The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1847-08-25
NATIONAL WIG.
DEALINGS
WITH rHF FIRM OF
DOMREY AND. so N
PART XI.-CHAPTER XAAlll.
.. Contrasts. . @
py CHARLES DICKENS.

PART XI.-CHAPTER XAAlll.
Contrasts. . u
T,ro ve our ewes upon two homes; moi
lv;aa aide BY side, but wide apart, though
bo,h within easy range and reach OF the
great City Of London
Tbs first is s!tua.ed in the green and
,roodsd country near Norwood. 1t is no,
a mansion; it is of no pTetensons as to
s;ze but it is beautifully arranged, and
,,steluIly kept The lawn, the soft, smooth
slope, the tlower-garden, the clumps Of
trees where graceful forms of ash and will
low are not wanting, the conservatory, the
rustic verandah with sweet-smeliing creep
ing plants entwined about the pillars, the
simple exterior of the house, the well-or-
dered offices, though all ufon the diminu-
tive scale proper to a mere cottage, besPeak
an amount Of elegant comfort within that
might serve for palace This indication
is not without warrant; for within il is q
house of refinement and luxury. Rich
colors, excellently blended, meet the eye
at every turn; in the furniture--its proper
tions admirably devised to suit the shapes
and sizes Of the small rooms on the walls
upon The floors; tinging and subduing the
light that comes in through the odd glass
doors and windows here and there. There
are few choice prints and pictures, too ;
in quaint hooks and recesses there is no
want of books; and there are games Of
skill and chance set forth on tables-fantas-
tic chess-men, dice, back CANNON, cards
and billiards. a" ..
And yet, amid this opulence Of comfort
there is something in the general air that is
not well. Is it that the carpets and the
cushions are too soft and noiseless, SO that
those who move or repose among them
seem to act by stealth Is it that the prints
and pictures do not commemorate great
thoughts or deeds, or render Nature in the
poetry of landscape, hall, or hut, but are Of
one voluptuous caste-mere shows OF form
and color-and no more Is it that the
books have all their gold outside, aud that
the titles of the greater part qualify them
to be companions of the prints and pictures'
Is it that the completeness and the beauty
of the place is here and there beled by an
affectation of humility, in some unimpor-
tant and inexpensive regard, which is MS
false as the face Of the too truly painted
portrait hanging yonder, or its original at
breakfast in his easy chair below III Or is
it that, with the daily breath of that origi-
nal and master of all here, there issues forth
some subtle portion of himself, which gives
q vague expression of himself to every
thing about him' @
Itis MIR. Carker the Manager who sits in
his ,easy-chair. A gaudy parrot in bur.
nished cage upon the table tears at tht
wires with her beak, and goes walking up
side down, in its dome-,op, shaking hel
house and screeching; W Mr.. Carker is
Indifferent to the bird, ard looks with q
musing smile al picture on the opposite
wall, .,..
"A most extraordinary accidental like
ness, certainly" says he.
Perhaps it is a Juno; perhaps potl.
Phar's Wife; perhaps some scornful nymph
according as the Picture Dealers found
the market when they caristened it. 1t is
the figure of women, supremacy hand
some, who, turning away, with her face
addressed 10 the spectator, flashes her proud
glance upon him -...: .>
1t is like Edith .... -'
With passing gesture Of his hand at the
picture-what' menace No; yet some
thing Ike it. A wave as i Of triumph
No; yet more like that An insolent salute
waited from his lips : No; yet like tina,
too-he resumes his breakfast, and calls the
chatfhg and imprisoned bird, who, coming
down into a pendant giIded hoop within
the cage, like great wedding-ring, swings
it for his delight,
The second home is on the other side oil
London, near 10 where the busy great north
road Of hygone days is silent and almost
deserted, except by wayfarers who toll
along on foot. Il IS a poor, small house
barely and sparelv furnished, but very clean
and there even an attempt to decorate it
shown in the homely flowers trained about
the porch and in tE3 narrow garden. The
nelghborhood in which i stands has as little
OF The country to recommend it as it has o
The town. 1t IS neither of the town MOI
country. The former, like the giant in hi.
travelling boots, has made stride and pass
ed 1t, and has set his brck-and-mortar hee
long way IN advance but the intermedi
ate space between the giants feet, as yet
- only bl'ghted coantry, and not town
and here, among a lew tall chimneys be!ch
ing smoke all day and night and among th'
brick -heids, and Tie lanes where turf is cul
and where the fences tumble down, ant
~here The dusty net.les grow, and where
scrap or TWO Of hedge may vet be seen, ant
where the blrd-catcher still comes occa
sionally, though he 5wears every time I,
come no more--th's second home is to b
found.
She who inhahis it, is aae who left th
first in her devotion 10 an outcast brother
She Withdrew iroIn that home its redeem
ing spirit, and fran us masters breast hi
solitary angel but though his liking 10
her Is gone, after this ungrateful slight, a
he considers ii; md though he abandon
her altogether in return, an old idea Of he
is not quite forgopeneyen by him. Let he
fiower-garden, in which he never sets hi
foot, but which is yet maintained, anon