Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1852-08-05
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@ q PART FIFTH sid
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CHAPTER w
ToM-ALL ALoNE's.

.2Fff ToM-ALL ALONE y. s..t.rerrs ~
My Lady Dedlock Is restless, very restless
The asonished fashionable Intelligence hardly
knows where to have her. To-day, she is at
Chesney Void yesterday, she was at her house
in town; Tomorrow, she may be abroad, forany-
thing the fashionable intelligence can with conf
dence predict. Even Sir Lecester's gallantry has
some trouble TO keep pace with her. 1t would
have more, but that his other faithful ally for bet
ter and for worse--the gouI--dars into the old
oak bed-chamber at Chesney Void, and grips
him by both legs.
Sir Leicester receives the govt as troublesome
demon, but still demon OF the patrcian order.
All the Dedlocks, in the direct male line, through
course of time during and beyond which the
memory of man goeth not to the contrary, have
had the govt II be proved, sir. Other
mems fathers may have died of the rheumaiisln,
or may have taken base contagion from the taint-
ed blood of the sick vulgar but the Dedlock
family have communicated something exclusive,
even TO the dwelling process of dying, by dying
of their own family govt. 1t has come down,
through the iuslrious line, like the plate, oy the
pictures, or the place in Lincolnshire. itisamong
their dlgnities. Sir Leicester is, perhaps, not
wholly without an impression, though he has
never resolved it into ords, that the angel of
death in the discharge of his necessary duties
may observe to the shapes Of the arislocracy,
My lords and gentlemen, | have The honor 10
presentto you another Dedlock certified TO have
arrived per the family goul' 8. t.5
Hence, Sir, Leicester yields up his family legs
to the family disorder, If he held his name
aud fortune that feuda tenure He feels, that
for Dedlock 10 be laid upon his back aud spas
medically twitched aud stabbed at his extremiies
Is "a liberty taken somewhere; but he thinks,
sWe have all yielded to this; it belongs to US; it
has, for some hundreds of years, been under
stood that we are not to make the vaults III the
park interesting on more ignoble terms; and
submit myself flo the compromise. q i t
And a goody show he makes, lying in flush
of crimson and gold, in the midst OF the great
drawing room, before his iavofte picture of my
Lady, with broad strips Of sunlight shining in,
down the long perspective, through the long line
of windows, and alternating with soft reliefs of
shadow. Outside, the stately oaks, rooted for
ages in the green ground which has never knuwng
plowshare, but was still Chase when kings rode
TO battle with sword and shield, and rode a-hunt-
ing with bow and arrow; bear witness to his great
ness. Inside, his soreathers, looking on him from
ala .lls. sI1 Ok OF was a passing reality
here and left this coored shadow Of himself, and
melted into remembrance as dreamy as the dis
tant voices of the rocks now luliing you TO rest;'
and bear their testimony to his greatness too
And he is very great, this day And woe to Boy
thorn. or other daring weight, who shall presump-
tuously contest an inch with HIN s.
My lady is at present represented, near Sir
Leicester, by her portrait She has fitted away
| to town, with no intention of remaining there,
and will soon fit hilher again, TO the confusion Of
| the fashionable intelligence The house in town
! is not prepared for her reception. 1t is muffled
and dredry. Only one Mercury in powder, gapes
dlsconsolate at the hall window; and he menlion-
ed last night to another Mercury of his acquain-
! lance, also accustomed to good society, that if
that sort of thing was 10 last-which ii couldn't,
for man Of his spirits couldn't bear it, and
man of his figure coulda't be expected to bear it
there would be no resource for him, upon his
honor, but to cut his throat!
What connexlon can there be between the place
in Lincolnshire, the house in town, the Mercury
in powder, and the whereabout of 10 the outlaw
with the broom, who bad that distant ray of light
upon him when he swept the churchyard step?-
What connection can there have been between
many pepe in the innumerable histories of this
world who, from opposite sides of great CULTS,
have, nevertheless, been very curiously brought
together!
10 sweeps his crossing all day long, uncon-
sclous OF the link, if any link there be. He sums
up his mental condition, when asked question,
by replying that he ''don't know nothink'' He
knows that it's hard to keep the mud off the cross
ing in dirty weather, and harder still to llye by
doing it. Nobody taught him, even that much;
he found it out.
10 lives, that is to say, 10 has not yet died
IN ruinous place, known to the like of him by
the name OF ronl-all alone's. 1t is a black, d.
lapidated street, avoided by all decent people,
where the crazy houses were seized upon, when
their decay was far advanced, by some bold va
grants, who, after establishing their own possess
sion, took TO letting them out IN lodgings. Now,
these tumbling tenements contain, by night a
| III As IN. no Al hu.
wretch, vermin parasites appear, so these ruined
shelters have bred crowd of foul existence, lhst
erawls in and out Of gaps in walls and boards and
coils itself to sleep, In maggot numbers where
the rain drps in, and comes and goes, fetching
and carrying fever, and sowing more evil in its
every footprint than Lord Coodle, and Sir honl-
as doodle, and the Duke Of Poodle, and all the
fine gentlemen in office, down to Zoodle, shall
set fright In five hundred years, though born ex-
pressly to do it.
Twice, lately, there has been a crash and
cloud Of dust, like the springing of a mine, ia
| Tom-al-aone's; and, each time, a house has
fallen.e These accidents have made paragraph
in the newspapers, and have filled a bed or two
in the nearest hospital. The gaps remain, and
there are not unpopular lodgings among the rub
Dish, As several more houses are nearly ready
to go, the next crash in Tom-all-alon may be
expected to be good one. sai d ssuls g =
20 This desirable property is in Chancery, Of
course. II would be an insult to the dscernment
Of any man, with half an eye, to tell him So
Whether Tom is the popular representative Of
the original plaintiff or defendant in Jarndyce
and Jarndyce; or, whether Tom lived here when
the suit had laid the street waste, all aloue until
other settlers came to join him; or }, whether the
traditional title is a comprehensive name for q
retreat cut OFT from honest company and put oui
i nC the male of homo. norha ne rabc,1., v,,..n