Penny Dreadfuls, 1916 · page 81 of 400
Tom Anderson, Dare-Devil: A Young Virginian in the Revolution — page 81: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a page of running prose (page 65) from a Victorian penny dreadful titled "Pot aux Roses." The text depicts a dramatic scene in which servants and household members discuss a recovering soldier's remarkable improvement in health, speaking in exaggerated dialect. The passage then shifts abruptly to violence: a man named Egger whips a character called Billy in the garden while another character named Tom attempts a desperate rescue by climbing down ivy from a window, injuring his hands in the process. The scene emphasizes melodramatic tension and social conflict.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Pot aux RoseEs 65 Troupe’s corduroy hunting-suit as if it were the uniform of His Mayjesty’s Dragoons. “I am fortunate, mademoiselle, in meeting another member of the Anderson family. Never was man so be~ friended as I have been under this roof!” She answered, with a damask blush, that they all re- joiced at his recovery. “Yoost loog ad him!” burst forth Ole heartily. “Do you sposhe onybody vood know him fer de same yentle- man we broughd here — helplessh as ony chimbly schwal- low dot ever tumbled oud of hish nesht und come sphrawlin’ down on de hearth! — Onh?” And Dilsey chimed in fervently, “Yes, Lord! Did n’t we-all rassle wid ole Az’l? .. . Same ez Jacob rassled wid de angel. Did n’t we-all go down inter de Valley en’ Shad- der atter Miss Sa’ah en’ de Colonel!” “You did! As the Lord liveth,” said the soldier. “God be thanked,” breathed Dare. ‘But yoost loog at *°em now — how dey a’ a-piggin’ up.” Ole rolled on. “De Colonel be fat ez er groun’-hog ’fo’ long. Yesh, he vill.” “Ought to exchange me for some gamecock American, Ole. By this time His Lordship must believe I’m hanged.” “His Lordship!’” A hush fell on the big old room. The constrained silence was broken by a shriek. It came from the garden under the windows. The Fool and the overseer! Billy was rolling on the ground, under the uplifted dog- whip in Egger’s hand. Tom threw up the sash, and shouted, “Don’t touch him.” Egger looked up. His lip drew away from his teeth, like a snarling dog’s. “Le’ ’s see ye hender me!” and the whip fell on Billy’s bare shins savagely. ‘Tom’s feet were on the window sill now. He twisted his fingers into the ivy that clothed the chimney from ground to roof with the’growth of years. Slipping, clutching, “spilling,” he reached the ground — quite unaware of bleeding palms. Egger leered with triumph. a GOMmMiIGsdoo SS (CO) im