Penny Dreadfuls, 1916 · page 92 of 400
Tom Anderson, Dare-Devil: A Young Virginian in the Revolution — page 92: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Description This is running prose text—specifically the opening of Chapter X titled "A Birthday Party" from a Victorian penny dreadful. The passage describes Pat Carr's arrival at Oxheart House bearing venison during an approaching storm, and his discovery that the schoolroom has been transformed into a festive space to celebrate someone's birthday. The text details the decorated room's appearance—filled with greenery, wax lights, flowers, and dressed-up inhabitants—and notes the various characters present, including Mimi, Dare, and Ole. The narrative tone is characteristic of Victorian sensation fiction, mixing domestic detail with hints of prior drama.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
CHAPTER X A BIRTHDAY PARTY Pat Carr had killed a buck out on Peter’s Mountain, and he appeared at Oxheart House — when the dusk was falling and the storm a-coming — to bring a haunch of venison for Mistress Anderson. ‘Tom conducted his friend to the schoolroom, where a bright fire burned, and where Mimi sat sewing the back on a tattered “Cesar.” For was n't [om going back to school in a day or so? “Rode with the storm at your crupper, Patsy! Good. You can’t go back soon. ‘This storm’s going to hold for hours. Give you a chance to pay fim a visit. You won’t know him, Carr!” as they followed the little governess and Dare into the room which had been the stage of such mad- dening suspense. “You see, Pat, it’s his birthday. We mean to make it as Jolly for him as we can. What luck you are here!”’ ‘Saints’ days and bonfire nights!”’ exclaimed the I[rish- man. The “old ship” had been transformed. Scutching- boards and spinning-wheels, bolts of cloth, baskets of wool- rolls — all were crowded around the looms and the door into the schoolroom. Rugs covered “the deck,” as the Andersons had always called the floor. Wax lights were everywhere. [here were wreaths of holly, cedar, and scar- let berries, vases and bowls of flowers everywhere. The clumsy old work-table was covered with satiny damask. The room overflowed with ruddy firelight and a blithe con- fusion of sounds. Toilets were not wanting. Ole, for in- stance, wore a new flax smock, orange head-handkerchief, and yes, the “horsh-pisthil’’ was securely buckled about his waist. Mimi was pretty as a pink, in her lute-string silk. And Dare — why did she choose poppy-red ribands Eomichbooks (E(0) m