But this is the bright side of the picture, sir, after all, resumed Mr. Bung, laying aside the knowing look and flash air, with which he had repeated the previous anecdote and Im sorry to say, its the side one sees very, very seldom, in comparison with the dark one. The civility which money will purchase, is rarely extended to those who have none; and theres a consolation even in being able to patch up one difficulty, to make way for another, to which very poor people are strangers. I was once put into a house down Georges-yard that little dirty court at the back of the gas-works; and I never shall forget the misery of them people, dear me! It was a distress for half a years rent two pound ten, I think. There was only two rooms in the house, and as there was no passage, the lodgers up-stairs always went through the room of the people of the house, as they passed in and out; and every time they did so which, on the average, was about four times every quarter of an hour they blowed up quite frightful: for their things had been seized too, and included in the inventory. There was a little piece of enclosed dust in front of the house, with a cinder-path leading up to the door, and an open rain-water butt on one side. A dirty striped curtain, on a very slack string, hung in the window, and a little triangular bit of broken looking-glass rested on the sill inside. I suppose it was meant for the peoples use, but their appearance was so wretched, and so miserable, that Im certain they never could have plucked up courage to look themselves in the face a second time, if they survived the fright of doing so once. There was two or three chairs, that might have been worth, in their best days, from eightpence to a shilling a-piece; a small deal table, an old corner cupboard with nothing in it, and one of those bedsteads which turn up half way, and leave the bottom legs sticking out for you to knock your head against, or hang your hat upon; no bed, no bedding. There was an old sack, by way of rug, before the fireplace, and four or five children were grovelling about, among the sand on the floor. The execution was only put in, to get em out of the house, for there was nothing to take to pay the expenses; and here I stopped for three days, though that was a mere form too: for, in course, I knew, and we all knew, they could never pay the money. In one of the chairs, by the side of the place where the fire ought to have been, was an old ooman the ugliest and dirtiest I ever see who sat rocking herself backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards, without once stopping, except for an instant now and then, to clasp together the withered hands which, with these exceptions, she kept constantly rubbing upon her knees, just raising and depressing her fingers convulsively, in time to the rocking of the chair. On the other side sat the mother with an infant in her arms, which cried till it cried itself to sleep, and when it woke, cried till it cried itself off again. The old oomans voice I never heard: she seemed completely stupefied; and as to the mothers, it would have been better if she had been so too, for misery had changed her to a devil. If you had heard how she cursed the little naked children as was rolling on the floor, and seen how savagely she struck the infant when it cried with hunger, youd have shuddered as much as I did. There they remained all the time: the children ate a morsel of bread once or twice, and I gave em best part of the dinners my missis brought me, but the woman ate nothing; they never even laid on the bedstead, nor was the room swept or cleaned all the time. The neighbours were all too poor themselves to take any notice of em, but from what I could make out from the abuse of the woman up-stairs, it seemed the husband had been transported a few weeks before. When the time was up, the landlord and old Fixem too, got rather frightened about the family, and so they made a stir about it, and had em taken to the workhouse. They sent the sick couch for the old ooman, and Simmons took the children away at night. The old ooman went into the infirmary, and very soon died. The children are all in the house to this day, and very comfortable they are in comparison. As to the mother, there was no taming her at all. She had been a quiet, hard-working woman, I believe, but her misery had actually drove her wild; so after she had been sent to the house of correction half-a-dozen times, for throwing inkstands at the overseers, blaspheming the churchwardens, and smashing everybody as come near her, she burst a blood-vessel one mornin, and died too; and a happy release it was, both for herself and the old paupers, male and female, which she used to tip over in all directions, as if they were so many skittles, and she the ball.
Now this was bad enough, resumed Mr. Bung, taking a half-step towards the door, as if to intimate that he had nearly concluded. This was bad enough, but there was a sort of quiet misery if you understand what I mean by that, sir about a lady at one house I was put into, as touched me a good deal more. It doesnt matter where it was exactly: indeed, Id rather not say, but it was the same sort o job. I went with Fixem in the usual way there was a years rent in arrear; a very small servant-girl opened the door, and three or four fine-looking little children was in the front parlour we were shown into, which was very clean, but very scantily furnished, much like the children themselves. Bung, says Fixem to me, in a low voice, when we were left alone for a minute, I know something about this here family, and my opinion is, its no go. Do you think they cant settle? says I, quite anxiously; for I liked the looks of them children. Fixem shook his head, and was just about to reply, when the door opened, and in come a lady, as white as ever I see any one in my days, except about the eyes, which were red with crying. She walked in, as firm as I could have done; shut the door carefully after her, and sat herself down with a face as composed as if it was made of stone. What is the matter, gentlemen? says she, in a surprisin steady voice. Is this an execution? It is, mum, says Fixem. The lady looked at him as steady as ever: she didnt seem to have understood him. It is, mum, says Fixem again; this is my warrant of distress, mum, says he, handing it over as polite as if it was a newspaper which had been bespoke arter the next gentleman.
The ladys lip trembled as she took the printed paper. She cast her eye over it, and old Fixem began to explain the form, but saw she wasnt reading it, plain enough, poor thing. Oh, my God! says she, suddenly a-bursting out crying, letting the warrant fall, and hiding her face in her hands. Oh, my God! what will become of us! The noise she made, brought in a young lady of about nineteen or twenty, who, I suppose, had been a-listening at the door, and who had got a little boy in her arms: she sat him down in the ladys lap, without speaking, and she hugged the poor little fellow to her bosom, and cried over him, till even old Fixem put on his blue spectacles to hide the two tears, that was a-trickling down, one on each side of his dirty face. Now, dear ma, says the young lady, you know how much you have borne. For all our sakes for pas sake, says she, dont give way to this! No, no, I wont! says the lady, gathering herself up, hastily, and drying her eyes; I am very foolish, but Im better now much better. And then she roused herself up, went with us into every room while we took the inventory, opened all the drawers of her own accord, sorted the childrens little clothes to make the work easier; and, except doing everything in a strange sort of hurry, seemed as calm and composed as if nothing had happened. When we came down-stairs again, she hesitated a minute or two, and at last says, Gentlemen, says she, I am afraid I have done wrong, and perhaps it may bring you into trouble. I secreted just now, she says, the only trinket I have left in the world here it is. So she lays down on the table a little miniature mounted in gold. Its a miniature, she says, of my poor dear father! I little thought once, that I should ever thank God for depriving me of the original, but I do, and have done for years back, most fervently. Take it away, sir, she says, its a face that never turned from me in sickness and distress, and I can hardly bear to turn from it now, when, God knows, I suffer both in no ordinary degree. I couldnt say nothing, but I raised my head from the inventory which I was filling up, and looked at Fixem; the old fellow nodded to me significantly, so I ran my pen through the Mini I had just written, and left the miniature on the table.