New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-04-15

/, "REMINISCENCES OF porHEBoYs IALL.

A "REMINISCENCES or DoTIIEBOiS HALL
10 M EFttor Of me TrtbrHr.
SIR: forget whether u was Sala or some other
member Of the fraternity. hut soNe ore told me a
Lttlcstory oi Tlackcny. which haf just occurred -
me- one daJ D. was walking along Nych-si.. And
OF slum thorou- lf4Ic leading % DUry Lane "hen
he pa..ed a group OF dirty l,tlc street Arabs. one
little female tattcrlcmallo1 looked up 20 him ~ he
ua,,.d ald tLcu called OFT 90 her younger brother
iii. Archie. dyou know who him ~ lic'' Becky
SHARP Ihackcmy was aHouudcd to ma mat q
little barcfootcl gutter,np' should know auiicicht
of his o,r.tines even to coulouud him with one Of
his hcroiucs ON inquiry be found that the little
thing va, the child of an actress Of some cdu-
cation bat insufficient hstnDnic ability, who
had gradually come down 10 sewing trousers for
cboqn IN lofs She had read one or two numbers ~
Ddnitg Fcir and on previous occasion pointed olIt
the author 10 her daugntcr. lhackcTay lound ihr
poor woman ~ gan.L boiling Totai.cs 10. HIuhrI.
Sb. had not been able to get the whole OF Jd,itB
Fair but only "a fcw odd parts Thackcr1y sent her
n complete set, and something to gave RELISH 10 hcr
By Iogc' said Thaclcray to friend, strange
as il may seem. That little incident gave me more
pleasure than If had received complimentary let
Ter from his Grace. the Dukc Of Dcvonshlrr. When
your name gets down into the Sums, that means
fame; You have touched bottom
But here an odd memory connected with another
great writer comes into my head. a certain TREND
of nine one Mr.. John Phillips, told me that on one
occasion, when he was boy, he , found
III London, whether guest or what he did not eX-
plain, with two young men; one was squeezing
lemons % make punch, and the other was smoking
a pipe The one who making the punch sud
denly discovered that hr had an insufficient supply
of lemons What shall we doi' quercd the
smoker Suppose We send out the KID replied
the other. THE two young men were Charles
Dickens and Harrison Answ3r b." said Mr. Philips
chased a supply of the needed fruit, but when he
came back no was startled 70 lind a monster OF
hideous mien in the pl ace of the handsome young
gentleman h" had lett there few minutes before.
Dickens had been wiling away the time by making
himself set OF false teeth with one lemon peel and
nm artificial nose with another Ths same Mr..
philljps. who had lived many years in Australia,
told me that the original and verltablc "Smke'
Of Dotbeboys Hail was living and prospecting IN
that country though generally considered Oh rainier
The mention of Smike brings TO my mind a
fact winch, by the way shall never forget mat
the writer, was at school at DOthebOys Han Al
least have always believed 40, 20 close was the re-
semblauce between my school and DlckcuSs de-
scrption. And | think was indebted to q" Nicholas
Nickehy for my release, for ! can well remember
to this day on my return home seeing the green
covered monthly parts OF that work lying ON the
drawing room table Dickens located his school IN
Yorkshire mine was in Wcsinoreland, the iJoln-
ing county. ana only few miles from the border
/ was eight years of age when was scnt Gown
alone by mail coach, consigned 10 doctor IN tiie
town Ol Appleby who was TO transfer me to the
school, arrived at night, ANA put up az tho pTncl-
pai inn and can remember the landlAdv. bright
kitchen and giving mo large DOW
of milk with cream on the Top,
and huge slice OF gingerbread. for my supper. sat
upon stool and ate IT, have never since partaken
OF such an exquisite rcpast; tho memory OF IL
haunts me even now. . 80
Arrived AZ school which was kept by Mr. ivy
cross my dandy boots taken away and was
provided with coarse pair Of sabots with wooden
socs found that all the boys wore these things,
which cost one shilling sterling per pair. Az TINS
school we were chiefly fed great dobs Of heavy,
sat-beef which smelled bad and hide0us dishes ol
semi quld blood pudding. IL we could not eat inns
revolving stun at dinner 1t put by for the re-
bellious stomacs supper,and IT not consumed thcn,
IL was served up for breakfast next day, ana so on
till il was eaten. On Saturday night large tub OF
scaldng water and bran brought into inc
school-room, aud i'll this the whole school washed
their feet and often have heard the smaller boys
bowling with pain as their feet were forced INTO
| the boiling mess by the bigger boys, while the
master stood by with his cane TO enforce obedience.
The only supply of water for the boys came from
large barrel winch received the rainfall from the
roof This often got low and putrld, aud yet nave
| seen the boys hanging INTO this barrel almost oy
their toes head dowpwards trying TO reach II WIN
| their mouths The rod was always going, ana tno
| howl of pain continuous. Yet they were very par
tlcuar about their religious exercises, and many
time have nearly faiuted kneelng Oh hard form
through long prayers, and the singing OF the morn
| ing evening hymn. FRANZ DEih""'
! NsiG- York April H. 1888.