Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1909-01-01
CHARLES DICKENS.

1
the river Thames FASTING oil-paper COW
ers on boxes of backing, fell i'll one
afternoon. One of the workmen, a big
man named Bob Fagin, made him lie
down on a pile of straw in the corner and
placed backing bottles filled with hot
water beside him to keep him warm.
There he lay until it was time for the
men to stop work and then his friend
Fagin, looking down upon the small boy
of 10, asked if he felt able to go home
The boy got up looking so big-eyed,
white cheeked and thin, that the man
put his arm about his shoulder.
Never mind Bob, | think I'm all
right now,' said the boy. Don't you
wait for me; go on home"
"You amt fit to go alone, Charley
I'm comm along with you"
Deed l am, Bob. I'm feelin' as spry
as a cricket" The little fellow threw
back his shoulders and headed for the
stairs
Fagin, however. insisted on keeping
him company; and so the two, the shah
| billy dressed understood youth, and the
big strapping man came out into the
murky London twilight and took their
way over the Blackfriars bridge.
Been spendin' your money at the
pastry shops, Charley, again? That's
what was the matter with you, | take
! it."
The boy shook his head "No, Bob.
I'm trying to save. When l get my
weeks money put it away in bureau
drawer, wrapped in six little paper pack
ages with day of the week ON each
one. Then | know just how much I've
got to live on, and Sundays don't count.
Sometimes L do get hungry, though; so
hungry! Then l look in at the windows
and play at being rich"
| They crossed the bridge, the boys big
| eyes seeming to take note of everything,
| the man, duller witted listening to his
clatter. Several times the boy tried to
say good night, but Fagin would not be
shaken off Pm goin' to see you to
your door, Charley lad" he said each
time.
| At last they came into little street
near the Southwark bridge. The boy
stopped by the steps of a house. Here
| t s, Bob Good night 1t was good of
you to take the trouble for me-"
Good night, Charley"
The boy ran up the steps, and, as he
noticed that Fagin still stopped, he pulled
the doorbell. Then the man went on
down the street. When the door opened
the boy asked if Mr.. Fagin lived there,
and being told that he did not, said he
must have made a mistake in the house
| Turning about he saw that his friend
had disappeared around a corner. With
little smile of triumph he made off in
the other direction.
The door of the Marshalsea prison
stood open like a great black mouth
The boy, tired with his long tramp, was
glad to reach it and to run in. Climbing
several long flights of stairs he entered
room on the top story, where he found
his family, his father, tall pompous-
looking man dressed all in black, his
mothev, an amiable but extremely fragile
woman, and a small brother and sister
seated at table, eating supper. The
room was very sparsely furnished, the
only bright spot in it was a small fire
in rusty CRATE fanked by two bricks
to prevent burning too much fuel.
There was a vacant place at the table
for Charles, and he sat down upon a
stool and ate as ravenously as though he
had not tas. ed food for months Mean
while the tall man at the head of the
table talked solemnly to his wife at the
other end using strange long words
which none of the children could under
stand.
Supper over, Mr.. and Mrs. Dickens
| (for that was their nancy and the two
younger children sat before the tiny fire,
and Mr.. Dickens talked of how he might
raise enough money to pay his debts.
leave the prison, and start fresh in some
new business. Charles had heard these
same plans from his fathers lips thou
sand times before, and so he took from
| the cupboard an old book which he had
bought at little secondhand shop a
few days before, a small tattered copy
of Don Quixote," and read it by the
light of tallow candle in the corner.
The lines soon blurred before the boys
tired eyes, and his head nodded, and he
was fast asleep He was awakened by
his fathers deep voice. Thine to be
leaving, Charles, my son. You have not
forgotten that my pecuniary situation
prevents my choosing the hour at which
| shall close the door of my house. For
tunately it is predicament which |
trust will soon be obviated to our mutual
| satisfaction"
The small fellow stood up. shook hands
solemnly with his father. kissed his
mother, and took his way out of the
great prison. Open doors on various
landings gave him pictures of many pc
culiar households; sometimes he would
stop as though to consider some unusual
ly puzzling face or figure.
Into the night again he went, and
wound through a dismal labyrinth of
dark and narrow streets of old London
Sometimes rough voice or an evil face
would brighten him, and he would take
to his heels and run as fast as he could
When he passed the house where he had
asked for Mr., Fagin he chuckled to him
self; he would not have had his friend
know for worlds that his family's home
was the Marshalsea prison.
Even that room in the prison. however
was more cheerful than the small back
attic chamber where the boy fell asleen
for the second time that night. He slept
on a bed made up on the floor but his
slumber was no less deep on that ae