Pickwick Abroad; or, The Tour in France — page 69: what you’re looking at

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

56 PICKWICK ABROAD. uy * . € - ce I suppose. Asked me ifI could lend him a guid. Assured him I~ did not carry tobacco about with me. Informed me that he had had — a great many yellow-boys at his command once. A slaye-owner, I presume, Lent hima sovereign: and Sam afterwards assured me that it was nothing but a go. By this he meant trick. full of elie synonymes, that Sam! Stopped and dined at Canterbury. Had time to visit the cathedral, so we all hastened thither, as the coach will not stop longer than a cer- | tain time. Missed our way. Stepped up to a beggar, who was hold- ing a dog by a string, at the corner of a street, and offered him six- pence if he would show us the way. Beggar replied that he couldn’t, but that his dog would. Looked at him in astonishment, and disco- vered that he was blind. Gave him some half-pence, declindd to de- prive him of'so clever a guide, and found another. -Mem.—This guide was a human being. Canterbury cathedral is a vet ry handsome building. Saw the blood of Thomas-a-Becket upon the very stone where his assassins murdered him. Sam informed us that he had been ‘ put up to snuff”—as he facetiously expressed himseli—about this matter, and assured me that the sexton made a point of keeping the said stone well coloured with bull’s blood, so often as circumstances required, Tupman looked doubtful, —and Winkle expressed his unalterable disbelief of Sam’ statement. Proceeded on our journey to Dover. ‘Tupman remarked that the Kentish girls are particularly fine. I do not know that heis altogether wrong. ‘Travelling Is in a very uusettled state on this road. The op- position coaches should be suppressed by government. The guard of our coach was perpetually telling the driver ‘‘to hit the horses on the raw, as they hadn’t any iriends! > Such cruelty to unfriended animals 1S perfectly atrocious. Slept at Dover, and was grievously bitten by bugs. November 12th, 1834.—Embarked on beard a steam-boat for the first time in our lives. Became acqpapiny with a dark gentleman called ‘‘a stoker,” who explained to us the pon aples and technicalities of the steam-encine Cannot say that I periectly understood the mat- ter; but Winkle appeared to be fully at home with it, which was very astonishing when we consider his former ignorance Ae such engines, However, - in case ‘‘ the stoker's » elucidation may interest posterity, subjoin it, word for word, as I took it down in my note -book at the time. —“ This’ ere fur nanice, gen’|men, heats that ’ere water, and tha’ "ere water is in this ’ere biler; and that there pistern-rod is moved uy and down by the steam from this’ere biler; and them’ere pisterns act: upon them rods, which turns the axles of the paddles, and the paddle their-selves in consequence.” “Then it zs possible for a boiler to burst 2” observed Mr. Tupmar with a very visible shudder. ‘¢ Possible !”? exclaimed the man, as if he were deeply insulted b the bare doubt implied in my friend’s remark. ‘‘! rather think it 3 possible—and what’s more too, it very often does burst.” Feel myself bound to hemiank that Winkle manifests on every occe siona great regard for our several safeties. On hearing “‘ the stoker’s:” reply to Tupman’ s question, he roared out ‘‘ murder !” and, ran frant- Eomichooks.com