fastened itself upon him as a habit, and, finally, as a necessity. He lost every situation that he procured, through the consequences of his dissipation, and at last was con- tent to sponge upon the few who had either the means or inclination to gratify his propensity. One night when the rain was pouring down in a stedfast torrent, and the drenched streets were only animated by the rattling progress of a coach or cab, Randall, miserably clad and half-stupefied with the potations he had imbibed, turned into the parlour of a low public-house he was accustomed to frequent, and there slunk into a corner by the fire to wait for the clearing up of the weather. There was no other inmate when he entered, for it was late, and the regular customers had left; but re- maining, as if by accident, on the mantelpiece was a ‘pipe, which upon a closer view he discovered to be his own old meerschaum, end which had been seized with the rest of his gcods at the sale. He could not refrain from renewing his former ac- quaiatance with it, and collecting the remains of the tobacco left about the tables, he filled the bowi, and, drawing his chair nearer the fire, he began to smoke. With the revival of bis old habit, the recollection of many things past, and till now forgotten, vividly re- oo - THE MYSTERIES OF LONDON, turned, and he fell into a dreamy retrospection of his — ——— bygone life. The candle had waned in size, and grown long in the wick, but the vaporous cloud that served as a diac to the dissolving views of his ima- gination had only just dispersed as he fancied he heard a voice, soft and subdued, calling upon him by name. He knocked the ashes out of the bowl, listened, | and then, apparently acquiring a more sonorous tone by practice, the voice proceeded, He bent his head to listen, and his suspicions were confirmed—it — emanated from the old meerschaum, “ Jacob”—it might have been the mouth-piece that spoke—-“ you have had a slight intimation given to you of what befals those who neglect their own busi- ness to run after that of other people, . Heaven knows that there are enough evils in this world to be redressed without adding to them others of our own creation. Go on getting reform for every thing that wants it, — and it will be long before you need give up for want of employment, but do it with a firm determination to use no violence. An earthquake upsets a city alto- gether; it is your quiet practical builders, and men of good taste and calm judgment, that improve it. People don’t like to be bullied inte submission; but con- vince them with plain sensible reasoning, and they are sure to yield in the end. Physical force, Jacob, is after all only a coward’s argument, and carries no permanent value or respect with it. The is a far more formidable weapon than the pikestaff, and in the cause of right will more promptly gain the redress sought. You, and others who have worked like you, have an honest right to rank among the highest, but society is not a see-saw, — where you must see one end fall before the opposite extremity can rise, Legislature is like a fire; every _ body thinks he can poke it the best; but those who are always setting you on to make a blaze only want you to burn your own fingers that you may save theirs, Above all, Jacob, don’t abuse the newspaper; it is the poor man’s best friend, and has done more service to the good cause than all the pikes, and bul lets, and |lustering threats in the world. Have as much reform as you Jike—you cannot strive too much in the right path; but talk about accomplishing great measures by violent means, and you throw away the last chance you have of obtaining them.” The old meerschaum dropped from his hands, Randall started from his reverie, and a traveller who was stopping at the inn for the night entered the room to reclaim the pipe he had left forgetfully behind him. It so happened that the visiter was a kind-hearted, liberal man, who had been a general dealer in the village of Bradley, as well as one of the early customers to the “ Roebuck,” in memory of which he had bought on the day of the sale the old meexschaum, as a token of the jovial hours he had passed within the sphere of its fumiferous outpourings. The recognition that ensued, brought about through the agency of this nicotian tube, was followed by a hearty greeting; and a frank disclosure by Randall of his altered cireum- stances led to the other making a generous offer to assist him in an effurt to better his condition. The quiet hour of meditation enjoyed by the contemplative smoker had not passed away withont leaving a bene- ficial effzct behind. Randall resolved upon instantly abandoning his idle associates, returning to a course of life that should be marked by the characteristics of what might truly be calicd his better days; and ~ gratefully accepting the proposition of his old ac- quaintance, he thenceforwreoyi stv el sexo} —_———- OO