The record-union., 1897-11-21
A ROMANCE OF Low LIFE.

/ ly broiled. Altogether, what with the
| heat, and the mangle, and the noise
| next door, where Mr.. and Mrs. Flinders
were having a few words-which meant
a good many-Mrs. Wicks found herself
! taking a decidedly pessimistic view If
things in general, and Barker's build
| ings in particular
"Lor', what it'd seem like to be down
in the country agen. Sich fool as l
were ever to leave it. But then were
! most on us fools once in our lives, an
| it's no use cryin' over split milk: best
thing you can do is to take a cloth an
wipe it up. But often and often I've
arst myself whatever l see in Wicks to
! leave the village and ONE an friends
| an relaShuns, jest's though they was a
lot of old lumber, an come up to this
| yere great, grimy, ard 'arted, over
! growed wilderness O. bricks an mortar,
| that there's no findin' your way outer
once you set foot in it. Lawks-a daisy
me" wiping the perspiration from her
| forehead, what I'd give to see them
parts agen where / was born and
| brought up, with the medders an or
| chids, an lanes an edges, an the cot
tage gardins where you could grow your
! bits of vegetables an pick the currints
| an gooseberries off yer own bushes,
with a nosegay to stick in a mug on
| the Winder-Sill.''
| Her eye roved for an instant toward
| the window, upon which the sun was
concentrating it's rays with such ap-
parent singleness of purpose that one
almost expected to see the rusty Grape
| Horticultural decorations of Mrs. Wicks'
n fn,sth 1lr,k7s nd
| leaves, and the mangle blossom like
| the rose.
Between the blind and the curtains
was space through which she could
| catch a glirnps of the only view which
Barker's buildings provided for it's in
mates. 1t consisted of large asphalt
square, surrounded by tall, dingy, hide
Gus brick erections, pierced with many
windows. Three or four portable zinc
| dustbins slightly relieved the monot-
ony, the human interest being supplied
by slatternly woman sitting cinders,
| the while her voice was upraised in
maternal admonition towards some
| member of her home circle:
You, 'LiZabeth Ham, wait till I
| gets old on yer, an if I don't break
every bone in yer body
NO, tain't like the country admit
ted Mrs. Wicks with a sigh THE row
them two do keep up next door. too. s
nough to deafen any one. Seems like
a wooden-legged man when the drinks
IN inns worsen the ordinary"
| The door opened to admit a prim-
| looking young woman with a bundle
| under each arm
| THAT you, Em'ly?"
This being the sort of salutation that
seemed to require no reply, Emily (oth-
erW1se Miss Wicks) made none but put
down her bundles, and taking off her
nat hung it ON its own particular peg
| beside her mothers best black bonnet
! her second best, as has already been
! lnt1mated, graced Mrs. Wicks' head: in
deed, as a rule, she only took off her
| bonnet to put on her nightcap.
smash of crockery, followed by the
upsetting of a chair, and accompanied
by torrent of vituperation in a high
treble, caused Miss Wicks to elevate her
eyebrows at her mother.
He don't centrally break out so early
| IN the week, seeing to-day's only
| Wen 'sd'y,' observed Mrs. Wicks depre-
catingly. Pore Mrs. Flinders do ave
a deal to put up with"
| so we do, for that natter renliad
her daughter. What's the good of rs
working ourselves to the bone to try and
Keep respectable, when the neig.hbors
carrles on in sich style? Either the us
bans bangs their wives or the wives
bangs their children. There was Mrs.
Priggins, in No. T. pitching into that
gal OF 'er's something shocking not two
minutes ago. 'Lizabeth Hann's no an
gel, but lifting of 'er over the 'ead with
shovel amt the way to better 'er as
far,s can see. I'm sick of Barker's
Buildings. tHat I am.''
| No sicker'n l am, comes to that"
answered her mother "Only what's
the good? We must live somewheres
Miss Wicks shrugged her shoulders
impatiently, and, unpinning the bundles.
proceeded to count over the contents.
A thud, followed by a scream and the
noise of something heavy rolling over
the floor, seemed to indicate that a eli
max had been reached in the Flinders
menage. Then came the banging of a.
door. and the sound of a wooden leg.
| somewhat the worse for drink. zigzagg-
ing along the stone passage.
'I'll be getting the tea now" said Mrs.
| " 1~h&S, Win q SiS VI I6ilGI, 1ai)S
Wen be able to ave it in peace and
quietness." She wiped her streaming face
with her apron. II don't believe got
so much as a dry thread on me. That
| there mangle's 'nough to give a body
the happyplexy, with the sun a-pouring
in at the winder like we was a sorter
patent fuel as he was bound to set light
to some'ow"
She was little, bent old woman, with
scanty crap wisps of hair abbed back
tight and fixed into a hard ball with one
! time-worn hairpin. Any one who
watched her as she trotted round, set
| ting out two cracked cups and saucers
and battered-looking roue of block
tin pot on the small round table COW
cred with American cloth, would, on his
own responsibility, have added at least
another ten years or so to the half CEN
! tury which was all she could lay claim
/ to.
II did almost think / could a-fancied
a bloater with my tea she added, as
she made tle-holder of a back num-
ber of the parish magazine. They're
| two for three ha'pence at the corner,
an finer you couldn't wish to see only
what with one thing an mother
Gimme the money" interrupted her
daughter; 'it won't take me above a
minnit, and I feel as though 1 could
relish one myself"
Her mother produced the amount from
some stronghold in her peIticoats, and
Emily. sticking on her hat at rakish
angle, departed.
| Mrs. Wicks had just set the teapot on
| the hob to draw when there came tap
] at the door.