The houses were of wood, with the second story
projecting over the first, and the third sticking its elbows out
beyond the second. The higher the houses grew, the broader they
grew. They were skeletons of strong crisscross beams, with solid
material between, coated with plaster. The beams were painted red or
blue or black, according to the owner's taste, and this gave the
houses a very picturesque look. The windows were small, glazed with
little diamond-shaped panes, and they opened outward, on hinges,
like doors.
The house which Tom's father lived in was up a foul little
pocket called Offal Court, out of Pudding Lane. It was small, decayed,
and rickety, but it was packed full of wretchedly poor families.
Canty's tribe occupied a room on the third floor. The mother and
father had a sort of bedstead in the corner; but Tom, his grandmother,
and his two sisters, Bet and Nan, were not restricted- they had all
the floor to themselves, and might sleep where they chose. There
were the remains of a blanket or two, and some bundles of ancient
and dirty straw, but these could not rightly be called beds, for
they were not organized; they were kicked into a general pile
mornings, and selections made from the mass at night, for service.
Bet and Nan were fifteen years old- twins. They were
good-hearted girls, unclean, clothed in rags, and profoundly ignorant.
Their mother was like them. But the father and the grandmother were
a couple of fiends. They got drunk whenever they could; then they
fought each other or anybody else who came in the way; they cursed and
swore always, drunk or sober; John Canty was a thief, and his mother a
beggar.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25