The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-09-11

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living, land L am not certain whether
she is or not, must be now a very old
lady; though, l will venture to say, a
very nice-looking old lady, whatever
may be asserted to the contrary; re-
markable, at any rate, for that good
ness which is the chief beauty of old
age, and an irresistible attraction at
all times. For it is now more than
half century since Miss Block was
in her teens, pleasing but not pretty, "
and when the circumstances occurred
which [ am about to narrate.
Mr.. Block styled himself "a ship
breaker" that is to say, he purchased
the hulls of old ships of all shapes and
sizes, and broke them up in order to
sell again, picemeal, the wood and
iron of which they were constructed.
His wharf was on the south bank of
the Thames, in the parish of St. Mary,
Rotherhithe. In those days traders
made it a rule to live where they car
ried on their business. Mr. Block
lived in small but comfortable house
attached to his wharf premises, and
looking on to the river. He traded
under the name of Block & Co.; y and
had lately taken into partnership a
young man named Godfrey Starkie,
who had been of much service to him
as CLERK, ook-keeper, and general as
sistant. Mr.. Block was regarded by
his neighbors as prosperous, well
to-do" man. He was about sixty
years of age, remarkable In appearance
for his clean, clear, family complexion,
and for the silver whiteness of his
hair. He was amiable and benevo-
lent, and it had been said of him that
his only enemy was himself He was
fond of his ease and of good living;
indeed to his excessive partality for
port wine and punch, the ailing health
to which of late he had been liable
was very generally attributed. His
wife had been dead some years. His
only child was the Miss Nancy Block
of whom some mention has already
been made, and to whom he was ten
derby attached. His ablishment
consisted of one female servant, who
acted as cook and housemaid, and
who, having originally been Miss
Block nurse when that young woman
was an infant in arms, and of course
been many years in the service of the
family, and obtained its entire conf
dence and regard; and an apprentice,
one David, or. as he was more often
called, Davy Jones, work house lad,
deserted by his parents, and brought
up, therefore, by that unpleasant step
mother, the parish. His appellation,
it may be stated, was due to the active
and somewhat jacose fancy of the
beadle of ST. Mary's Rotherhithe, who
was pleased to discover in the swarthy
little imp of a child left naked at the
workhouse door, some resemblance to
that arch enemy of mankind--an old
offender with many an alios-who has
oftentimes answered to the sobriquet
of Davy Jones among other nick
names being quite the right word to
use under all the circumstances of the
case.
1t was a real misfortune to the boy
that he was thus designated He was
in truth dog with bad name; and
many people were found to predict for
him the customary fate of dogs so cir
cumstanced. If he neglected his du-
ties in any way (and in times past an
apprentices duties were very multifa-
rious: he was oftentimes an additional
domestic servant quite as much as an
apprentice if he broke a plate, or
window, or neglected to clean the
knives or his masters boots, the ques-
ton was invariably asked what else
could be expected of a boy named
Davy Jones? Yet it was hardly the
boys fault that he was thus called.
Certainly he did not choose his own
name; it was given him at time when
he had no will of his own in the mat
ter, or any knowledge at all of what
was happening to him. However, he
had to make the best he could of it;
rather hard work, because everybody
else would presist in making the worst
they could of it. But he never knew
any other name. His parents never
came forward to claim him. IF any
incidents were. connected |
with his birth, they were never
brought to light. Probably there was
no poetic character aboutthe affair at |
all it was very plain prose, most like |
~. Such. an everyday commonplace |
matter as sin and suffering and desti- |
tuition. Helremained Davy Jones to |
the end ofthe chapter. $50 i
He was a small, spare, black haired,
dark eyed lad, still very swarthy; and
his natural ldinsiness of hue was
HEIGHTENED artifcially Crime from
the saucepans, from the backing
brushes, from the kitchen CRATE, from
up the chimney, always seemed to find |
q home and a resting place on Davy
Jones fence His hands were forever
soiled with the mud of the river, or
the clay of the wharf, the rust of old I
IRON, or the pitch and tai. of the ship
yard. He carried about with him in
eessantly. visible signs of his visits to
The coal cellar. Certainly he was a