MARK
RUTHERFORD’S
DELIVERANCE
BY
MARK
RUTHERFORD
HODDER
+
STOUGHTON’S
SEVENPENNY
LIBRARY
HODDER
AND
STOUGHTON
LONDON
NEW
YORK
TORONTO
CHAPTER
I
NEWSPAPERS
When
I
had
established
myself
in
my
new
lodgings
in
Camden
Town
,
I
found
I
had
ten
pounds
in
my
pocket
,
and
again
there
was
no
outlook
.
I
examined
carefully
every
possibility
.
At
last
I
remembered
that
a
relative
of
mine
,
who
held
some
office
in
the
House
of
Commons
,
added
to
his
income
by
writing
descriptive
accounts
of
the
debates
,
throwing
in
by
way
of
supplement
any
stray
scraps
of
gossip
which
he
was
enabled
to
collect
.
The
rules
of
the
House
as
to
the
admission
of
strangers
were
not
so
strict
then
as
they
are
now
,
and
he
assured
me
that
if
I
could
but
secure
a
commission
from
a
newspaper
,
he
could
pass
me
into
one
of
the
galleries
,
and
,
when
there
was
nothing
to
be
heard
worth
describing
,
I
could
remain
in
the
lobby
,
where
I
should
by
degrees
find
many
opportunities
of
picking
up
intelligence
which
would
pay
.
So
far
,
so
good
;
but
how
to
obtain
the
commission
?
I
managed
to
get
hold
of
a
list
of
all
the
country
papers
,
and
I
wrote
to
nearly
every
one
,
offering
my
services
.
I
am
afraid
that
I
somewhat
exaggerated
them
,
for
I
had
two
answers
,
and
,
after
a
little
correspondence
,
two
engagements
.
This
was
an
unexpected
stroke
of
luck
;
but
alas
!
both
journals
circulated
in
the
same
district
.
I
never
could
get
together
more
stuff
than
would
fill
about
a
column
and
a
half
,
and
consequently
I
was
obliged
,
with
infinite
pains
,
to
vary
,
so
that
it
could
not
be
recognised
,
the
form
of
what
,
at
bottom
,
was
essentially
the
same
matter
.
This
was
work
which
would
have
been
disagreeable
enough
,
if
I
had
not
now
ceased
in
a
great
measure
to
demand
what
was
agreeable
.
In
years
past
I
coveted
a
life
,
not
of
mere
sensual
enjoyment
—
for
that
I
never
cared
—
but
a
life
which
should
be
filled
with
activities
of
the
noblest
kind
,
and
it
was
intolerable
to
me
to
reflect
that
all
my
waking
hours
were
in
the
main
passed
in
merest
drudgery
,
and
that
only
for
a
few
moments
at
the
beginning
or
end
of
the
day
could
it
be
said
that
the
higher
sympathies
were
really
operative
.
Existence
to
me
was
nothing
but
these
few
moments
,
and
consequently
flitted
like
a
shadow
.
I
was
now
,
however
,
the
better
of
what
was
half
disease
and
half
something
healthy
and
good
.
In
the
first
place
,
I
had
discovered
that
my
appetite
was
far
larger
than
my
powers
.
Consumed
by
a
longing
for
continuous
intercourse
with
the
best
,
I
had
no
ability
whatever
to
maintain
it
,
and
I
had
accepted
as
a
fact
,
however
mysterious
it
might
be
,
that
the
human
mind
is
created
with
the
impulses
of
a
seraph
and
the
strength
of
a
man
.
Furthermore
,
what
was
I
that
I
should
demand
exceptional
treatment
?
Thousands
of
men
and
women
superior
to
myself
,
are
condemned
,
if
that
is
the
proper
word
to
use
,
to
almost
total
absence
from
themselves
.
The
roar
of
the
world
for
them
is
never
lulled
to
rest
,
nor
can
silence
ever
be
secured
in
which
the
voice
of
the
Divine
can
be
heard
.
My
letters
were
written
twice
a
week
,
and
as
each
contained
a
column
and
a
half
,
I
had
six
columns
weekly
to
manufacture
.
These
I
was
in
the
habit
of
writing
in
the
morning
,
my
evenings
being
spent
at
the
House
.
At
first
I
was
rather
interested
,
but
after
a
while
the
occupation
became
tedious
beyond
measure
,
and
for
this
reason
.
In
a
discussion
of
any
importance
about
fifty
members
perhaps
would
take
part
,
and
had
made
up
their
minds
beforehand
to
speak
.
There
could
not
possibly
be
more
than
three
or
four
reasons
for
or
against
the
motion
,
and
as
the
knowledge
that
what
the
intending
orator
had
to
urge
had
been
urged
a
dozen
times
before
on
that
very
night
never
deterred
him
from
urging
it
again
,
the
same
arguments
,
diluted
,
muddled
,
and
mispresented
,
recurred
with
the
most
wearisome
iteration
.
The
public
outside
knew
nothing
or
very
little
of
the
real
House
of
Commons
,
and
the
manner
in
which
time
was
squandered
there
,
for
the
reports
were
all
of
them
much
abbreviated
.
In
fact
,
I
doubt
whether
anybody
but
the
Speaker
,
and
one
or
two
other
persons
in
the
same
position
as
myself
,
really
felt
with
proper
intensity
what
the
waste
was
,
and
how
profound
was
the
vanity
of
members
and
the
itch
for
expression
;
for
even
the
reporters
were
relieved
at
stated
intervals
,
and
the
impression
on
their
minds
was
not
continuous
.
Another
evil
result
of
these
attendances
at
the
House
was
a
kind
of
political
scepticism
.
Over
and
over
again
I
have
seen
a
Government
arraigned
for
its
conduct
of
foreign
affairs
.
The
evidence
lay
in
masses
of
correspondence
which
it
would
have
required
some
days
to
master
,
and
the
verdict
,
after
knowing
the
facts
,
ought
to
have
depended
upon
the
application
of
principles
,
each
of
which
admitted
a
contrary
principle
for
which
much
might
be
pleaded
.
There
were
not
fifty
members
in
the
House
with
the
leisure
or
the
ability
to
understand
what
it
was
which
had
actually
happened
,
and
if
they
had
understood
it
,
they
would
not
have
had
the
wit
to
see
what
was
the
rule
which
ought
to
have
decided
the
case
.
Yet
,
whether
they
understood
or
not
,
they
were
obliged
to
vote
,
and
what
was
worse
,
the
constituencies
also
had
to
vote
,
and
so
the
gravest
matters
were
settled
in
utter
ignorance
.
This
has
often
been
adduced
as
an
argument
against
an
extended
suffrage
,
but
,
if
it
is
an
argument
against
anything
,
it
is
an
argument
against
intrusting
the
aristocracy
and
even
the
House
itself
with
the
destinies
of
the
nation
;
for
no
dock
labourer
could
possibly
be
more
entirely
empty
of
all
reasons
for
action
than
the
noble
lords
,
squires
,
lawyers
,
and
railway
directors
whom
I
have
seen
troop
to
the
division
bell
.
There
is
something
deeper
than
this
scepticism
,
but
the
scepticism
is
the
easiest
and
the
most
obvious
conclusion
to
an
open
mind
dealing
so
closely
and
practically
with
politics
as
it
was
my
lot
to
do
at
this
time
of
my
life
.
Men
must
be
governed
,
and
when
it
comes
to
the
question
,
by
whom
?
I
,
for
one
,
would
far
sooner
in
the
long
run
trust
the
people
at
large
than
I
would
the
few
,
who
in
everything
which
relates
to
Government
are
as
little
instructed
as
the
many
and
more
difficult
to
move
.
The
very
fickleness
of
the
multitude
,
the
theme
of
such
constant
declamation
,
is
so
far
good
that
it
proves
a
susceptibility
to
impressions
to
which
men
hedged
round
by
impregnable
conventionalities
cannot
yield
.
[
1
]
When
I
was
living
in
the
country
,
the
pure
sky
and
the
landscape
formed
a
large
portion
of
my
existence
,
so
large
that
much
of
myself
depended
on
it
,
and
I
wondered
how
men
could
be
worth
anything
if
they
could
never
see
the
face
of
nature
.
For
this
belief
my
early
training
on
the
“
Lyrical
Ballads
”
is
answerable
.
When
I
came
to
London
the
same
creed
survived
,
and
I
was
for
ever
thirsting
for
intercourse
with
my
ancient
friend
.
Hope
,
faith
,
and
God
seemed
impossible
amidst
the
smoke
of
the
streets
.
It
was
now
very
difficult
for
me
,
except
at
rare
opportunities
,
to
leave
London
,
and
it
was
necessary
for
me
,
therefore
,
to
understand
that
all
that
was
essential
for
me
was
obtainable
there
,
even
though
I
should
never
see
anything
more
than
was
to
be
seen
in
journeying
through
the
High
Street
,
Camden
Town
,
Tottenham
Court
Road
,
the
Seven
Dials
,
and
Whitehall
.
I
should
have
been
guilty
of
a
simple
surrender
to
despair
if
I
had
not
forced
myself
to
make
this
discovery
.
I
cannot
help
saying
,
with
all
my
love
for
the
literature
of
my
own
day
,
that
it
has
an
evil
side
to
it
which
none
know
except
the
millions
of
sensitive
persons
who
are
condemned
to
exist
in
great
towns
.
It
might
be
imagined
from
much
of
this
literature
that
true
humanity
and
a
belief
in
God
are
the
offspring
of
the
hills
or
the
ocean
;
and
by
implication
,
if
not
expressly
,
the
vast
multitudes
who
hardly
ever
see
the
hills
or
the
ocean
must
be
without
a
religion
.
The
long
poems
which
turn
altogether
upon
scenery
,
perhaps
in
foreign
lands
,
and
the
passionate
devotion
to
it
which
they
breathe
,
may
perhaps
do
good
in
keeping
alive
in
the
hearts
of
men
a
determination
to
preserve
air
,
earth
,
and
water
from
pollution
;
but
speaking
from
experience
as
a
Londoner
,
I
can
testify
that
they
are
most
depressing
,
and
I
would
counsel
everybody
whose
position
is
what
mine
was
to
avoid
these
books
and
to
associate
with
those
which
will
help
him
in
his
own
circumstances
.
Half
of
my
occupation
soon
came
to
an
end
.
One
of
my
editors
sent
me
a
petulant
note
telling
me
that
all
I
wrote
he
could
easily
find
out
himself
,
and
that
he
required
something
more
“
graphic
and
personal
.
”
I
could
do
no
better
,
or
rather
I
ought
to
say
,
no
worse
than
I
had
been
doing
.
These
letters
were
a
great
trouble
to
me
.
I
was
always
conscious
of
writing
so
much
of
which
I
was
not
certain
,
and
so
much
which
was
indifferent
to
me
.
The
unfairness
of
parties
haunted
me
.
But
I
continued
to
write
,
because
I
saw
no
other
way
of
getting
a
living
,
and
surely
it
is
a
baser
dishonesty
to
depend
upon
the
charity
of
friends
because
some
pleasant
,
clean
,
ideal
employment
has
not
presented
itself
,
than
to
soil
one’s
hands
with
a
little
of
the
inevitable
mud
.
I
don’t
think
I
ever
felt
anything
more
keenly
than
I
did
a
sneer
from
an
acquaintance
of
mine
who
was
in
the
habit
of
borrowing
money
from
me
.
He
was
a
painter
,
whose
pictures
were
never
sold
because
he
never
worked
hard
enough
to
know
how
to
draw
,
and
it
came
to
my
ears
indirectly
that
he
had
said
that
“
he
would
rather
live
the
life
of
a
medieval
ascetic
than
condescend
to
the
degradation
of
scribbling
a
dozen
columns
weekly
of
utter
trash
on
subjects
with
which
he
had
no
concern
.
”
At
that
very
moment
he
owed
me
five
pounds
.
God
knows
that
I
admitted
my
dozen
columns
to
be
utter
trash
,
but
it
ought
to
have
been
forgiven
by
those
who
saw
that
I
was
struggling
to
save
myself
from
the
streets
and
to
keep
a
roof
over
my
head
.
Degraded
,
however
,
as
I
might
be
,
I
could
not
get
down
to
the
“
graphic
and
personal
,
”
for
it
meant
nothing
less
than
the
absolutely
false
.
I
therefore
contrived
to
exist
on
the
one
letter
,
which
,
excepting
the
mechanical
labour
of
writing
a
second
,
took
up
as
much
of
my
time
as
if
I
had
to
write
two
.
Never
,
but
once
or
twice
at
the
most
,
did
my
labours
meet
with
the
slightest
recognition
beyond
payment
.
Once
I
remember
that
I
accused
a
member
of
a
discreditable
manœuvre
to
consume
the
time
of
the
House
,
and
as
he
represented
a
borough
in
my
district
,
he
wrote
to
the
editor
denying
the
charge
.
The
editor
without
any
inquiry
—
and
I
believe
I
was
mistaken
—
instantly
congratulated
me
on
having
“
scored
.
”
At
another
time
,
when
Parliament
was
not
sitting
,
I
ventured
,
by
way
of
filling
up
my
allotted
space
,
to
say
a
word
on
behalf
of
a
now
utterly
forgotten
novel
.
I
had
a
letter
from
the
authoress
thanking
me
,
but
alas
!
the
illusion
vanished
.
I
was
tempted
by
this
one
novel
to
look
into
others
which
I
found
she
had
written
,
and
I
discovered
that
they
were
altogether
silly
.
The
attraction
of
the
one
of
which
I
thought
so
highly
,
was
due
not
to
any
real
merit
which
it
possessed
,
but
to
something
I
had
put
into
it
.
It
was
dead
,
but
it
had
served
as
a
wall
to
re-echo
my
own
voice
.
Excepting
these
two
occasions
,
I
don’t
think
that
one
solitary
human
being
ever
applauded
or
condemned
one
solitary
word
of
which
I
was
the
author
.
All
my
friends
knew
where
my
contributions
were
to
be
found
,
but
I
never
heard
that
they
looked
at
them
.
They
were
never
worth
reading
,
and
yet
such
complete
silence
was
rather
lonely
.
The
tradesman
who
makes
a
good
coat
enjoys
the
satisfaction
of
having
fitted
and
pleased
his
customer
,
and
a
bricklayer
,
if
he
be
diligent
,
is
rewarded
by
knowing
that
his
master
understands
his
value
,
but
I
never
knew
what
it
was
to
receive
a
single
response
.
I
wrote
for
an
abstraction
;
and
spoke
to
empty
space
.
I
cannot
help
claiming
some
pity
and
even
respect
for
the
class
to
which
I
belonged
.
I
have
heard
them
called
all
kinds
of
hard
names
,
hacks
,
drudges
,
and
something
even
more
contemptible
,
but
the
injustice
done
to
them
is
monstrous
.
Their
wage
is
hardly
earned
;
it
is
peculiarly
precarious
,
depending
altogether
upon
their
health
,
and
no
matter
how
ill
they
may
be
they
must
maintain
the
liveliness
of
manner
which
is
necessary
to
procure
acceptance
.
I
fell
in
with
one
poor
fellow
whose
line
was
something
like
my
own
.
I
became
acquainted
with
him
through
sitting
side
by
side
with
him
at
the
House
.
He
lived
in
lodgings
in
Goodge
Street
,
and
occasionally
I
walked
with
him
as
far
as
the
corner
of
Tottenham
Court
Road
,
where
I
caught
the
last
omnibus
northward
.
He
wrote
like
me
a
“
descriptive
article
”
for
the
country
,
but
he
also
wrote
every
now
and
then
—
a
dignity
to
which
I
never
attained
—
a
“
special
”
for
London
.
His
“
descriptive
articles
”
were
more
political
than
mine
,
and
he
was
obliged
to
be
violently
Tory
.
His
creed
,
however
,
was
such
a
pure
piece
of
professionalism
,
that
though
I
was
Radical
,
and
was
expected
to
be
so
,
we
never
jarred
,
and
often
,
as
we
wandered
homewards
,
we
exchanged
notes
,
and
were
mutually
useful
,
his
observations
appearing
in
my
paper
,
and
mine
in
his
,
with
proper
modifications
.
How
he
used
to
roar
in
the
Gazette
against
the
opposite
party
,
and
yet
I
never
heard
anything
from
him
myself
but
what
was
diffident
and
tender
.
He
had
acquired
,
as
an
instrument
necessary
to
him
,
an
extraordinarily
extravagant
style
,
and
he
laid
about
him
with
a
bludgeon
,
which
inevitably
descended
on
the
heads
of
all
prominent
persons
if
they
happened
not
to
be
Conservative
,
no
matter
what
their
virtues
might
be
.
One
peculiarity
,
however
,
I
noted
in
him
.
Although
he
ought
every
now
and
then
,
when
the
subject
was
uppermost
,
to
have
flamed
out
in
the
Gazette
on
behalf
of
the
Church
,
I
never
saw
a
word
from
him
on
that
subject
.
He
drew
the
line
at
religion
.
He
did
not
mind
acting
his
part
in
things
secular
,
for
his
performances
were
,
I
am
sure
,
mostly
histrionic
,
but
there
he
stopped
.
The
unreality
of
his
character
was
a
husk
surrounding
him
,
but
it
did
not
touch
the
core
.
It
was
as
if
he
had
said
to
himself
,
“
Political
controversy
is
nothing
to
me
,
and
,
what
is
more
,
is
so
uncertain
that
it
matters
little
whether
I
say
yes
or
no
,
nor
indeed
does
it
matter
if
I
say
yes
and
no
,
and
I
must
keep
my
wife
and
children
from
the
workhouse
;
but
when
it
comes
to
the
relationship
of
man
to
God
,
it
is
a
different
matter
.
”
His
altogether
outside
vehemence
and
hypocrisy
did
in
fact
react
upon
him
,
and
so
far
from
affecting
harmfully
what
lay
deeper
,
produced
a
more
complete
sincerity
and
transparency
extending
even
to
the
finest
verbal
distinctions
.
Over
and
over
again
have
I
heard
him
preach
to
his
wife
,
almost
with
pathos
,
the
duty
of
perfect
exactitude
in
speech
in
describing
the
commonest
occurrences
.
“
Now
,
my
dear
,
is
that
so
?
”
was
a
perpetual
remonstrance
with
him
;
and
he
always
insisted
upon
it
that
there
is
no
training
more
necessary
for
children
than
that
of
teaching
them
not
merely
to
speak
the
truth
in
the
ordinary
,
vulgar
sense
of
the
term
,
but
to
speak
it
in
a
much
higher
sense
,
by
rigidly
compelling
,
point
by
point
,
a
correspondence
of
the
words
with
the
fact
external
or
internal
.
He
never
would
tolerate
in
his
own
children
a
mere
hackneyed
,
borrowed
expression
,
but
demanded
exact
portraiture
;
and
nothing
vexed
him
more
than
to
hear
one
of
them
spoil
and
make
worthless
what
he
or
she
had
seen
,
by
reporting
it
in
some
stale
phrase
which
had
been
used
by
everybody
.
This
refusal
to
take
the
trouble
to
watch
the
presentment
to
the
mind
of
anything
which
had
been
placed
before
it
,
and
to
reproduce
it
in
its
own
lines
and
colours
was
,
as
he
said
,
nothing
but
falsehood
,
and
he
maintained
that
the
principal
reason
why
people
are
so
uninteresting
is
not
that
they
have
nothing
to
say
.
It
is
rather
that
they
will
not
face
the
labour
of
saying
in
their
own
tongue
what
they
have
to
say
,
but
cover
it
up
and
conceal
it
in
commonplace
,
so
that
we
get
,
not
what
they
themselves
behold
and
what
they
think
,
but
a
hieroglyphic
or
symbol
invented
as
the
representative
of
a
certain
class
of
objects
or
emotions
,
and
as
inefficient
to
represent
a
particular
object
or
emotion
as
x
or
y
to
set
forth
the
relation
of
Hamlet
to
Ophelia
.
He
would
even
exercise
his
children
in
this
art
of
the
higher
truthfulness
,
and
would
purposely
make
them
give
him
an
account
of
something
which
he
had
seen
and
they
had
seen
,
checking
them
the
moment
he
saw
a
lapse
from
originality
.
Such
was
the
Tory
correspondent
of
the
Gazette
.
I
ought
to
say
,
by
way
of
apology
for
him
,
that
in
his
day
it
signified
little
or
nothing
whether
Tory
or
Whig
was
in
power
.
Politics
had
not
become
what
they
will
one
day
become
,
a
matter
of
life
or
death
,
dividing
men
with
really
private
love
and
hate
.
What
a
mockery
controversy
was
in
the
House
!
How
often
I
have
seen
members
,
who
were
furious
at
one
another
across
the
floor
,
quietly
shaking
hands
outside
,
and
inviting
one
another
to
dinner
!
I
have
heard
them
say
that
we
ought
to
congratulate
ourselves
that
parliamentary
differences
do
not
in
this
country
breed
personal
animosities
.
To
me
this
seemed
anything
but
a
subject
of
congratulation
.
Men
who
are
totally
at
variance
ought
not
to
be
friends
,
and
if
Radical
and
Tory
are
not
totally
,
but
merely
superficially
at
variance
,
so
much
the
worse
for
their
Radicalism
and
Toryism
.
It
is
possible
,
and
even
probable
,
that
the
public
fury
and
the
subsequent
amity
were
equally
absurd
.
Most
of
us
have
no
real
loves
and
no
real
hatreds
.
Blessed
is
love
,
less
blessed
is
hatred
,
but
thrice
accursed
is
that
indifference
which
is
neither
one
nor
the
other
,
the
muddy
mess
which
men
call
friendship
.
M’Kay
—
for
that
was
his
name
—
lived
,
as
I
have
said
,
in
Goodge
Street
,
where
he
had
unfurnished
apartments
.
I
often
spent
part
of
the
Sunday
with
him
,
and
I
may
forestall
obvious
criticism
by
saying
that
I
do
not
pretend
for
a
moment
to
defend
myself
from
inconsistency
in
denouncing
members
of
Parliament
for
their
duplicity
,
M’Kay
and
myself
being
also
guilty
of
something
very
much
like
it
.
But
there
was
this
difference
between
us
and
our
parliamentary
friends
,
that
we
always
divested
ourselves
of
all
hypocrisy
when
we
were
alone
.
We
then
dropped
the
stage
costume
which
members
continued
to
wear
in
the
streets
and
at
the
dinner-table
,
and
in
which
some
of
them
even
slept
and
said
their
prayers
.
London
Sundays
to
persons
who
are
not
attached
to
any
religious
community
,
and
have
no
money
to
spend
,
are
rather
dreary
.
We
tried
several
ways
of
getting
through
the
morning
.
If
we
heard
that
there
was
a
preacher
with
a
reputation
,
we
went
to
hear
him
.
As
a
rule
,
however
,
we
got
no
good
in
that
way
.
Once
we
came
to
a
chapel
where
there
was
a
minister
supposed
to
be
one
of
the
greatest
orators
of
the
day
.
We
had
much
difficulty
in
finding
standing
room
.
Just
as
we
entered
we
heard
him
say
,
“
My
friends
,
I
appeal
to
those
of
you
who
are
parents
.
You
know
that
if
you
say
to
a
child
‘go
,
’
he
goeth
,
and
if
you
say
‘come
,
’
he
cometh
.
So
the
Lord
”
—
But
at
this
point
M’Kay
,
who
had
children
,
nudged
me
to
come
out
;
and
out
we
went
.
Why
does
this
little
scene
remain
with
me
?
I
can
hardly
say
,
but
here
it
stands
.
It
is
remembered
,
not
so
much
by
reason
of
the
preacher
as
by
reason
of
the
apparent
acquiescence
and
admiration
of
the
audience
,
who
seemed
to
be
perfectly
willing
to
take
over
an
experience
from
their
pastor
—
if
indeed
it
was
really
an
experience
—
which
was
not
their
own
.
Our
usual
haunts
on
Sunday
were
naturally
the
parks
and
Kensington
Gardens
;
but
artificial
limited
enclosures
are
apt
to
become
wearisome
after
a
time
,
and
we
longed
for
a
little
more
freedom
if
a
little
less
trim
.
So
we
would
stroll
towards
Hampstead
or
Highgate
,
the
only
drawback
to
these
regions
being
the
squalid
,
ragged
,
half
town
,
half
suburb
,
through
which
it
was
necessary
to
pass
.
The
skirts
of
London
when
the
air
is
filled
with
north-easterly
soot
,
grit
,
and
filth
,
are
cheerless
,
and
the
least
cheerful
part
of
the
scene
is
the
inability
of
the
vast
wandering
masses
of
people
to
find
any
way
of
amusing
themselves
.
At
the
corner
of
one
of
the
fields
in
Kentish
Town
,
just
about
to
be
devoured
,
stood
a
public-house
,
and
opposite
the
door
was
generally
encamped
a
man
who
sold
nothing
but
Brazil
nuts
.
Swarms
of
people
lazily
wandered
past
him
,
most
of
them
waiting
for
the
public-house
to
open
.
Brazil
nuts
on
a
cold
black
Sunday
morning
are
not
exhilarating
,
but
the
costermonger
found
many
customers
who
bought
his
nuts
,
and
ate
them
,
merely
because
they
had
nothing
better
to
do
.
We
went
two
or
three
times
to
a
freethinking
hall
,
where
we
were
entertained
with
demonstrations
of
the
immorality
of
the
patriarchs
and
Jewish
heroes
,
and
arguments
to
prove
that
the
personal
existence
of
the
devil
was
a
myth
,
the
audience
breaking
out
into
uproarious
laughter
at
comical
delineations
of
Noah
and
Jonah
.
One
morning
we
found
the
place
completely
packed
.
A
“
celebrated
Christian
,
”
as
he
was
described
to
us
,
having
heard
of
the
hall
,
had
volunteered
to
engage
in
debate
on
the
claims
of
the
Old
Testament
to
Divine
authority
.
He
turned
out
to
be
a
preacher
whom
we
knew
quite
well
.
He
was
introduced
by
his
freethinking
antagonist
,
who
claimed
for
him
a
respectful
hearing
.
The
preacher
said
that
before
beginning
he
should
like
to
“
engage
in
prayer
.
”
Accordingly
he
came
to
the
front
of
the
platform
,
lifted
up
his
eyes
,
told
God
why
he
was
there
,
and
besought
Him
to
bless
the
discussion
in
the
conversion
“
of
these
poor
wandering
souls
,
who
have
said
in
their
hearts
that
there
is
no
God
,
to
a
saving
faith
in
Him
and
in
the
blood
of
Christ
.
”
I
expected
that
some
resentment
would
be
displayed
when
the
wandering
souls
found
themselves
treated
like
errant
sheep
,
but
to
my
surprise
they
listened
with
perfect
silence
;
and
when
he
had
said
“
Amen
,
”
there
were
great
clappings
of
hands
,
and
cries
of
“
Bravo
.
”
They
evidently
considered
the
prayer
merely
as
an
elocutionary
show-piece
.
The
preacher
was
much
disconcerted
,
but
he
recovered
himself
,
and
began
his
sermon
,
for
it
was
nothing
more
.
He
enlarged
on
the
fact
that
men
of
the
highest
eminence
had
believed
in
the
Old
Testament
.
Locke
and
Newton
had
believed
in
it
,
and
did
it
not
prove
arrogance
in
us
to
doubt
when
the
“
gigantic
intellect
which
had
swept
the
skies
,
and
had
announced
the
law
which
bound
the
universe
together
was
satisfied
?
”
The
witness
of
the
Old
Testament
to
the
New
was
another
argument
,
but
his
main
reliance
was
upon
the
prophecies
.
From
Adam
to
Isaiah
there
was
a
continuous
prefigurement
of
Christ
.
Christ
was
the
point
to
which
everything
tended
;
and
“
now
,
my
friends
,
”
he
said
,
“
I
cannot
sit
down
without
imploring
you
to
turn
your
eyes
on
Him
who
never
yet
repelled
the
sinner
,
to
wash
in
that
eternal
Fountain
ever
open
for
the
remission
of
sins
,
and
to
flee
from
the
wrath
to
come
.
I
believe
the
sacred
symbol
of
the
cross
has
not
yet
lost
its
efficacy
.
For
eighteen
hundred
years
,
whenever
it
has
been
exhibited
to
the
sons
of
men
,
it
has
been
potent
to
reclaim
and
save
them
.
‘I
,
if
I
be
lifted
up
,
’
cried
the
Great
Sufferer
,
‘will
draw
all
men
unto
Me
,
’
and
He
has
drawn
not
merely
the
poor
and
ignorant
but
the
philosopher
and
the
sage
.
Oh
,
my
brethren
,
think
what
will
happen
if
you
reject
Him
.
I
forbear
to
paint
your
doom
.
And
think
again
,
on
the
other
hand
,
of
the
bliss
which
awaits
you
if
you
receive
Him
,
of
the
eternal
companionship
with
the
Most
High
and
with
the
spirits
of
just
men
made
perfect
.
”
His
hearers
again
applauded
vigorously
,
and
none
less
so
than
their
appointed
leader
,
who
was
to
follow
on
the
other
side
.
He
was
a
little
man
with
small
eyes
;
his
shaven
face
was
dark
with
a
black
beard
lurking
under
the
skin
,
and
his
nose
was
slightly
turned
up
.
He
was
evidently
a
trained
debater
who
had
practised
under
railway
arches
,
discussion
“
forums
,
”
and
in
the
classes
promoted
by
his
sect
.
He
began
by
saying
that
he
could
not
compliment
his
friend
who
had
just
sat
down
on
the
inducements
which
he
had
offered
them
to
become
Christians
.
The
New
Cut
was
not
a
nice
place
on
a
wet
day
,
but
he
had
rather
sit
at
a
stall
there
all
day
long
with
his
feet
on
a
basket
than
lie
in
the
bosom
of
some
of
the
just
men
made
perfect
portrayed
in
the
Bible
.
Nor
,
being
married
,
should
he
feel
particularly
at
ease
if
he
had
to
leave
his
wife
with
David
.
David
certainly
ought
to
have
got
beyond
all
that
kind
of
thing
,
considering
it
must
be
over
3000
years
since
he
first
saw
Bathsheba
;
but
we
are
told
that
the
saints
are
for
ever
young
in
heaven
,
and
this
treacherous
villain
,
who
would
have
been
tried
by
a
jury
of
twelve
men
and
hung
outside
Newgate
if
he
had
lived
in
the
nineteenth
century
,
might
be
dangerous
now
.
He
was
an
amorous
old
gentleman
up
to
the
very
last
.
(
Roars
of
laughter
.
)
Nor
did
the
speaker
feel
particularly
anxious
to
be
shut
up
with
all
the
bishops
,
who
of
course
are
amongst
the
elect
,
and
on
their
departure
from
this
vale
of
tears
tempered
by
ten
thousand
a
year
,
are
duly
supplied
with
wings
.
Much
more
followed
in
the
same
strain
upon
the
immorality
of
the
Bible
heroes
,
their
cruelty
,
and
the
cruelty
of
the
God
who
sanctioned
it
.
Then
followed
a
clever
exposition
of
the
inconsistencies
of
the
Old
Testament
history
,
the
impossibility
of
any
reference
to
Jesus
therein
,
and
a
really
earnest
protest
against
the
quibbling
by
which
those
who
believed
in
the
Bible
as
a
revelation
sought
to
reconcile
it
with
science
.
“
Finally
,
”
said
the
speaker
,
“
I
am
sure
we
all
of
us
will
pass
a
vote
of
thanks
to
our
reverend
friend
for
coming
to
see
us
,
and
we
cordially
invite
him
to
come
again
.
If
I
might
be
allowed
to
offer
a
suggestion
,
it
would
be
that
he
should
make
himself
acquainted
with
our
case
before
he
pays
us
another
visit
,
and
not
suppose
that
we
are
to
be
persuaded
with
the
rhetoric
which
may
do
very
well
for
the
young
women
of
his
congregation
,
but
won’t
go
down
here
.
”
This
was
fair
and
just
,
for
the
eminent
Christian
was
nothing
but
an
ordinary
minister
,
who
,
when
he
was
prepared
for
his
profession
,
had
never
been
allowed
to
see
what
are
the
historical
difficulties
of
Christianity
,
lest
he
should
be
overcome
by
them
.
On
the
other
hand
,
his
sceptical
opponents
were
almost
devoid
of
the
faculty
for
appreciating
the
great
remains
of
antiquity
,
and
would
probably
have
considered
the
machinery
of
the
Prometheus
Bound
or
of
the
Iliad
a
sufficient
reason
for
a
sneer
.
That
they
should
spend
their
time
in
picking
the
Bible
to
pieces
when
there
was
so
much
positive
work
for
them
to
do
,
seemed
to
me
as
melancholy
as
if
they
had
spent
themselves
upon
theology
.
To
waste
a
Sunday
morning
in
ridiculing
such
stories
as
that
of
Jonah
was
surely
as
imbecile
as
to
waste
it
in
proving
their
verbal
veracity
.
CHAPTER
II
M’KAY
It
was
foggy
and
overcast
as
we
walked
home
to
Goodge
Street
.
The
churches
and
chapels
were
emptying
themselves
,
but
the
great
mass
of
the
population
had
been
“
nowhere
.
”
I
had
dinner
with
M’Kay
,
and
as
the
day
wore
on
the
fog
thickened
.
London
on
a
dark
Sunday
afternoon
,
more
especially
about
Goodge
Street
,
is
depressing
.
The
inhabitants
drag
themselves
hither
and
thither
in
languor
and
uncertainty
.
Small
mobs
loiter
at
the
doors
of
the
gin
palaces
.
Costermongers
wander
aimlessly
,
calling
“
walnuts
”
with
a
cry
so
melancholy
that
it
sounds
as
the
wail
of
the
hopelessly
lost
may
be
imagined
to
sound
when
their
anguish
has
been
deadened
by
the
monotony
of
a
million
years
.
About
two
or
three
o’clock
decent
working
men
in
their
best
clothes
emerge
from
the
houses
in
such
streets
as
Nassau
Street
.
It
is
part
of
their
duty
to
go
out
after
dinner
on
Sunday
with
the
wife
and
children
.
The
husband
pushes
the
perambulator
out
of
the
dingy
passage
,
and
gazes
doubtfully
this
way
and
that
way
,
not
knowing
whither
to
go
,
and
evidently
longing
for
the
Monday
,
when
his
work
,
however
disagreeable
it
may
be
,
will
be
his
plain
duty
.
The
wife
follows
carrying
a
child
,
and
a
boy
and
girl
in
unaccustomed
apparel
walk
by
her
side
.
They
come
out
into
Mortimer
Street
.
There
are
no
shops
open
;
the
sky
over
their
heads
is
mud
,
the
earth
is
mud
under
their
feet
,
the
muddy
houses
stretch
in
long
rows
,
black
,
gaunt
,
uniform
.
The
little
party
reach
Hyde
Park
,
also
wrapped
in
impenetrable
mud-grey
.
The
man’s
face
brightens
for
a
moment
as
he
says
,
“
It
is
time
to
go
back
,
”
and
so
they
return
,
without
the
interchange
of
a
word
,
unless
perhaps
they
happen
to
see
an
omnibus
horse
fall
down
on
the
greasy
stones
.
What
is
there
worth
thought
or
speech
on
such
an
expedition
?
Nothing
!
The
tradesman
who
kept
the
oil
and
colour
establishment
opposite
to
us
was
not
to
be
tempted
outside
.
It
was
a
little
more
comfortable
than
Nassau
Street
,
and
,
moreover
,
he
was
religious
and
did
not
encourage
Sabbath-breaking
.
He
and
his
family
always
moved
after
their
mid-day
Sabbath
repast
from
the
little
back
room
behind
the
shop
up
to
what
they
called
the
drawing-room
overhead
.
It
was
impossible
to
avoid
seeing
them
every
time
we
went
to
the
window
.
The
father
of
the
family
,
after
his
heavy
meal
,
invariably
sat
in
the
easy-chair
with
a
handkerchief
over
his
eyes
and
slept
.
The
children
were
always
at
the
windows
,
pretending
to
read
books
,
but
in
reality
watching
the
people
below
.
At
about
four
o’clock
their
papa
generally
awoke
,
and
demanded
a
succession
of
hymn
tunes
played
on
the
piano
.
When
the
weather
permitted
,
the
lower
sash
was
opened
a
little
,
and
the
neighbours
were
indulged
with
the
performance
of
“
Vital
Spark
,
”
the
father
“
coming
in
”
now
and
then
with
a
bass
note
or
two
at
the
end
where
he
was
tolerably
certain
of
the
harmony
.
At
five
o’clock
a
prophecy
of
the
incoming
tea
brought
us
some
relief
from
the
contemplation
of
the
landscape
or
brick-scape
.
I
say
“
some
relief
,
”
for
meals
at
M’Kay’s
were
a
little
disagreeable
.
His
wife
was
an
honest
,
good
little
woman
,
but
so
much
attached
to
him
and
so
dependent
on
him
that
she
was
his
mere
echo
.
She
had
no
opinions
which
were
not
his
,
and
whenever
he
said
anything
which
went
beyond
the
ordinary
affairs
of
the
house
,
she
listened
with
curious
effort
,
and
generally
responded
by
a
weakened
repetition
of
M’Kay’s
own
observations
.
He
perpetually
,
therefore
,
had
before
him
an
enfeebled
reflection
of
himself
,
and
this
much
irritated
him
,
notwithstanding
his
love
for
her
;
for
who
could
help
loving
a
woman
who
,
without
the
least
hesitation
,
would
have
opened
her
veins
at
his
command
,
and
have
given
up
every
drop
of
blood
in
her
body
for
him
?
Over
and
over
again
I
have
heard
him
offer
some
criticism
on
a
person
or
event
,
and
the
customary
chime
of
approval
would
ensue
,
provoking
him
to
such
a
degree
that
he
would
instantly
contradict
himself
with
much
bitterness
,
leaving
poor
Mrs.
M’Kay
in
much
perplexity
.
Such
a
shot
as
this
generally
reduced
her
to
timid
silence
.
As
a
rule
,
he
always
discouraged
any
topic
at
his
house
which
was
likely
to
serve
as
an
occasion
for
showing
his
wife’s
dependence
on
him
.
He
designedly
talked
about
her
household
affairs
,
asked
her
whether
she
had
mended
his
clothes
and
ordered
the
coals
.
She
knew
that
these
things
were
not
what
was
upon
his
mind
,
and
she
answered
him
in
despairing
tones
,
which
showed
how
much
she
felt
the
obtrusive
condescension
to
her
level
.
I
greatly
pitied
her
,
and
sometimes
,
in
fact
,
my
emotion
at
the
sight
of
her
struggles
with
her
limitations
almost
overcame
me
and
I
was
obliged
to
get
up
and
go
.
She
was
childishly
affectionate
.
If
M’Kay
came
in
and
happened
to
go
up
to
her
and
kiss
her
,
her
face
brightened
into
the
sweetest
and
happiest
smile
.
I
recollect
once
after
he
had
been
unusually
annoyed
with
her
he
repented
just
as
he
was
leaving
home
,
and
put
his
lips
to
her
head
,
holding
it
in
both
his
hands
.
I
saw
her
gently
take
the
hand
from
her
forehead
and
press
it
to
her
mouth
,
the
tears
falling
down
her
cheek
meanwhile
.
Nothing
would
ever
tempt
her
to
admit
anything
against
her
husband
.
M’Kay
was
violent
and
unjust
at
times
.
His
occupation
he
hated
,
and
his
restless
repugnance
to
it
frequently
discharged
itself
indifferently
upon
everything
which
came
in
his
way
.
His
children
often
thought
him
almost
barbarous
,
but
in
truth
he
did
not
actually
see
them
when
he
was
in
one
of
these
moods
.
What
was
really
present
with
him
,
excluding
everything
else
,
was
the
sting
of
something
more
than
usually
repulsive
of
which
they
knew
nothing
.
Mrs.
M’Kay’s
answer
to
her
children’s
remonstrances
when
they
were
alone
with
her
always
was
,
“
He
is
so
worried
,
”
and
she
invariably
dwelt
upon
their
faults
which
had
given
him
the
opportunity
for
his
wrath
.
I
think
M’Kay’s
treatment
of
her
wholly
wrong
.
I
think
that
he
ought
not
to
have
imposed
himself
upon
her
so
imperiously
.
I
think
he
ought
to
have
striven
to
ascertain
what
lay
concealed
in
that
modest
heart
,
to
have
encouraged
its
expression
and
development
,
to
have
debased
himself
before
her
that
she
might
receive
courage
to
rise
,
and
he
would
have
found
that
she
had
something
which
he
had
not
;
not
his
something
perhaps
,
but
something
which
would
have
made
his
life
happier
.
As
it
was
,
he
stood
upon
his
own
ground
above
her
.
If
she
could
reach
him
,
well
and
good
,
if
not
,
the
helping
hand
was
not
proffered
,
and
she
fell
back
,
hopeless
.
Later
on
he
discovered
his
mistake
.
She
became
ill
very
gradually
,
and
M’Kay
began
to
see
in
the
distance
a
prospect
of
losing
her
.
A
frightful
pit
came
in
view
.
He
became
aware
that
he
could
not
do
without
her
.
He
imagined
what
his
home
would
have
been
with
other
women
whom
he
knew
,
and
he
confessed
that
with
them
he
would
have
been
less
contented
.
He
acknowledged
that
he
had
been
guilty
of
a
kind
of
criminal
epicurism
;
that
he
rejected
in
foolish
,
fatal
,
nay
,
even
wicked
indifference
,
the
bread
of
life
upon
which
he
might
have
lived
and
thriven
.
His
whole
effort
now
was
to
suppress
himself
in
his
wife
.
He
read
to
her
,
a
thing
he
never
did
before
,
and
when
she
misunderstood
,
he
patiently
explained
;
he
took
her
into
his
counsels
and
asked
her
opinion
;
he
abandoned
his
own
opinion
for
hers
,
and
in
the
presence
of
her
children
he
always
deferred
to
her
,
and
delighted
to
acknowledge
that
she
knew
more
than
he
did
,
that
she
was
right
and
he
was
wrong
.
She
was
now
confined
to
her
house
,
and
the
end
was
near
,
but
this
was
the
most
blessed
time
of
her
married
life
.
She
grew
under
the
soft
rain
of
his
loving
care
,
and
opened
out
,
not
,
indeed
,
into
an
oriental
flower
,
rich
in
profound
mystery
of
scent
and
colour
,
but
into
a
blossom
of
the
chalk-down
.
Altogether
concealed
and
closed
she
would
have
remained
if
it
had
not
been
for
this
beneficent
and
heavenly
gift
poured
upon
her
.
He
had
just
time
enough
to
see
what
she
really
was
,
and
then
she
died
.
There
are
some
natures
that
cannot
unfold
under
pressure
or
in
the
presence
of
unregarding
power
.
Hers
was
one
.
They
require
a
clear
space
round
them
,
the
removal
of
everything
which
may
overmaster
them
,
and
constant
delicate
attention
.
They
require
too
a
recognition
of
the
fact
,
which
M’Kay
for
a
long
time
did
not
recognise
,
that
it
is
folly
to
force
them
and
to
demand
of
them
that
they
shall
be
what
they
cannot
be
.
I
stood
by
the
grave
this
morning
of
my
poor
,
pale
,
clinging
little
friend
now
for
some
years
at
peace
,
and
I
thought
that
the
tragedy
of
Promethean
torture
or
Christ-like
crucifixion
may
indeed
be
tremendous
,
but
there
is
a
tragedy
too
in
the
existence
of
a
soul
like
hers
,
conscious
of
its
feebleness
and
ever
striving
to
overpass
it
,
ever
aware
that
it
is
an
obstacle
to
the
return
of
the
affection
of
the
man
whom
she
loves
.
Meals
,
as
I
have
said
,
were
disagreeable
at
M’Kay’s
,
and
when
we
wanted
to
talk
we
went
out
of
doors
.
The
evening
after
our
visit
to
the
debating
hall
we
moved
towards
Portland
Place
,
and
walked
up
and
down
there
for
an
hour
or
more
.
M’Kay
had
a
passionate
desire
to
reform
the
world
.
The
spectacle
of
the
misery
of
London
,
and
of
the
distracted
swaying
hither
and
thither
of
the
multitudes
who
inhabit
it
,
tormented
him
incessantly
.
He
always
chafed
at
it
,
and
he
never
seemed
sure
that
he
had
a
right
to
the
enjoyment
of
the
simplest
pleasures
so
long
as
London
was
before
him
.
What
a
farce
,
he
would
cry
,
is
all
this
poetry
,
philosophy
,
art
,
and
culture
,
when
millions
of
wretched
mortals
are
doomed
to
the
eternal
darkness
and
crime
of
the
city
!
Here
are
the
educated
classes
occupying
themselves
with
exquisite
emotions
,
with
speculations
upon
the
Infinite
,
with
addresses
to
flowers
,
with
the
worship
of
waterfalls
and
flying
clouds
,
and
with
the
incessant
portraiture
of
a
thousand
moods
and
variations
of
love
,
while
their
neighbours
lie
grovelling
in
the
mire
,
and
never
know
anything
more
of
life
or
its
duties
than
is
afforded
them
by
a
police
report
in
a
bit
of
newspaper
picked
out
of
the
kennel
.
We
went
one
evening
to
hear
a
great
violin-player
,
who
played
such
music
,
and
so
exquisitely
,
that
the
limits
of
life
were
removed
.
But
we
had
to
walk
up
the
Haymarket
home
,
between
eleven
and
twelve
o’clock
,
and
the
violin-playing
became
the
merest
trifling
.
M’Kay
had
been
brought
up
upon
the
Bible
.
He
had
before
him
,
not
only
there
,
but
in
the
history
of
all
great
religious
movements
,
a
record
of
the
improvement
of
the
human
race
,
or
of
large
portions
of
it
,
not
merely
by
gradual
civilisation
,
but
by
inspiration
spreading
itself
suddenly
.
He
could
not
get
it
out
of
his
head
that
something
of
this
kind
is
possible
again
in
our
time
.
He
longed
to
try
for
himself
in
his
own
poor
way
in
one
of
the
slums
about
Drury
Lane
.
I
sympathised
with
him
,
but
I
asked
him
what
he
had
to
say
.
I
remember
telling
him
that
I
had
been
into
St.
Paul’s
Cathedral
,
and
that
I
pictured
to
myself
the
cathedral
full
,
and
myself
in
the
pulpit
.
I
was
excited
while
imagining
the
opportunity
offered
me
of
delivering
some
message
to
three
or
four
thousand
persons
in
such
a
building
,
but
in
a
minute
or
two
I
discovered
that
my
sermon
would
be
very
nearly
as
follows
:
“
Dear
friends
,
I
know
no
more
than
you
know
;
we
had
better
go
home
.
”
I
admitted
to
him
that
if
he
could
believe
in
hell-fire
,
or
if
he
could
proclaim
the
Second
Advent
,
as
Paul
did
to
the
Thessalonians
,
and
get
people
to
believe
,
he
might
change
their
manners
,
but
otherwise
he
could
do
nothing
but
resort
to
a
much
slower
process
.
With
the
departure
of
a
belief
in
the
supernatural
departs
once
and
for
ever
the
chance
of
regenerating
the
race
except
by
the
school
and
by
science
.
[
2
]
However
,
M’Kay
thought
he
would
try
.
His
earnestness
was
rather
a
hindrance
than
a
help
to
him
,
for
it
prevented
his
putting
certain
important
questions
to
himself
,
or
at
any
rate
it
prevented
his
waiting
for
distinct
answers
.
He
recurred
to
the
apostles
and
Bunyan
,
and
was
convinced
that
it
was
possible
even
now
to
touch
depraved
men
and
women
with
an
idea
which
should
recast
their
lives
.
So
it
is
that
the
main
obstacle
to
our
success
is
a
success
which
has
preceded
us
.
We
instinctively
follow
the
antecedent
form
,
and
consequently
we
either
pass
by
,
or
deny
altogether
,
the
life
of
our
own
time
,
because
its
expression
has
changed
.
We
never
do
practically
believe
that
the
Messiah
is
not
incarnated
twice
in
the
same
flesh
.
He
came
as
Jesus
,
and
we
look
for
Him
as
Jesus
now
,
overlooking
the
manifestation
of
to-day
,
and
dying
,
perhaps
,
without
recognising
it
.
M’Kay
had
found
a
room
near
Parker
Street
,
Drury
Lane
,
in
which
he
proposed
to
begin
,
and
that
night
,
as
we
trod
the
pavement
of
Portland
Place
,
he
propounded
his
plans
to
me
,
I
listening
without
much
confidence
,
but
loth
nevertheless
to
take
the
office
of
Time
upon
myself
,
and
to
disprove
what
experience
would
disprove
more
effectually
.
His
object
was
nothing
less
than
gradually
to
attract
Drury
Lane
to
come
and
be
saved
.
The
first
Sunday
I
went
with
him
to
the
room
.
As
we
walked
over
the
Drury
Lane
gratings
of
the
cellars
a
most
foul
stench
came
up
,
and
one
in
particular
I
remember
to
this
day
.
A
man
half
dressed
pushed
open
a
broken
window
beneath
us
,
just
as
we
passed
by
,
and
there
issued
such
a
blast
of
corruption
,
made
up
of
gases
bred
by
filth
,
air
breathed
and
rebreathed
a
hundred
times
,
charged
with
odours
of
unnameable
personal
uncleanness
and
disease
,
that
I
staggered
to
the
gutter
with
a
qualm
which
I
could
scarcely
conquer
.
At
the
doors
of
the
houses
stood
grimy
women
with
their
arms
folded
and
their
hair
disordered
.
Grimier
boys
and
girls
had
tied
a
rope
to
broken
railings
,
and
were
swinging
on
it
.
The
common
door
to
a
score
of
lodgings
stood
ever
open
,
and
the
children
swarmed
up
and
down
the
stairs
carrying
with
them
patches
of
mud
every
time
they
came
in
from
the
street
.
The
wholesome
practice
which
amongst
the
decent
poor
marks
off
at
least
one
day
in
the
week
as
a
day
on
which
there
is
to
be
a
change
;
when
there
is
to
be
some
attempt
to
procure
order
and
cleanliness
;
a
day
to
be
preceded
by
soap
and
water
,
by
shaving
,
and
by
as
many
clean
clothes
as
can
be
procured
,
was
unknown
here
.
There
was
no
break
in
the
uniformity
of
squalor
;
nor
was
it
even
possible
for
any
single
family
to
emerge
amidst
such
altogether
suppressive
surroundings
.
All
self-respect
,
all
effort
to
do
anything
more
than
to
satisfy
somehow
the
grossest
wants
,
had
departed
.
The
shops
were
open
;
most
of
them
exhibiting
a
most
miscellaneous
collection
of
goods
,
such
as
bacon
cut
in
slices
,
fire-wood
,
a
few
loaves
of
bread
,
and
sweetmeats
in
dirty
bottles
.
Fowls
,
strange
to
say
,
black
as
the
flagstones
,
walked
in
and
out
of
these
shops
,
or
descended
into
the
dark
areas
.
The
undertaker
had
not
put
up
his
shutters
.
He
had
drawn
down
a
yellow
blind
,
on
which
was
painted
a
picture
of
a
suburban
cemetery
.
Two
funerals
,
the
loftiest
effort
of
his
craft
,
were
depicted
approaching
the
gates
.
When
the
gas
was
alight
behind
the
blind
,
an
effect
was
produced
which
was
doubtless
much
admired
.
He
also
displayed
in
his
window
a
model
coffin
,
a
work
of
art
.
It
was
about
a
foot
long
,
varnished
,
studded
with
little
brass
nails
,
and
on
the
lid
was
fastened
a
rustic
cross
stretching
from
end
to
end
.
The
desire
to
decorate
existence
in
some
way
or
other
with
more
or
less
care
is
nearly
universal
.
The
most
sensual
and
the
meanest
almost
always
manifest
an
indisposition
to
be
content
with
mere
material
satisfaction
.
I
have
known
selfish
,
gluttonous
,
drunken
men
spend
their
leisure
moments
in
trimming
a
bed
of
scarlet
geraniums
,
and
the
vulgarest
and
most
commonplace
of
mortals
considers
it
a
necessity
to
put
a
picture
in
the
room
or
an
ornament
on
the
mantelpiece
.
The
instinct
,
even
in
its
lowest
forms
,
is
divine
.
It
is
the
commentary
on
the
text
that
man
shall
not
live
by
bread
alone
.
It
is
evidence
of
an
acknowledged
compulsion
—
of
which
art
is
the
highest
manifestation
—
to
escape
.
In
the
alleys
behind
Drury
Lane
this
instinct
,
the
very
salt
of
life
,
was
dead
,
crushed
out
utterly
,
a
symptom
which
seemed
to
me
ominous
,
and
even
awful
to
the
last
degree
.
The
only
house
in
which
it
survived
was
in
that
of
the
undertaker
,
who
displayed
the
willows
,
the
black
horses
,
and
the
coffin
.
These
may
have
been
nothing
more
than
an
advertisement
,
but
from
the
care
with
which
the
cross
was
elaborated
,
and
the
neatness
with
which
it
was
made
to
resemble
a
natural
piece
of
wood
,
I
am
inclined
to
believe
that
the
man
felt
some
pleasure
in
his
work
for
its
own
sake
,
and
that
he
was
not
utterly
submerged
.
The
cross
in
such
dens
as
these
,
or
,
worse
than
dens
,
in
such
sewers
!
If
it
be
anything
,
it
is
a
symbol
of
victory
,
of
power
to
triumph
over
resistance
,
and
even
death
.
Here
was
nothing
but
sullen
subjugation
,
the
most
grovelling
slavery
,
mitigated
only
by
a
tendency
to
mutiny
.
Here
was
a
strength
of
circumstance
to
quell
and
dominate
which
neither
Jesus
nor
Paul
could
have
overcome
—
worse
a
thousandfold
than
Scribes
or
Pharisees
,
or
any
form
of
persecution
.
The
preaching
of
Jesus
would
have
been
powerless
here
;
in
fact
,
no
known
stimulus
,
nothing
ever
held
up
before
men
to
stir
the
soul
to
activity
,
can
do
anything
in
the
back
streets
of
great
cities
so
long
as
they
are
the
cesspools
which
they
are
now
.
We
came
to
the
room
.
About
a
score
of
M’Kay’s
own
friends
were
there
,
and
perhaps
half-a-dozen
outsiders
,
attracted
by
the
notice
which
had
been
pasted
on
a
board
at
the
entrance
.
M’Kay
announced
his
errand
.
The
ignorance
and
misery
of
London
he
said
were
intolerable
to
him
.
He
could
not
take
any
pleasure
in
life
when
he
thought
upon
them
.
What
could
he
do
?
that
was
the
question
.
He
was
not
a
man
of
wealth
.
He
could
not
buy
up
these
hovels
.
He
could
not
force
an
entrance
into
them
and
persuade
their
inhabitants
to
improve
themselves
.
He
had
no
talents
wherewith
to
found
a
great
organisation
or
create
public
opinion
.
He
had
determined
,
after
much
thought
,
to
do
what
he
was
now
doing
.
It
was
very
little
,
but
it
was
all
he
could
undertake
.
He
proposed
to
keep
this
room
open
as
a
place
to
which
those
who
wished
might
resort
at
different
times
,
and
find
some
quietude
,
instruction
,
and
what
fortifying
thoughts
he
could
collect
to
enable
men
to
endure
their
almost
unendurable
sufferings
.
He
did
not
intend
to
teach
theology
.
Anything
which
would
be
serviceable
he
would
set
forth
,
but
in
the
main
he
intended
to
rely
on
holding
up
the
examples
of
those
who
were
greater
than
ourselves
and
were
our
redeemers
.
He
meant
to
teach
Christ
in
the
proper
sense
of
the
word
.
Christ
now
is
admired
probably
more
than
He
had
ever
been
.
Everybody
agrees
to
admire
Him
,
but
where
are
the
people
who
really
do
what
He
did
?
There
is
no
religion
now-a-days
.
Religion
is
a
mere
literature
.
Cultivated
persons
sit
in
their
studies
and
write
overflowingly
about
Jesus
,
or
meet
at
parties
and
talk
about
Him
;
but
He
is
not
of
much
use
to
me
unless
I
say
to
myself
,
how
is
it
with
thee
?
unless
I
myself
become
what
He
was
.
This
was
the
meaning
of
Jesus
to
the
Apostle
Paul
.
Jesus
was
in
him
;
he
had
put
on
Jesus
;
that
is
to
say
,
Jesus
lived
in
him
like
a
second
soul
,
taking
the
place
of
his
own
soul
and
directing
him
accordingly
.
That
was
religion
,
and
it
is
absurd
to
say
that
the
English
nation
at
this
moment
,
or
any
section
of
it
,
is
religious
.
Its
educated
classes
are
inhabited
by
a
hundred
minds
.
We
are
in
a
state
of
anarchy
,
each
of
us
with
a
different
aim
and
shaping
himself
according
to
a
different
type
;
while
the
uneducated
classes
are
entirely
given
over
to
the
“
natural
man
.
”
He
was
firmly
persuaded
that
we
need
religion
,
poor
and
rich
alike
.
We
need
some
controlling
influence
to
bind
together
our
scattered
energies
.
We
do
not
know
what
we
are
doing
.
We
read
one
book
one
day
and
another
book
another
day
,
but
it
is
idle
wandering
to
right
and
left
;
it
is
not
advancing
on
a
straight
road
.
It
is
not
possible
to
bind
ourselves
down
to
a
certain
defined
course
,
but
still
it
is
an
enormous
,
an
incalculable
advantage
for
us
to
have
some
irreversible
standard
set
up
in
us
by
which
everything
we
meet
is
to
be
judged
.
That
is
the
meaning
of
the
prophecy
—
whether
it
will
ever
be
fulfilled
God
only
knows
—
that
Christ
shall
judge
the
world
.
All
religions
have
been
this
.
They
have
said
that
in
the
midst
of
the
infinitely
possible
—
infinitely
possible
evil
and
infinitely
possible
good
too
—
we
become
distracted
.
A
thousand
forces
good
and
bad
act
upon
us
.
It
is
necessary
,
if
we
are
to
be
men
,
if
we
are
to
be
saved
,
that
we
should
be
rescued
from
this
tumult
,
and
that
our
feet
should
be
planted
upon
a
path
.
His
object
,
therefore
,
would
be
to
preach
Christ
,
as
before
said
,
and
to
introduce
into
human
life
His
unifying
influence
.
He
would
try
and
get
them
to
see
things
with
the
eyes
of
Christ
,
to
love
with
His
love
,
to
judge
with
His
judgment
.
He
believed
Christ
was
fitted
to
occupy
this
place
.
He
deliberately
chose
Christ
as
worthy
to
be
our
central
,
shaping
force
.
He
would
try
by
degrees
to
prove
this
;
to
prove
that
Christ’s
way
of
dealing
with
life
is
the
best
way
,
and
so
to
create
a
genuinely
Christian
spirit
,
which
,
when
any
choice
of
conduct
is
presented
to
us
,
will
prompt
us
to
ask
first
of
all
,
how
would
Christ
have
it
?
or
,
when
men
and
things
pass
before
us
,
will
decide
through
him
what
we
have
to
say
about
them
.
M’Kay
added
that
he
hoped
his
efforts
would
not
be
confined
to
talking
.
He
trusted
to
be
able
,
by
means
of
this
little
meeting
,
gradually
to
gain
admittance
for
himself
and
his
friends
into
the
houses
of
the
poor
and
do
some
practical
good
.
At
present
he
had
no
organisation
and
no
plans
.
He
did
not
believe
in
organisation
and
plans
preceding
a
clear
conception
of
what
was
to
be
accomplished
.
Such
,
as
nearly
as
I
can
now
recollect
,
is
an
outline
of
his
discourse
.
It
was
thoroughly
characteristic
of
him
.
He
always
talked
in
this
fashion
.
He
was
for
ever
insisting
on
the
aimlessness
of
modern
life
,
on
the
powerlessness
of
its
vague
activities
to
mould
men
into
anything
good
,
to
restrain
them
from
evil
or
moderate
their
passions
,
and
he
was
possessed
by
a
vision
of
a
new
Christianity
which
was
to
take
the
place
of
the
old
and
dead
theologies
.
I
have
reported
him
in
my
own
language
.
He
strove
as
much
as
he
could
to
make
his
meaning
plain
to
everybody
.
Just
before
he
finished
,
three
or
four
out
of
the
half-a-dozen
outsiders
who
were
present
whistled
with
all
their
might
and
ran
down
the
stairs
shouting
to
one
another
.
As
we
went
out
they
had
collected
about
the
door
,
and
amused
themselves
by
pushing
one
another
against
us
,
and
kicking
an
old
kettle
behind
us
and
amongst
us
all
the
way
up
the
street
,
so
that
we
were
covered
with
splashes
.
Mrs.
M’Kay
went
with
us
,
and
when
we
reached
home
,
she
tried
to
say
something
about
what
she
had
heard
.
The
cloud
came
over
her
husband’s
face
at
once
;
