New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-12-17
LITTLE DORRIT.
IN TWO BOOKS.
BY CHARLES DICKENS.
BOOK THE FIRST -. POVERTY.
CHAPTER III.

degrees OF dleeODtDce, sharp ana Wv, Wv"
clear. fast and slow, made the brick and mortar
echoes hideous. Melancholy streets In a penten-
tial garb Of SCOT, stepped the souls OF the people
who were condemned 10 look st them OUT OF WIN
dows in dire dependency. In every tnorousn-
fare, I'D almost every alley, and down almost every
turning, some doleful bell was throbbng, Jersiag'
toDg, as if the plague were in the cry ana 'ue
dead. carts were gong round Everything was
bolted and barred that could by possibility fdrnlsn
unfamiliar animals, no rare plants or MOVERS no
natural or artificial wonders of the ancient world
all taboo with that enlightened strlctness, thas
the ugly South Sea gods in the Brltsn Museum
might have suppO.ed themselves at nome AGAIN
Nothing 70 see but streets streets, streets No'h-
ing 10 breathe but streets, streets, streets NOM
ing 10 change the brOOding mind, or raise IL up'
Nothing for the spent toller to do bu. TO compare
the nor otODy OF his seventh day with the m0n0t-
opy of his six dsys, think what weary life he led
and make the best of tor the worst, according
TO the probabilities.
At such happy time, Opropitious to the inter-
ests of religion and morality, Mr. Arthur Clennsm,
newly arrived from MsrseilIes by way Of Dover,
and By Dover coach the Bue-eyed Maid, sat in the
window of coffee house on Ladgate Hill Ten
thousand responsible houses surrounded him,
frowning a. heavily on the streets they composed,
az if they were every one inhabited by the ten
young men of the Calendars story, who backened
their faces and bemOaned their miserles every
night. Fifty thousand lars surrounded him where
people lived so unwhOlesomely, that iar waterput
into their crowded rooms on Saturday night, would
be corrupt on Sunday morning albeit my lord,
their county member was amazed that they fsled
10 sleep 10 company with their butchers meat
Miles Of close wells and pits of houses, where the
inhabitants gasped for air, stretched far away to
ward every point of the compass. Through the
heart Of the town deadly sewer ebbed and flowed,
in the place of q fine fresh river. What secular
want could the million or so Of human beings
whore daily labor, six days in the week, lay amsDg
these Arcadan objects, from the swest sameness
Of which they had no escape between the cradle
and the grave hat secular want could they pos
sibly have upon their seventh day Clearly they
could want nothing but a stringent policeman.
Mr.. Arthur Clennam sat in the window Of the
coffee house ON Ludgste Hill, counting one OF the
neiebbOriDg bells, making sentences and burdens
of songs out Of ii in spite Of himself and wonder
ing how many sick people it might be the death of
in the course Of year. AZ the hour approached,
its changes of measure made il more and more
exasperatiDg. At the quarter, it went of into
condition of deadly lively opportunity, urging the
populsce in vOluble manner to Come to church,
Come to church, Come to church AT the ten
minutes, il became aware that the congregation
would be scanty, and slowly hammered out in low
spirits, They nOn't cone, they ront come, they
'front.' come At the five minutes, it abandoned
hope, and shook every house in the neighborbood
for three hundred seconds, with one dismal swing
per second, as groan of despair
THANK Heaven !" said Clennsm, when the hour
struck and the bell stepped.
But its sound bad revived long train OF mlser-
able Sundays, and the procession would not stop
with the bell but continued to march on " Heaven
forgive me-" said he and those who trained me.
How have hated this day"
There was the dresry Sunday Of his childhood,
when be sat with his hands before him, scared out
of his senses by horrible tract which commenced
business with the poor CT lid by asking bin in its
title, why be was going TO Perdlton "a piece OF
curiosity that he really in frock and drawers was
not in a condition TO satsfy-and which, for the
further attraction Of kis infant mind, had pa
renthesis in every other line with some such hic
cuppipg reference as Ep. These. c. ill., V. 81
7. There was the sleepy Sunday of HE boyhOOd,
when, like military deserter, he was marched to
chapel by picquet OF teachers three times q day,
morally handculfed 10 another boy and when he
would willingly have bsrtered two meals of indi-
gestible sermon for another ounce or two OF infe.
rOr mutton at his scanty dinner in the flesh.
There was the iDterminable Sunday OF his homage;
when his mother, stern of face and unrelenting of
heart, would sit all day behind ble--bOund like
her own construction of it 10 the hardest, barest,
and straitest boards, with one dlnted ornament on
the cover lie the drag Of a chain, and wrathful
sprinkling of red upon the edges of the leayes-as
if il, of all books were fertilization against
sweetness Of temper natural Affection, an gentle
intercourse Thsre was the resentful Sunday Of a
little later when be sat Clio FeriDg and gloomirg
through the tardy length of the day, with sullen
sense of injury in bis heart, and 30 more real
know ledge of the benetcent history Of the New
Testament, than if be had been bred among idola.
tiers. There was legion OF Sundays all days OF
unteryiceable bitterness and modification, slowly
passing before him
" Beg pardon, sir, said brisk waiter, rubbing
the table wish see bedroom
"Yes. l have just made up my mind 20 do it,
"Chsymaid :" cried the waiter. Gelen box
mum seven wish see room
STAY :" said Clennam, rousiDg himself ~
Was not thinking of what said; answered me
chaDically. l am not going TO sleep here. au
going home
Deed, sir Chaymaid Gelen box nun seven
not 60 sleep here, gone.
He sat in the same place IS the day died, look
ing at the dull houses opposite, and thinking if the
disembodied spirits of former inhabitants were
ever conscious of them, how they mist pity them
selves for their old places OF piisonment Some
times face would appear behind the dpgy glass
of a window. and would fade away into the gloom
as if il had seen enough OF life and had vanished
out of IT, Presently the rain began to fall in slant
ing lines between bin and those houses, and peo-
ME began 10 collect under cover of the public
passage opposite, and to look out hopeles.y at the
sky as the rain dropped thicker aud faster. Then
wet umbrellas began to appear drscsled skirts, and
mnd What the mud had been dong with itself
or where il came from. who could ssy But il
seemed 10 collect 10 moment, as a crowd will,
and in FIVE minutes to have splsshed ali the sons
snd daughters of Adam The lsmplighter was 60
ipg his rounds now; and as the fiery jets sprang
up under his touch one might have fancied them
s.touished al being suffered to introduce any show
ofbrichtpess into such dism.l scene
Mr.. Arthur Clennam took up his ha., and but
toned hi coat and walked out IL the County,.