Jacob Faithful Page 2

  CHAPTER TWO.

  I FULFIL THE LAST INJUNCTIONS OF MY FATHER, AND I AM EMBARKED UPON A NEWELEMENT--FIRST BARGAIN IN MY LIFE VERY PROFITABLE--FIRST PARTING WITHOLD FRIENDS VERY PAINFUL--FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO CIVILISED LIFE VERYUNSATISFACTORY TO ALL PARTIES.

  It was broad daylight when I awoke from my state of bodily and mentalimbecility. For some time I could not recall to my mind all that hadhappened: the weight which pressed upon my feelings told me that it wassomething dreadful. At length, the cabin hatch, still open, caught myeye; I recalled all the horrors of the preceding evening, andrecollected that I was left alone in the lighter. I got up and stood onmy feet in mute despair. I looked around me--the mist of the morningwas hanging over the river, and the objects on shore were withdifficulty to be distinguished. I was chilled from lying all night inthe heavy dew, and, perhaps, still more from previous and extraordinaryexcitement. Venture to go down into the cabin I dare not. I had anindescribable awe, a degree of horror at what I had seen, that made itimpossible; still I was unsatisfied, and would have given worlds, if Ihad had them, to explain the mystery. I turned my eyes from the cabinhatch to the water, thought of my father, and then, for more than halfan hour, watched the tide as it ran up--my mind in a state of vacancy.As the sun rose, the mist gradually cleared away; trees, houses, andgreen fields, other barges coming up with the tide, boats passing andrepassing, the barking of dogs, the smoke issuing from the variouschimneys, all broke upon me by degrees; and I was recalled to the sensethat I was in a busy world, and had my own task to perform. The lastwords of my father--and his injunctions had ever been a law to me--were,"Mind, Jacob, we must be up at the wharf early to-morrow morning." Iprepared to obey him. Purchase the anchor I could not; I thereforeslipped the cable, lashing a broken sweep to the end of it, as abuoy-rope, and once more the lighter was at the mercy of the stream,guided by a boy of eleven years old. In about two hours I was within ahundred yards of the wharf, and well in-shore, I hailed for assistance,and two men, who were on board of the lighters moored at the wharf,pushed off in a skiff to know what it was that I wanted. I told themthat I was alone in the lighter, without anchor or cable, and requestedthem to secure her. They came on board, and in a few minutes thelighter was safe alongside of the others. As soon as the lashings werepassed, they interrogated me as to what had happened, but although thefulfilling of my father's last injunctions had borne up my spirits, nowthat they were obeyed a reaction took place. I could not answer them; Ithrew myself down on the deck in a paroxysm of grief, and cried as if myheart would break.

  The men, who were astonished, not only at my conduct but at finding mealone in the lighter, went on shore to the clerk, and stated thecircumstances. He returned with them, and would have interrogated me,but my paroxysm was not yet over, and my replies, broken my sobs, wereunintelligible. The clerk and the two men went down into the cabin,returned hastily, and quitted the lighter. In about a quarter of anhour I was sent for, and conducted to the house of the proprietor--thefirst time in my life that I had ever put my foot on _terra firma_. Iwas led into the parlour, where I found the proprietor at breakfast withhis wife and his daughter, a little girl nine years old. By this time Ihad recovered myself, and on being interrogated, told my story clearlyand succinctly, while the big tears coursed each other down my dirtyface.

  "How strange and how horrible!" said the lady to her husband; "I cannotunderstand it even now."

  "Nor can I; but still it is true, from what Johnson the clerk haswitnessed."

  In the meantime my eyes were directed to every part of the room, whichappeared to my ignorance as a Golcondo of wealth and luxury. There werefew things which I had seen before, but I had an innate idea that theywere of value. The silver tea-pot, the hissing urn, the spoons, thepictures in their frames, every article of furniture caught my wonderingeye, and for a short time I had forgotten my father and my mother; but Iwas recalled from my musing speculations by the proprietor inquiring howfar I had brought the lighter without assistance.

  "Have you any friends, my poor boy?" inquired the lady.

  "No."

  "What! no relations onshore?"

  "I never was on shore before in my life."

  "Do you know that you are a destitute orphan?"

  "What's that?"

  "That you have no father or mother," said the little girl.

  "Well," replied I, in my father's words, having no answer moreappropriate, "it's no use crying; what's done can't be helped."

  "But what do you intend to do now?" inquired the proprietor, lookinghard at me after my previous answer.

  "Don't know, I'm sure. Take, it coolly," replied I, whimpering.

  "What a very odd child!" observed the lady. "Is he aware of the extentof his misfortune?"

  "Better luck next time, missus," repled I, wiping my eyes with the backof my hand.

  "What strange answers from a child who has shown so much feeling,"observed the proprietor to his wife. "What is your name."

  "Jacob Faithful."

  "Can you write or read?"

  "No," replied I, again using my father's words: "No, I can't--I wish Icould."

  "Very well, my poor boy, we'll see what's to be done," said theproprietor.

  "I know what's to be done," rejoined I; "you must send a couple of handsto get the anchor and cable, afore they cut the buoy adrift."

  "You are right, my lad, that must be done immediately," said theproprietor; "but now you had better go down with Sarah into the kitchen;cook will take care of you. Sarah, my love, take him down to cook."

  The little girl beckoned me to follow her. I was astonished at thelength and variety of the _companion-ladders_, for such I considered thestairs, and was at last landed below, when little Sarah, giving cook theinjunction to take care of me, again tripped lightly up to her mother.

  I found the signification of "take care of any one" very different onshore from what it was on the river, where taking care of you meansgetting out of your way, and giving you a wide berth; and I found theshore reading much more agreeable. Cook did take care of me; she was akind-hearted, fat woman who melted at a tale of woe, although the firemade no impression on her. I not only beheld, but I devoured, suchthings as never before entered into my mouth or my imagination. Griefhad not taken away my appetite. I stopped occasionally to cry a little,wiped my eyes, and sat down again. It was more than two hours before Ilaid down my knife, and not until strong symptoms of suffocation playedround the regions of my trachea did I cry out, "Hold, enough." Somebodyhas made an epigram about the vast ideas which a miser's horse must havehad of corn. I doubt, if such ideas were existent, whether they were atall equal to my astonishment at a leg of mutton. I never had seen sucha piece of meat before, and wondered if it were fresh or otherwise.After such reflection I naturally felt inclined to sleep; in a fewminutes I was snoring upon two chairs, cook having covered me up withher apron to keep away the flies. Thus was I fairly embarked upon a newelement to me--my mother earth; and it may be just as well to examinenow into the capital I possessed for my novel enterprise. In person Iwas well-looking; I was well-made, strong, and active. Of myhabiliments the less said the better; I had a pair of trousers with noseat to them; but this defect, when I stood up, was hid by my jacket,composed of an old waistcoat of my father's, which reached down as lowas the morning frocks worn in those days. A shirt of coarse duck, and afur cap, which was as rough and ragged as if it had been the hide of acat pulled to pieces by dogs, completed my attire. Shoes and stockingsI had none; these supernumerary appendages had never confined the actionof my feet. My mental acquisitions were not much more valuable; theyconsisted of a tolerable knowledge of the depth of water, names ofpoints and reaches in the River Thames, all of which was not veryavailable on dry land--of a few hieroglyphics of my father's, which, asthe crier says sometimes, winding up his oration, were of "no use tonobody but the owner." Add to the above the three favourite maxims ofmy taciturn father, which were indelibly imprinted upo
n my memory, andyou have the whole inventory of my stock-in-trade. These three maximswere, I may say, incorporated into my very system, so continually hadthey been quoted to me during my life; and before I went to sleep thatnight they were again conned over. "What's done can't be helped,"consoled me for the mishaps of my life; "Better luck next time," made melook forward with hope and, "Take it coolly," was a subject of greatreflection, until I feel into a deep sleep; for I had sufficientpenetration to observe that my father had lost his life by not adheringto his own principles; and this perception only rendered my belief inthe infallibility of these maxims to be even still more steadfast.

  I have stated what was my father's legacy, and the reader will supposethat from the maternal side the acquisition was _nil_. Directly suchwas the case, but indirectly she proved a very good mother to me, andthat was by the very extraordinary way in which she had quitted theworld. Had she met with a common death, she would have been worthnothing. Burke himself would not have been able to dispose of her; butdying as she did, her ashes were the source of wealth. The bed, withher remains lying in the centre, even the curtains of the bed, were allbrought on shore, and locked up in an outhouse. The coroner came downin a post-chaise and four, charged to the country; the jury wasempanelled, my evidence was taken, surgeons and apothecaries attendedfrom far and near to give their opinions, and after much examination,much arguing, and much disagreement, the verdict was brought in that shedied through "the visitation of God." As this, in other phraseology,implies that "God only knows how she died," it was agreed to _neminecontradicente_, and gave universal satisfaction. But the extraordinarycircumstance was spread everywhere, with all due amplifications, andthousands flocked to the wharfinger's yard to witness the effects ofspontaneous combustion. The proprietor immediately perceived that hecould avail himself of the public curiosity to my advantage. A plate,with some silver and gold, was placed at the foot of my poor mother'sflock mattress, with, "For the benefit of the orphan," in capital text,placarded above it; and many were the shillings, half-crowns, and evenlarger sums which were dropped into it by the spectators, who shudderedas they turned away from this awful specimen of the effects of habitualintoxication. For many days did the exhibition continue, during whichtime I was domiciled with the cook, who employed me in scouring hersaucepans, and any other employment in which my slender services mightbe useful, little thinking at the time that my poor mother was holdingher levee for my advantage. On the eleventh day the exhibition wasclosed, and I was summoned upstairs by the proprietor, whom I found incompany with a little gentleman in black. This was a surgeon who hadoffered a sum of money for my mother's remains, bed and curtains, in alot. The proprietor was willing to get rid of them in so advantageous amanner, but did not conceive that he was justified in taking this step,although for my benefit, without first consulting me, as heir-at-law.

  "Jacob," said he, "this gentleman offers 20 pounds, which is a greatdeal of money, for the ashes of your poor mother. Have you anyobjection to let him have them?"

  "What do you want 'em for?" inquired I.

  "I wish to keep them, and take great care of them," answered he.

  "Well," replied I, after a little consideration, "if you'll take care ofthe old woman, you may have her,"--and the bargain was concluded.Singular that the first bargain I ever made in my life should be that ofselling my own mother. The proceeds of the exhibition and sale amountedto 47 pounds odd, which the worthy proprietor of the lighter, afterdeducting for a suit of clothes, laid up for my use. Thus ends thehistory of my mother's remains, which proved more valuable to me thanever she did when living. In her career she somewhat reversed the caseof Semele, who was first visited in a shower of gold, and eventuallyperished in the fiery embraces of the god: whereas my poor motherperished first by the same element, and the shower of gold descended toher only son. But this is easily explained. Semele was very lovely anddid not drink gin--my mother was her complete antithesis.

  When I was summoned to my master's presence to arrange the contract withthe surgeon, I had taken off the waistcoat which I wore as a garmentover all, that I might be more at my ease in chopping some wood for thecook, and the servant led me up at once, without giving me time to putit on. After I had given my consent, I turned away to go downstairsagain, when having, as I before observed, no seat to my trousers, thesolution of continuity was observed by a little spaniel, who jumped fromthe sofa, and arriving at a certain distance, stood at bay, and barkedmost furiously at the exposure. He had been bred among respectablepeople, and had never seen such an expose. Mr Drummond, theproprietor, observed the defect pointed out by the dog, and forthwith Iwas ordered to be suited with a new suit--certainly not before they wererequired. In twenty-four hours I was thrust into a new garment by abandy-legged tailor, assisted by my friend the cook, and turn or twistwhichever way I pleased, decency was never violated. A new suit ofclothes is generally an object of ambition, and flatters the vanity ofyoung and old; but with me it was far otherwise. Encumbered with mynovel apparel, I experienced at once feelings of restraint and sorrow.My shoes hurt me, my worsted stockings irritated the skin, and as I hadbeen accustomed to hereditarily succeed to my father's cast-off skins,which were a world too wide for my shanks, having but few ideas, itappeared to me as if I had swelled out to the size of the clothes whichI had been accustomed to wear, not that they had been reduced to mydimensions. I fancied myself a man, but was very much embarrassed withmy manhood. Every step that I took I felt as if I was checked back bystrings. I could not swing my arms as I was wont to do, and tottered inmy shoes like a rickety child. My old apparel had been consigned to thedust-hole by cook, and often during the day would I pass, casting alonging eye at it, wishing that I dare recover it, and exchange it forthat which I wore. I knew the value of it, and, like the magician inAladdin's tale, would have offered new lamps for old ones, cheerfullysubmitting to ridicule, that I might have repossessed my treasure.

  With the kitchen and its apparatus I was now quite at home: but at everyother part of the house and furniture I was completely puzzled.Everything appeared to me foreign, strange, and unnatural, and Prince LeBoo, or any other savage, never stared or wondered more than I did. Ofmost things I knew not the use, of many not even the names. I wasliterally a savage, but still a kind and docile one. The day after mynew clothes had been put on, I was summoned into the parlour. MrDrummond and his wife surveyed me in my altered habiliments, and amusedthemselves at my awkwardness, at the same time that they admired mywell-knit, compact, and straight figure, set off by a fit, in my opinionmuch too straight. Their little daughter Sarah, who often spoke to me,went up and whispered to her mother. "You must ask papa," was thereply. Another whisper, and a kiss, and Mr Drummond told me I shoulddine with them. In a few minutes I followed them into the dining-roomand for the first time I was seated to a repast which could boast ofsome of the supernumerary comforts of civilised life. There I sat,perched on a chair with my feet swinging close to the carpet, glowingwith heat from the compression of my clothes and the novelty of mysituation, and all that was around me. Mr Drummond helped me to somescalding soup, a silver spoon was put into my hand, which I twistedround and round, looking at my face reflected in miniature on itspolish.

  "Now, Jacob, you must eat the soup with the spoon," said little Sarah,laughing; "we shall all be done. Be quick."

  "Take it coolly," replied I, digging my spoon into the burningpreparation, and tossing it into my mouth. It burst forth from mytortured throat in a diverging shower, accompanied with a howl of pain.

  "The poor boy has scalded his mouth," cried the lady, pouring out atumbler of water.

  "It's no use crying," replied I, blubbering with all my might; "what'sdone can't be helped."

  "Better that you had not been helped," observed Mr Drummond, wiping offhis share of my liberal spargification from his coat and waistcoat.

  "The poor boy has been shamefully neglected," observed the good-naturedMrs Drummond. "Come, Jacob, sit d
own and try it again; it will notburn you now."

  "Better luck next time," said I, shoving in a portion of it, with agreat deal of tremulous hesitation, and spilling one-half of it in itstransit. It was now cool, but I did not get on very fast; I held myspoon awry, and soiled my clothes.

  Mrs Drummond interfered, and kindly showed me how to proceed; when MrDrummond said, "Let the boy eat it after his own fashion, my dear--onlybe quick, Jacob, for we are waiting."

  "Then I see no good losing so much of it, taking it in tale," observedI, "when I can ship it all in bulk in a minute." I laid down my spoon,and stooping my head, applied my mouth to the edge of the plate, andsucked the remainder down my throat without spilling a drop. I lookedup for approbation, and was very much astonished to hear Mrs Drummondquietly observe, "That is not the way to eat soup."

  I made so many blunders during the meal that little Sarah was in acontinued roar of laughter; and I felt so miserable, that I heartilywished myself again in my dog-kennel on board of the lighter, gnawingbiscuit in all the happiness of content and dignity of simplicity. Forthe first time I felt the pangs of humiliation. Ignorance is not alwaysdebasing. On board of the lighter, I was sufficient for myself, mycompany, and my duties. I felt an elasticity of mind, a respect formyself, and a consciousness of power, as the immense mass was guidedthrough the waters by my single arm. There, without being able toanalyse my feelings, I was a spirit guiding a little world; and now, atthis table, and in company with rational and well-informed beings, Ifelt humiliated and degraded; my heart was overflowing with shame, andat one unusual loud laugh of the little Sarah, the heaped up measure ofmy anguish overflowed, and I burst into a passion of tears. As I laywith my head upon the table-cloth, regardless of those decencies I hadso much feared, and awake only to a deep sense of wounded pride, eachsob coming from the very core of my heart, I felt a soft breathing warmupon my cheek, that caused me to look up timidly, and I beheld theglowing and beautiful face of little Sarah, her eyes filled with tears,looking so softly and beseechingly at me, that I felt at once I was ofsome value, and panted to be of more.

  "I won't laugh at you any more," said she; "so don't cry, Jacob."

  "No more I will," replied I, cheering up. She remained standing by me,and I felt grateful. "The first time I get a piece of wood," whisperedI, "I'll cut you out a barge."

  "That boy has a heart," said Mr Drummond to his wife.

  "But will it swim, Jacob?" inquired the little girl.

  "Yes, and if it's _lopsided_, call me a lubber."

  "What's lopsided, and what's a lubber?" replied Sarah.

  "Why, don't you know?" cried I; and I felt my confidence return when Ifound that in this little instance I knew more than she did.