Penny Dreadfuls, 1916 · page 49 of 400
Tom Anderson, Dare-Devil: A Young Virginian in the Revolution — page 49: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis This is a page of running prose from a Victorian penny dreadful (page 33, titled "At the Blacksmith's Shop"). The text consists of dialogue and narrative describing a conversation between characters named Pat and Tom. Pat recounts military experiences—apparently from the American Revolution, mentioning battles at Horsepittle Hill and Savannah, and figures like Pulaski and General James Jackson. He quotes letters and official correspondence in mock-Irish dialect, describing combat and injury. The passage ends with Tom announcing he plans to go to Georgia, interrupted by someone calling from a blacksmith's shop—an event described as setting "the train of events" affecting the Anderson family. The narrator emphasizes young Anderson's reaction to hearing this voice as a soul-defining moment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AT THE BLACKSMITH’S SHOP 33 Count thries his hand agin: ‘Sirr: I’m sorry ter disthress yez wid the infermation, but I’m the very bull-av-the- woods ez tuk Horsepittle Hill, in the Grenades! — whin my Lord Maccartney esth-caped by the skin av his teeth, jist! Take war-rer-nin! Surrinder!— afore yez do wuss!’ Thin Prevost writes: “The top av the mornin’ ter yez, Polly Voo! It would be uncommon handsome av yez ter consint fer Misthress Prevost an’ the childer ter take ship afore the bombardment. Now, would n’t it?’ An’ now hear til the Frinchman, Tom! Here’s the very words av him: ‘It is wid regret that we yield ter the austh-terity av our functions, an’ deplore the fate av thim who will fall victims ter the delusions which appear ter pervade yez mind!’ ‘Thot’s write-thin fer yez, [om.”’ “Those very words are in the ‘American Remembran- cer,’ exclaimed the boy. “What else, Pat?” “Afther the ‘Offishil Corresth-pon-dence’ comes the bloody wurruk. We fought like hell! I saw Pulaski — the darlin’ — fall! I saw a sthriplin’ officer, Lieutenant Edward Lloyd, lose his arm from a British cannon-ball. An’ there was Gin’ral James Jackson, av Marbury’s throops, takin’ off his hat ter the bit of a b’y — fer his gallantry. Right thin | wuz dthropped like a bullock, wid a love-lick from the butt av a musket! An’ whin I comes out av me swound, the gallow-glatches wuz dumpin’ me inter the ditch!’ And Carr fell silent, his mind’s eye on the bloody ramparts before Savannah. Presently Pat lighted his pipe; and Tom broke the ice. “Pat, I’m going to Georgia.” “ Phwat —” Here an interruption. It laid the train of events that were bound up with the fortunes of the An- derson family. © “Ho, there! Biackemetal [si As long as he lived, young Anderson never farebt the thrill in that voice. It signaled his soul. CORNICLOOO@ SS (EO) im